From Horses to Hens: A Journey in Animal Nutrition and Care with Gretchen Riley

What happens when a lifelong dedication to animal nutrition meets the world of horse companions and dealer sales? Join us as we chat with Gretchen, a remarkable national customer business manager at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center, who has dedicated 30 years to Land O'Lakes. Listen to Gretchen reveal her extensive role in managing sales and marketing events, and discover the fascinating investment Land O'Lakes has made in their research farm. From field sales to lifestyle events, Gretchen opens up about her varied responsibilities and passion for her work.

Gretchen Riley, MBA
Gretchen is a National Customer Business Manager at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center in Gray Summit, MO where she manages all the sales and marketing events related to Horse, Companion and Dealer/Sales Training. She obtained her Bachelors in Equine Science and MBA in Agricultural Business, both from Colorado State University and joined Purina Animal Nutrition in 1994. Gretchen spent 13 years as an Equine Specialist in Arizona and then 5 ½ years as an Equine Specialist/Show Feed Specialistma in California before transferring to Gray Summit, MO to work at the Purina Animal Nutrition Research Center. She has been a horse owner and rider since she was 8 years old and enjoys her small farm with horses, mini burros, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats and honeybees.

Finally, we take a moment to appreciate the dedication of individuals like Gretchen, who are the heart and soul behind the trusted brands we use. Tune in for a heartfelt conversation that will leave you grateful and excited for what's next.
You can follow Gretchen here https://www.instagram.com/lifeofrileyfarm/

Chapters

• 0:00 Poultry Keeping Expert Interview
• 8:56 Animal Care and Community Impact
• 25:52 Seasonal Chicken Care and Nutrition
• 39:26 Behind the Brand

Transcript

Mel: 0:00

So now we are up, we are very excited and holy smokes, I cannot believe you're sitting here. We moved mountains together. We literally moved mountains people. You have no idea that. I'm so grateful, though that Gretchen just didn't be like nah, I'm sorry, I'm out of here. I'm not dealing with this mess.

Gretchen: 0:20

No, it's all good, I am easy going.

Mel: 0:22

But anyone that knows me knows that we are super excited that you're here and no take-backs. So like you can't vanish, I've already got you right here.

Gretchen: 0:31

I'm good, I'm good.

Mel: 0:35

Hey y'all, I'm Mel and you are listening to Wilma the Wonder Hen. Are you a chicken-mouth-loving mama or daddy? Together, together, we'll dive into the latest poultry keeping adventures, chat about everyday life, with a generous mix of some hilarious stories, bringing you fascinating interviews with poultry owners from all over. You'll find tips and basic advice from your local veterinarian, along with new chicken keeping gadgets and reviews. I'm going to see what Mr Jangles and Wilma has to say about that. We're going to encourage and help you build a stronger, healthier flock. Let's go see what Mr Jangles and Wilma is up to. Let's go let these heifers out. Hey y'all, welcome back.

Mel: 1:24

Today's guest is Gretchen. She is a national customer business manager at the Purina Animal Nutrition Center where she manages all the sales and marketing events related to horse companion and dealer sales training. Her background is pretty extensive, but she is just like us. She owns lots of little animals and critters and we are very excited to have her with us today. But she is a big deal over at Land O'Lakes and we are so honored to have Gretchen with us. So, hi, gretchen, welcome to Wilma. The Wonderhunt's podcast.

Gretchen: 1:59

Thank you. I am totally super excited and humbled to be asked to be on your podcast, so I'm happy to be here and hopefully be able to share what, what your audience wants to hear. I'm kind of an open book. I'll tell you whatever you want to do.

Mel: 2:15

Okay, awesome. Yeah, that's so exciting. Well, first of all, I know our listeners would love to hear who you are currently, you know, and then we'll kind of do like a backtrack of how you got there. But definitely would love to hear who you are currently, you know, and then we'll kind of do like a backtrack of how you got there, but definitely would love to hear your current stats and what. Just be proud of yourself and just go ahead and tell us all about you.

Gretchen: 2:36

Okay, well, let's see here. So, so, work, why you want to know work?

Mel: 2:42

Anything. Well, let's just give you this you can give our listeners work wise and then tell us you know where you're from, who you are, and all that good stuff. Ok, ok, give us an idea why, why what you're going to share with us is on that expert level, just.

Gretchen: 3:03

OK, okay.

Mel: 3:03

Okay.

Gretchen: 3:04

Um, okay, so I uh, if you saw my Instagram story, I've been with uh, Land O'Lakes, purina for 30 years. Uh, december 1st will be 30 years and I have been in my current role for the last 11. Um and so. So what I'm doing now and the reason that I got to come to the farm is back in 2013,.

Gretchen: 3:28

Land O'Lakes um made a really large, very important um investment into the research farm to make sure that we had the right facilities, the right uh research equipment, buildings, you name it to kind of further our research capabilities, and so when they did that, along with doing research here, the farm is also a way for us to do a lot of education and selling events is what we call them. And so I, prior to this, I was in the field as a salesperson and I thought, oh my, my gosh, they're putting together a team to go work at the farm to help manage the events, to help manage training, to do all that kind of stuff. And I had already been with Purina for 19 years as a salesperson and I thought the farm is like the epitome of the company I. I need to go and work there.

Gretchen: 4:27

So I chose to take this role, and I am on a team we call ourselves the farm team, but I am on a team that wear a lot of different hats.

Gretchen: 4:37

So I help to manage what we call our lifestyle events, so anything that has to do with chickens or the horses or companion animals, but dealer training, sales training, everything that's not livestock, how about that? So I manage all of that activity. I do a lot of tours, I take a lot of people around the farm and tell them what we do, and that's kind of the short version. And then and then we we have a lot of tracking and data collection that we send along to the company to help support what we do.

Mel: 5:11

So, ooh, I have so many questions about just what you said right there, okay, so, so well, I have lots of questions, so I'll break down a few of them. Um, do you, when you prior said that you were more like on the dealer side type of thing before you got to the farm, does that mean like you would go to the different feed stores that that um deal with? You know that, carry y'all's products or whatever, and you got to talk to the managers and all those things like at chick days or just for the product, all that good stuff. Oh, oh, my gosh.

Gretchen: 5:45

Everything, everything.

Gretchen: 5:46

So yeah, so when I graduated college, I had a lot of interviews but landed on Purina because it sounded the most cool and the most fitting for me.

Gretchen: 5:57

But I was hired by a sales manager. So I was on the Purina sales team and my role was to pretty much work with and call on the retailers in my area and I was in Arizona first and then went to California for a little while, but so I worked with the retailers that carried our feed products and also the customers that fed our feed. So I worked with large horse farms and rabbit owners and sheep and goat and poultry I mean, you name it, all of our animal categories. And so I was in the field helping to support the customers and what questions and concerns they had about feeding our feed. But then I also worked with the dealers to make sure they knew about promotions and all that and then help them with events like chick days and things like that. So so I was involved in every aspect of the business that a that a retailer would be working with okay, so now at the farm.

Mel: 6:55

How does that? How is that different? Do they come to you instead of you going out to them now?

Gretchen: 7:00

correct correct, yep, so, um. No, no, correct, correct, yep, so um. So the events that we host here, um, you know, have a have a few different requirements, but but the sales team that's out in the field invites large customers to come here and learn about what we do, gotcha, so so right. So we, we stay here, we help to manage the events, make sure that everyone has a great experience you know, learns about us, really understands who we are, and and you know the fact that we do research and just that we're a bunch of real cool people. Everybody comes to us here.

Mel: 7:38

Yes, Got to throw that in because we are yes, ok, so when you were, when you were you, when you were little, uh, did you own animals? Did you ever think that you would be like where you are right now, professionally and you know, with your own? Um, obviously I don't see how you would separate that like the job that you have. I can, I can, I couldn't see someone having the job that you have. I can, I can, I can see someone having the job that you have and not having, like, a love of animals or any animals at all.

Gretchen: 8:10

Yeah, yeah. So I would say it goes hand in hand and my, my role definitely fits my lifestyle and I've always described, you know, having a career with Purina. It's really a lifestyle, because we don't ever really turn off Purina, because we love it, you know. And if you know, when I was not riding horses near as much as I used to, but I'd be out riding, if someone has a horse question or a feed question, then you bet let's chat about it, so. So it's kind of how we live our lives, and so I don't know that I dreamed about doing what I'm doing, but I've been an animal lover since I was a kid.

Gretchen: 8:56

Now I didn't grow up on a farm, I grew up in a. I moved different places, but I mostly grew up in a suburb of Pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and so we had a cat and a dog. But I got involved with riding horses when I was about eight years old and went to a park with my dad. He was flying his model airplanes and I got bored, so I went down the hill to the stables and said I want to learn how to ride horses. So there we went.

Gretchen: 9:33

So anyway, so I've been riding since I was eight and um, and then when I got hired with Purina, I just just animals in general and I've always wanted to have them, so I've always had horses. You know, we have our mini burrows. And then when I, when I was able to have property to own the chickens and the ducks and all that, then, um, those came along because I could, and um, and then we did actually did a big project here at the farm with honeybees, and so, um, I got to learn all about them, and that was back in 2015. So I then became a beekeeper. So I've been a beekeeper for the last eight years or so. So it's just kind of what I like in life and what I enjoy at home and the fact that I have a career that lets me talk about it and help our customers and help educate people. I mean it's just kind of a full circle opportunity.

Mel: 10:23

So so just yep Fits my life pretty well. Yeah, obviously there's no way you could have that job and not love animals of some sort. But I know in the the the chicken community is a lot larger now, I think, than it's probably ever been and, uh, possibly that is because of this shift to companion, looking at chickens as companion animals instead of just livestock. But, like I said, we always say you know, if livestock is, if that's what your intended animals are for, we never step in front of anyone who provides for their family and all that good stuff. But there is a large community now that are just companion chickens. Do y'all see that on your side, where it's more of people are wanting to care for their chickens longer? You know they want their chickens to live longer because they are companions. Do you hear a lot of those questions?

Gretchen: 11:24

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and it and it makes sense. You know, I think we obviously saw a big shift during COVID Because, you know, people were home and they had time. You know, maybe maybe they didn't have time because of the type of job that they had and they realized that, wow, I enjoyed being home and having this capability and maybe they wanted to do it before, but they, but they couldn't. Um, anyway, I think the mindset changed a lot and and the wonderful thing about chickens is is they're fairly easy. You know, if, if you, if you're not familiar with raising you know a livestock type animal, they're easy and it doesn't take a huge piece of property or incredible fencing, you know, to keep them.

Gretchen: 12:15

And so, yes, I think there's always been that kind of division of thought process where you know maybe a a more, a more homesteady type family, you know, is raising them for eggs and meat, you know things like that. And then there's the companion group, which is great. You know my, my chickens have names and I like the eggs. So so you know, we, we totally appreciate both sides and sides and we have information for both sides, we have feeds for both. You know thought processes or choices. Should I say we just want to make sure that everybody that has questions gets, you know, the right answers and good information. And you know, and we're here to help. We truly are. We're all animal lovers. We want you guys to succeed, just like we want our own selves to succeed, and so we, that's what we're here for.

Mel: 13:22

But, yeah, there's definitely. I think that perina does a really good job um with their website. Uh, you know, for answering, there's lots of information on the internet and we definitely don't want to point out, but there's a lots of lots of misinformation out there. A lot of it, I think, is we've talked about this prior in our podcast of the generations past and nothing wrong. You know a lot of people, like I said, if your chicken gets sick, it's typically you know they. Just that's the end of that, you know.

Mel: 14:05

But now, with people with companion chickens, they are seeking out more veterinarian care, you know, to provide basic care for their chickens, so that they do, you know, if they get sick, they want to give that an opportunity, just like a cat or a dog. But, yeah, and I think that's great that we can each do our own part of um spreading, uh, the correct information, which is and I like that prina does that with, especially with now that you have you're talking about the farm and I know that y'all do a lot of research there with different feeds and formulations and you know all kinds of things. Oh, my gosh, my brain just died for a minute. I had a question, something about the farm? Maybe Something about the farm yeah, it's about the farm anyway.

Mel: 14:58

But we know that y'all spend a lot of time doing that research and that. So do you feel that you hear more questions about people needing uh veterinarian care? Or I know, I know that y'all aren't typically just going to give veterinarian care information, but do you find that is? I feel like it's lacking in our chicken community, because a lot of uh people will say, hey, I have a vet, but you know they don't want to see chickens, so do you? Do you see those questions? Are you not in the midst of the direct questions of customers and you know?

Gretchen: 15:34

um, I'm I'm not heavy into the mix of questions. You know, dr biggs are yes, dr biggs yes yep, great guy he. Dr Biggs. He answers a lot of those questions, but we, you know, and if we have events here and a customer has a question, then yes, I visit with a lot of people what, what we, what we as a feed company, don't want to do is step on the toes of a veterinarian, because there there are certain scenarios where you know we could help with management or you know kind of some.

Gretchen: 16:08

I don't want to say basic questions because we get into some pretty good discussions about things, but you know the veterinarian field and veterinary care is very different than what we do, and so we try to steer folks towards true veterinary care if they need it, because you know we're educated in nutrition and feed formulations and things like that.

Gretchen: 16:32

We're not necessarily on the health side of things. It may be basic stuff, but not to the level of a great veterinarian. So we do try to separate ourselves a little bit. We do try to separate ourselves a little bit. Um, and you know it, it is. It is tough, because I don't know that there's a lot of vets out there that that do spend a lot of time with backyard poultry. Um, cause, it's, it's a, it's a shift in the community for sure, because in the past, you know, chicken is a chicken and they, they live for a while and then they die, and so I'm hoping that there is more veterinary care available and that everybody can get access to someone that can help them.

Mel: 17:13

So do y'all have a? I know you said you have events at the farm for your larger customers, I assume like retailers and things like that but do you go and do events like in the community? Um, so, like step one, this is how you take care of a chicken. It's up to you, you know yes, well and so.

Gretchen: 17:36

So we rely on on our feed dealers and retailers to to help host those events. Okay, I gotcha, yeah and and so here at our farm we're a little bit different purpose Gotcha, but our retailers, we definitely support them. We can kind of bring the farm discussion to an outside event, but so most of the events that we do for I would say 95% of our customers are at the retailer level that we join to be a part of.

Mel: 18:09

No, I got you. Okay, all right, we can move on to less of the. I sound like I'm grilling you, really not.

Gretchen: 18:19

I'm just.

Mel: 18:19

I'm really interested, that's all.

Mel: 18:21

Yeah, yeah sure really interested, that's all. So, yeah, yeah, sure, uh, I know well we'll move on, but, um, who do you think would be the you would say is the most influential for your career? Once before we move on to the chicken keeping tips and all that, I just I really would, I'm really interested of who you think has influenced you the most to where you are today, or even to sustain you to continue. Did you think there was a time that, during your career, you wanted to give up? Do you? Did you find it challenging or no?

Gretchen: 18:53

Um, you know, not real, not really. I, you know, I've I've been here a long time because of a lot of different reasons, but but I think some of the biggest reasons are one the type of people that gravitate to Purina to work here because of their background or their values or what they like to do every day. You know, I think there's a lot of different factors. The people that work for Purina are are wonderful people and so and so that's what keeps a lot of us here for a long time, because we enjoy who we work with, we enjoy the fact that we can help other animal owners. And so you know, I will say, at year 11 for me, I had headhunters coming after me and I really didn't want to leave, but I ended up going to a pharmaceutical company for a little while and after about a year I'm like, nope, this just doesn't fit me very well. Interesting, fortunately, I said hey, purina just doesn't fit me very well. So interesting.

Gretchen: 20:00

Fortunately, I said, hey, purina, can you take me back? And they said, sure, so. So thank goodness. But that was an odd time for me because I didn't really want to go, but I thought, am I supposed to do something different? I guess, do you say, stay with something for your whole career? But but you know, that was so. That was the one time that it's like, yep, nope, that was the deciding factor, that this is where I need to be, this is where I want to stay, this is what I enjoy doing every single day. And so you know. So there's a lot, of, a lot of influences, I think, that that keep me here, and it's it's the people that I work with, the people that I get to help. You know, our customers. I love our customers, I love helping, I love answering questions, I love giving them good information, you know, and helping them understand, maybe helping them wade through what's true and what's not true, or what makes sense and what really doesn't. So it's, there's just many, many things that keep me here.

Mel: 21:02

Yeah, I always ask like can I come clean the coops? You know, can I do anything at the farm? Can you just let me come, Can you?

Gretchen: 21:06

You know what we could. We could probably figure out how to get you here for a visit, for sure you know, I will not make you clean anything.

Mel: 21:13

I'll feed the chickens. You know I'm really good at cleaning out chicken coops. Ok, I'm really good at cleaning out chicken coops. Okay, I'm really good. You know, I'll do anything y'all ask me to do, just you know. So that's our shameless that's our shameless ask.

Mel: 21:31

But now we can kind of move on to what like. Where would you direct someone? Obviously Prina, but do you have any other resources that you would direct, say, to new chicken keepers? Obviously you cover other animals. You know you have other animals that you work for and with and all that good things. But typically Wilma's, we kind of focus on chickens, so that's why I'm kind of limiting that on that. I don't know anything about horses. I couldn't even ask you a question on it. I love horses. I think they're amazing and I got to ride one when I was. It was actually on my birthday trip to California to see my friend, and that was like four years ago. So I'm not going to say how old I am, but I'm like.

Gretchen: 22:21

I am a Gen X-er.

Mel: 22:23

Okay, I'm a Gen X, so y'all can figure that out. But yeah, it was the most exciting thing, but I have no idea about anything. Horses don't even pretend to. Where would you send new chicken keepers? Or maybe not, if you don't want to name anything Like are there things that you should look for? You know that would say, okay, this is not a biased article, or something like that.

Gretchen: 22:46

Well, so I'll give you the perspective that we try to do, and obviously all of our feed products are research, research base, you know. So we want to, we want to provide products that we know are going to work, and we want to provide information that we know is true because of factual information, scientific findings, things like that, and so so we may not be like the fun, fluffy kind of thing, but but you know, we want to provide good, solid, sound information, and so you know, yes, our website is a great place to go there. There are a lot of good, you know, university articles, things like that. And I would say another thing that we try to do a lot is educate our dealers and retailers to have the same good information. And so I think if the community can find a really good feed retailer that is knowledgeable, either has ownership or has been involved in the business for a long time, you know I I even ask the feed store that I shop at locally here about, you know, typically, other things other than animals, but I trust their information because I've been in the industry for a long time, and so so I think you, I think everybody, just has to take everything with a grain of salt and and say, okay, is this, is this valid?

Gretchen: 24:24

Do I, do I trust where the information is coming from? Is it, does it kind of make sense or does it seem a little extravagant? You know, and there's, and there's great people out there. I, I just recommend everybody, just you know, take a step back and does this seem correct or does it seem a little opinionated or emotional, or something like that? You know, try to stay to the facts, and I think there's good facts out there and I don't know that I can, you know, point your crew to that place to go, or anything like that. Just, you know, be really diligent about finding good information and tend to look at several different places and try to find the consistencies that I see everywhere. So I figure, if more than just one place or one spot or one article or one person is saying the same exact thing, then I think that's probably some good information.

Mel: 25:38

No, I agree, that's kind of what we preach. A lot is not just take one person's, you know, look for the science. Emotions don't mean that it's what they're saying is correct. So, you know, look for the science. And we all know that social media can be a great place to share, definitely gets a lot of community-like type environment and you can bounce ideas off of everyone and you can learn from each other. But the Internet can also be a very dangerous place, as we all know. Yep, things got a little iffy there, but we never give up. So we never, we never give up. We never give in to um uneducated individuals.

Gretchen: 26:28

Anyway, moving right along, yeah, well, and it is, you know, and you're right, I mean, I, I have a love-hate relationship with social media you know, it's like I I love it because the community there is great.

Gretchen: 26:41

I hate it because sometimes some people can be evil on social media. That's the part that I don't like. Yeah, but it's very true, yeah, there's there's just so much emotion behind some things, and so. So it's where each individual has to really kind of put their logic hat on, take some emotion out and say, okay, would XYZ really do XYZ? That kind of doesn't make sense. So I think it just takes some personal evaluation.

Mel: 27:20

Yeah, and things always seem to work themselves out and correct themselves. You know however long that may take, but yeah. So what breeds of chickens do you have and what would be your favorite? I won't tell any of your chickens that you said this, so you can be as honest as you want to be.

Gretchen: 27:44

So I love Easter Eggers, just because they're such a nice variety. I love my Buff Orpingtons. I have lots of different breeds and I actually have a few new ones that they're not old enough quite yet for me to know exactly what their personalities are like, but I got some starlight eggers, oh yeah, and they seem like they have wonderful personalities. So I have four of those little ladies. I'm very excited. I have a young crew of. I Am Samanis.

Gretchen: 28:14

And they seem amazing. I mean just sweet and docile. And the groups that I got. I ended up with four roosters and two hens. Of course yeah, of course there's the logic there or mostly slosh as I say yes, but they're all just sweet. So those are just to name a few. Um, I have a lot of wyandots and they're kind of middle of the road. I kind of like them. Some are a little bit stronger personalities than others, so, yeah, they're um. One breed that I that I really don't like is um cinnamon queens, is that what they're called?

Mel: 28:58

oh yeah, the isobrown either. Isobrown, cinnamon queens, uh, red comets I kind of think they're all like grouped in the same, sadly, sadly, they don't live very long they're. They're bred to not serve longevity. I think they're more for more egg production and less longevity and less longevity.

Gretchen: 29:21

Yeah, well, I had two and I guess I only have one left and she's not nice. So, um, so you know, but I I will have to say that I I really haven't had any horrible chickens. Yeah, the Polish ones were not very friendly for some reason, I don't know, I think that's because they can't see.

Mel: 29:45

They can't see very well. They're always on the guard. They're not very smart. I had a black crested Polish Bannum cockerel and he would walk into the wall. I mean, he was, he was not bright, he definitely could not protect any of his hens. There's just they would literally leave him in the yard and go back to the coop. They're like this guy is an idiot, but he was really cute and he, I think he passed away. He was like six or seven, maybe I don't remember, but yeah, his name is blue and he was not very bright. So what are your chickens favorite snacks? They got any favorite snacks. I know the 90 10 rule, but they got to have some snacks right, I know they, I right.

Mel: 30:35

I work for a nutrition company and I absolutely, I know you, you have to you have to feed, a balanced feed all the time, but um watermelon rinds like when you cut out the watermelon, they love watermelon rinds and they love, of course, everybody's favorite, the mealworms.

Gretchen: 30:51

They will, like you know, climb the walls for those they will yes and I found a new one of some cucumbers. We had some extra cucumbers in our garden so they love those. Um, but I'm trying to think we don't. I'm trying to think of what they don't like.

Gretchen: 31:07

That because I have fed them some stuff and they're like at now uh, strawberry tops, they like strawberry yeah, yeah, yeah and and I think I've spoiled them a little bit to expect some sweet treats like watermelon and strawberries, because then you give them something that's a green vegetable and they're like uh, excuse me, lady, what's that?

Mel: 31:26

I'm not eating it I know, I know my mine have surprised me about the cucumbers. Mine, do you love cucumbers? They love watermelon, they love zucchini. They don't love squash but they like the zucchini because I think it's a little more, you know, water dense than regular yellow squash.

Mel: 31:46

But yeah, they love all those and that's great, you know, for during the summer, for hydration, yeah. But do you have any tips for, let's say, moving into the fall, since summer is not over, but it's kind of like at the tail end into the fall, since summer's not over, but it's kind of like at the tail end? But do you have any fall tips for people who have little?

Gretchen: 32:06

flock. I guess my basic tips are just are be prepared, you know. Think now about what your environment is going to need. You know, do you need some heaters? Do you need, do you need to do things differently with you know, kind of containing the warmth and keeping out the cold? You know, do you have an open air coop that needs to be bundled up during the wintertime? Do you have stuff that potentially could freeze and make sure that you have? You know you're not putting plastic buckets on top of a really hot heater kind of a thing, so kind of all the normal stuff. But you know one thing, nutritionally, that I do with my flock, and they are, they are starting to molt.

Gretchen: 32:46

It's very if someone in your kind has seen what molting looks like you're getting feathers everywhere, and so mine are starting to molt, and so I tend to switch mine to our Hypro layer. Okay, yes, okay, yes. Yes, I hate to say it that they might've changed the name, but anyway. So so our high protein version of Laena, just to help them kind of get get feathers growing back again after they've molted. I like that, and then during the winter time, I actually will switch to BlockRazor because they're not laying eggs. So just manage your nutrition based on what your birds are going to either reduce egg production or they're going to stop laying eggs until the longer daylight hours come back.

Mel: 33:48

Yes, so that's.

Gretchen: 33:49

That's a little tip we just throw right in there yes, yes for sure, and and that's, and that really is very important. Um, you know, daylight. Daylight manages reproductive cycles in many, many, many animals besides chickens, and so it's a very it's a very natural thing to do. You know, you don't want babies being born in the very cold wintertime. That's why reproductive reproductive cycles shut down for animals, and so there's a Mother Nature reason why egg production slows down when it's cold. So, very reasonable, and I don't have any need or reason to keep my chickens under lights during the wintertime. I don't need nonstop egg production, I'm okay with that. So I manage my nutrition and my environment based uh, based on what they're, what they're doing year round.

Mel: 34:43

So, yeah, that's kind of how we do it. Uh, we don't use lights. I know some people do. Uh, maybe that's just part of how they earn money for their family and obviously the the offset the cost. Uh, I do think they recommend that you turn the lights on in the morning, early morning hours, let them sleep, that you turn the lights on in the morning, early morning hours, let them sleep and then turn the light on you know earlier, like 6 am or something, and then let them have a couple of extra hours, become daylight until later in the day. Hopefully that made sense. Start the light in the morning, not in the evening.

Gretchen: 35:18

Turn it on in the morning and let it go out in the evening.

Mel: 35:20

Yes, yeah, let it go out, let it come on for a couple hours so you get that extra daylight, not in the evening, let them sleep, let them girls sleep, because they need so much energy, for you know, egg production. It takes so much, and that's you know. When they're moltingting, like you said, we we switch to flock razor, um, and I think that helps them through their molt. I'm not really worried about them, you know, laying any eggs, because obviously they're spending all their energy to produce those beautiful feathers. I know that we had a big production before this and I certainly don't want to take any more of your time. I do have a few questions at the end, but I certainly want you to.

Mel: 36:01

I feel like, after the interview is over, I have like 10 different questions that I should have asked and I feel like I'm good, I'm here, for I should have asked that. And then I'm like, oh well, so, but I think that gives me an opportunity to maybe next time. Next time, you know, I can be like okay, uh, gretchen, can you come back? Yeah, we do part two for sure, you know for sure. And uh, sometimes we like to take questions from our followers and then ask you know, um, that, so we may do that after this episode, like put in the show notes, you know if they have any questions or something like that. But I do have three, three questions at the end if you're interested in them. So what is your favorite movie and why?

Gretchen: 36:47

it's probably cheesy hope floats is my oh, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, it's just, I love, I like romantic comedies and then that kind of thing, and that was just a great movie because I don't know, it just was a small town and so anyway yeah, that's.

Mel: 37:05

That's a really that's a very popular movie. So what is your favorite book? Do you have a favorite book?

Gretchen: 37:11

that's a hard one because I don't sit still very well to read I don't either.

Mel: 37:20

So if you ask me, I'd be like that's okay, you don't have to answer, you know I don't have a favorite book.

Gretchen: 37:25

I read a very hilarious book and and it's just one of those short little books and it's about cats and it's like why I peed on that and it was hilarious.

Mel: 37:32

Okay, that's a great one. See that, could you know? Do you remember who wrote it so we can give a recommendation? I don't.

Gretchen: 37:40

I can get it to you, but I can't.

Mel: 37:44

I think it gives people ideas of different books they may not have heard of. Okay, if you could put anything on a billboard, what would you put on the billboard and why?

Gretchen: 37:56

I would just like to tell people to just be nice to everybody. We can all get along and everything is not a disaster. No, I agree. I think be nice to your fellow person would be a good thing to put on a billboard.

Mel: 38:15

Heck yeah, we all need a little kindness. The world's crazy enough, it is, I know. We just need a little kindness. The world's crazy enough, we don't it is. I know we just need to come together and I think a lot of times we need to just give grace to our neighbor and the person on the other end of the either our phone or tablet or whatever.

Gretchen: 38:33

So yeah, yeah, and you never know what's going on in everybody else's world. But be nice and give grace. I like that, that's like, that's that's how, and and hope they listen right, and hope they listen.

Mel: 38:47

If they don't, whatever, that's right, that's not my problem, but anyway, we are so grateful and honored to have you with us. Um, like I said, I'll probably have 14 000, but that's okay. We have on camera Gretchen saying that she will come back at some point, so she can't go back on that.

Gretchen: 39:09

It would be my pleasure. It's been fun. I love visiting, I love talking about what I do and how to help, and not that I like some massive encyclopedia of information.

Mel: 39:18

Right, but you are in that environment all the time, so I think that does come with, you know, credibility. So, and we look to perina's website and we do try and point others to it. This is not a promotion for perina. We love perina, we do work with perina, but this has nothing to do with perina. I just am fascinated by Gretchen and what she does, and it is a little humanizing to humanize that. There are some amazing people behind the brands that you see online, and Prerna just happens to be one of them. So we are grateful.

Gretchen: 39:55

Yeah, and we, we like opportunities like this to let everybody know that you know, trina is a company, but there's really good people behind that brand and people that care about what we're sending out, people that care about the people that are feeding our products, people that want to help whoever needs help and has questions. You know I mean there's so. So, yeah, there's the company and then there's the people, and, and, and, honestly, the people, like I said earlier, is what is what keeps me here, because it's a lot of really good people that that are just here to to do good things for animal owners.

Mel: 40:33

I agree, and y'all have earned a spot on our world famous Wilma the Wonderhands podcast.

Gretchen: 40:42

We appreciate that. We appreciate the folks that put that trust in us and want to do that so so we thank you.

Mel: 40:49

You are more than welcome, but that's it for now. Thanks, gretchen.

Gretchen: 40:54

Okay, yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate the invitation and I look forward to part two.