Chewing The Cud

Online shopping is risky business. but these days I find myself typing my Visa card more than swiping it at the store. Last week, after months of research, I finally decided to order a new camera for my photojournalism class at South Dakota State University. I found a store online that would offer me discounted prices, perfect for my college kid budget. I purchased a Canon Rebel Xsi, and I anxiously waited the two-four business days for its arrival.

The day the UPS man showed up at my front door, I quickly signed for the package and ran to my room to look at my camera. It was like Christmas morning as bubble wrap flew across the tiny bedroom I call home. It was all there: the shiny camera, the telephoto lens, the memory card, lens cleaning kit, battery charger and a bag to throw it all in. I loved it, and I couldn’t wait to try it out. Despite the fact that figuring out the aperture, shutter speed, focus, zoom and white balance to produce the perfect picture made my brain spin, I knew I had to try out the camera at a real location as soon as possible

I was headed to a cattle ranch, the place where beautiful pictures are born and conquered. My grandparents had their 50th Anniversary Golden Opportunity Female Sale last weekend at their South Dakota ranch. In 1958, my grandpa, Arnold Wienk, met and fell in love with his wife Carol. That same year, they were married and bought their first Charolais cow. Now, fifty years later, they still have the same love for each other and the Charolais breed. Needless to say, yesterday was a great day for celebrating family and the beef industry on the ranch.

As customers gathered for a hamburger feed prior to the sale, I was snapping photos like crazy. Yet, I was having a little trouble getting them to turn out. And every year, my grandpa has ring men to catch the bids from the crowd. These men are always from the local agriculture publications. So in essence, the who’s who of the agricultural journalism industry was all at my grandpa’s sale to help out. That meant I was extremely self-conscious as I fumbled to find the perfect setting for my camera.

I need not have worried however. The shininess and new smell of my camera had all of the journalists gathered around to check out my new equipment. As I answered their questions about my camera and talked about lenses that I might need in the future, suddenly they threw out advice on writing style, photography lessons and opportunities that I might enjoy once I graduate.

That day, I learned that we may not always be the best at everything. There will always be someone that has spent an extra day in the field, another hour at a desk or a lifetime perfecting the skills you dream to someday have. The great thing about agriculture, though, is that everyone involved is always willing to offer a helping hand. The journalists had laid down their pens for the weekend to help my grandpa with his sale and to help a student with her professional career.

Maybe online shopping isn’t so bad. After all, typing in those credit card numbers might cost me an arm and a leg, but the opportunities it leads me to are definitely priceless.

If it is to be it is up to me

I was working cattle the other day when I learned that the operating committee for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board met last week in Nashville and decided not the fund the American National Cattlewomen’s Beef Ambassador program. I have volunteered to work with these kids for the past five years and the progress that I have seen in each team, from the time they start until they finish, was simply unbelievable. I have also witnessed them in their element, taking on meatless agendas and the people behind them. The time spent with the program and the kids has led me to believe that it is the best investment we make with beef check-off dollars.

I fully understand that when you are attempting to allocate funds and your funds have been cut by $7 million, you must do things that you don’t want to do. But the truth of the matter is that we all make choices based on our priorities each and every day. You can do anything that you have a commitment to, if you so choose. The Beef Ambassador program has been operating on $118,000 annually. To think that you could train and support five young beef producers on this meager budget and use them to make over 20 million impressions on consumers about the importance of the beef industry is just hard to even imagine and yet that is exactly what they have done.

You and I are part of the problem here. One area that saw the smallest amount of cut in the budget for 2009 was producer education. Did you know that they have once again authorized $2 million dollars to do nothing but tell cattle producers what the check-off actually does to help cattlemen? Granted, if some money wasn’t spent on this education program, we would have an even bigger wreck in regard to cattlemen understanding the value of the research, development and promotion of the beef products we produce.

So here is where I circle back to where I started. I do understand the joys and rewards of sitting in the saddle and rounding up the cattle. I get that sense of satisfaction in administering animal health products to provide for the health well-being of my cattle. But at the end of the day if we are not educating our consumers, that person in the high end restaurant will not see the value in a $44 dollar piece of prime beef. More importantly, college kids will continue their trend of eliminating meat from their diets completely. Or soccer moms will choose a plant-based product for their kids because they just read in Time magazine that our consumption of beef is causing global warming.

For some reason, our industry leaders don’t believe grass-roots initiatives like the Beef Ambassadors are effective at reaching our consumers and instead we need professional “agency” people. Well, I couldn’t disagree more. First of all, what agency will even look at you for $118,000? None. Secondly, what happened to the old cliché of “pride of ownership”? “Local” food is all the rage and consumers are encouraged to get to know the people that produce the food they buy. Consumers now want to hear from the person who tends to the animals and protects the environment. Instead of giving them what they want and introducing them to our great stewards of natural resources and providers of great products, we have decided it is better, or maybe just easier, to let a third-party be the voice for our producers.

I believe it is time we step up and take a stand for the future of our industry, forget about the Beef Board operating committee and take this matter into our own hands. We have a group of women that have dedicated thousands of hours of effort into training the future leaders of our industry at the state, local and national level. We have a program in place that makes 20 million media impressions, 115,000 consumer impressions and 24,000 student impressions in just one year. Most of these kids are far better spokesmen and much more in-tune with consumers than the good old boys that gather for coffee every morning and cuss about the markets.

It’s time the Beef Ambassador program gets the support it deserves. I urge you to contact any member of the American National Cattlewomen or go to their website (www.ANCW.org) and do what you can to support this great program. Your contributions can be mailed to ANCW, PO Box 3881, Englewood CO 80155. Be sure to put Beef Ambassador in the memo. Our donations will be the best investments we can make to help preserve the future of the industry that we love.

Also, send your thoughts to the operating committee at...

Dave Bateman
Chair of Operating Committee
6653 Illinois State Route 2 North
Oregon, IL 61061

Or send emails to mybeefcheckoff.com

I'm a sad girl these days, and I will soon reveal why. But first--have I told you all what I have been up to these days? With school and work, I doubt I have filled you in on much lately. Don't give up on me though. There is plenty of energy left in me to talk alot about the beef cattle industry these days. I'm really excited to say that my internship with BEEF Magazine this summer has lead to a part-time, freelance position with BEEF Daily. BEEF Daily is the current news and views of the industry, hosted by yours truly. It contains a blog, comments section, news and summaries, and of course, YOU. I need you to stop by, read by blog and comment on the articles that I provide. In this way, we can start disseminating the huge issues facing the beef industry today. Check it out today!

And now, for the sad news of the millenium. Last week, the Beef Program Operating Committee met to discuss the 2009 Fiscal Year for the Beef Checkoff Program. Sadly, they decided to CANCEL THE NATIONAL BEEF AMBASSADOR PROGRAM. Yes, you read correctly. This premier, youth leadership program has been cancelled. Do you know that these young people travel the country promoting beef where cattle producers aren't abundant? When I served as the National Beef Ambassador in 2006, we did promotions extensively on both coasts where the people are everywhere, and agriculture has no voice. And guess what? We were listened to because we were young, energetic and passionate about the beef cattle industry.

To read more about the decisions made by the Operating Committee and my further commentary, head to BEEF Magazine.

Also, I encourage everyone to write letters to the Operating Committee expressing your disappointment about the NBAP. I truly believe these were Checkoff Dollars well spent!

Dave Bateman
Chair of Operating Committee
6653 Illinois State Route 2 North
Oregon, IL 61061

Or send emails to mybeefcheckoff.com

Last summer, I got a call from a Vietnam veteran and cattle producer from Kansas. His name was Bill Broadie, and he had a mission. He wanted to start a non-profit organization to host steak feeds for soldiers returning from the war.

Immediately interested, I listened on as Bill filled me in on the details. I kept thinking in my head, this is impossible, it will never work. How will we make this happen? With God's great help and a little luck, the All-American Beef Battalion was born.

Since then, the AABB has been on the move, hosting several feeds for both returning and leaving troops. The emotions run high as these soldiers show gratitude for these cattle producers. I have never seen a group more supportive then the AABB, and I'm proud to be a part of them.

Get involved now. Make a donation to Steaks For Troops today!

I found this online at Succesful Farming. Thought I would share it with all of you!

You know you live in a small town when...

- Your city limits signs are both on the same post!
- The city jail is called amoeba, because it only has one cell
- The McDonalds only has one Golden Arch
- The one-block-long Main Street dead ends in both directions
- The phone book has only one page
- There's nothing doing every minute
- The ZIP code is a fraction
- Second Street is in the next town over
- There's no place to go that you shouldn't
- A "Night on the Town" takes only 11 minutes
- The mayor had to annex property to eat a foot-long hot dog
- The New Year's baby was born in October

Happy Friday! :)

Amanda

After two state fairs, moving from Minneapolis to Mitchell to Brookings, and attending my first day of classes at South Dakota State University, I’m done scrambling from one place to another, and I’m ready to start getting down to the nitty-gritty issues in agriculture today.

Socrates once said, “I cannot teach a man anything; I can only make them think.”
As college students across the country travel back to their universities, leaving family, friends and their farms behind, this is a quote that carries great weight into the upcoming school year.

For agriculture students, this quote means that professors will lecture, tests will be given and grades will be posted. It also means that burning questions will be answered, new ideas will be formed and old traditions will be challenged by the advancing practices of this era.

Unfortunately, this quote doesn’t address those questions that seem to have no answers. The questions about how to make a profit amidst the ever-rising costs of livestock production, how to pass down the farm to the next generation, how to make the decision to expand, sell-out or maintain the same pace in order to succeed in these challenging times…And the list goes on and on.

For farm kids attending college this fall, it’s important for us to not only pay attention in class, to the news and to the market reports, but also to the logistics of individual operations. Who are the most successful? Who have failed, and what did they do wrong? How do we learn from the best and brightest and from those that didn’t make the cut in agriculture? What can we apply from our lectures in college to better our own operations?

While the tests may not answer these questions, it is crucial for young people to start weighing out the tough decisions during their college careers. Maybe the professors and classes don’t offer the perfect solutions to all of the difficult challenges facing agriculture today, but they do offer students the opportunity to learn and ask questions, to seek knowledge and grow in their passions for food production.

I guess Socrates was right. Thought provoking conversations may always be more important than the lessons we learn in class; however, there is always value in a strong education. And as for the parents: if your son or daughter has the desire to stay in livestock production, help them out. Transition and change are hard, but the consequences of turning away a young person from a career in agriculture is insurmountable.

It's been a long time since I have visited my blog and chatted with all of you. In the past two weeks, I have....

1.Moved out of my apartment in Minneapolis
2. Attended the Minnesota State Fair
3. Drove 4.5 hours back to South Dakota dropped off my belongings at school in Brookings.
4.Drove home to Mitchell to help get ready for state fair and finish packing for school.
5. Attended the South Dakota State Fair with my family and five head of cattle.
6. Moved everything back to Brookings.
7. Went to my first day of class. My very last first day of school as I graduate in May!

Hoofta, that was quite a list...I'm spinning circles! Well, now that I'm back, it's time to start up the conversation once again. I have had several requests to discuss certain beef breeds such as...

A. Miniature Dexters
B. Grass-fed Scottish Highlanders
C. Beef Masters

So you tell me, what do you know about these breeds? What intrigues you about them? Let's talk.