Episode Details

A Wisconsin hoof trimmer who once used a flip phone now commands an audience of 880 million YouTube views — more reach than PETA and Mercy for Animals achieve with $102.7 million in combined annual spending. This episode unpacks how six real dairy operations across four countries built consumer trust with nothing but a phone, daily chores, and a willingness to show what actually happens in the barn. If you think social media is optional for your operation, the numbers in this episode will change your mind.

Key Takeaways:

• How Nate the Hoof Guy went from zero video experience to 1.7 million YouTube subscribers and 880 million views — and what his content reveals about why consumers trust raw footage over polished marketing
• The Fair Oaks Farms disaster: why the Midwest's premier agritourism destination — 600,000 visitors a year — collapsed overnight when undercover footage exposed the gap between the tour and the barn
• How MVP Dairy in Ohio makes a 4,500-cow operation feel personal by stacking B Corp certification, DairyCARE audits, and unpolished TikTok content — the combination that actually holds
• The New York dairy that killed a PETA-driven AP story before it ever ran, without spending a dollar on crisis PR
• What Chloe Payne's Cows of New Zealand — 325,000 Instagram followers built on named cows and honest grief — teaches about the content that keeps an audience coming back
• Why Big Farmer Andy's shift from humour to mental health advocacy matters for every isolated operator in the industry
• The barn math: what a 30-day processor contract loss actually costs a 300-cow operation at current milk prices — and why $121,500 in lost revenue reframes the value of 20 minutes a week

This episode goes beyond "should farmers use social media?" and into the strategic question underneath: who controls the public narrative about your barn, your cows, and your livelihood?

PETA spent $77.6 million last fiscal year. Mercy for Animals added another $25.1 million. That's $102.7 million from just two organizations — before counting Humane World for Animals, which dwarfs both. You're not going to outspend that. But six operations profiled in this episode are proving you can out-trust it.

You'll hear the specific patterns that separate farm content that builds durable trust from the polished agritourism model that shatters under scrutiny. The episode walks through three actionable paths — a 30-day phone test for any size operation, a 90-day weekly rhythm for producers ready to commit, and a 365-day audit-plus-content strategy for larger dairies where consumer perception is a direct business risk.

Read the full feature article with all sourced data, barn math calculations, and the three-path framework at https://www.thebullvine.com/dairy-industry/880m-views-vs-102-7m-nate-the-hoof-guy-and-farm-social-media-in-dairys-trust-fight/ — search "880M Views" or find it on our homepage.

Subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast so you never miss an episode. New episodes drop weekly with the data, the names, and the strategies the dairy industry needs to hear — whether it wants to or not.

Share this episode with a neighbour, your co-op fieldman, or anyone in your operation who thinks social media is "not for us." The question isn't whether your farm should be online. It's whether you want to control the story — or let someone with a $102.7 million budget tell it for you.

Join the conversation: tag @thebullvine on Facebook, Instagram, or X and tell us — who's telling your farm's story right now?