Yesterday, I attended Cargill’s Starting Strong 2009 Feedlot Seminar in Brookings, S.D. The event was loaded with dynamic speakers and pertinent information for today’s cattleman. Presenters included South Dakota State University’s Dr. Robbi Pritchard and Dr. Ben Holland, Cargill’s Dr. Pablo Guiroy, Pfizer’s Dr. Gerald Stokka, Kansas State University’s Dr. Mike Apley and Randy Blach from Cattle-Fax. Today, and in the upcoming weeks, I will post interviews with these folks, and hopefully, they will provide some good information to those of you that weren’t in attendance at this event. Listen below to my first interview with Gerald Stokka, DVM, about the major points in his speech, “Handling and Acclimation of Receiving Cattle.”

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What is the best cattle breed for today’s economic conditions? Answer that question in the BEEF Daily Summer Sweepstakes for fun prizes! Contest ends Monday, July 13, 2009.

Have you heard of the Masters of Beef Advocacy Program? This program is an e-learning opportunity developed to assist producers across the country in becoming effective spokespersons for the industry. The program consists of six, 1-hour core courses for the 2009 fiscal year: beef safety, beef nutrition, animal care, environmental stewardship, modern beef production and the beef checkoff. Earlier this summer, I promised MBA alumni spotlights, and so far we have met Danielle Johnson and Dale and Cliff Pfundstein. Today’s alumni spotlight is Brady Smith. Let’s meet Brady and listen to what he has to say about beef industry issues today.

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Strong winds, rain and hail couldn’t stop the Kingsbury County Grazing Tour in DeSmet, S.D. last night. I attended the event, along with 40 other interested producers, to learn more about quality, effective grazing systems. Featured producers included Bruce Penner and Gary Noem. In addition to hearing their stories, several speakers from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) addressed the crowd on topics including: planting cover crops, fighting weeds, understanding growing seasons, grazing paddocks and calculating vegetation composition and available grazing days.

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I spent the weekend at the Illinois Beef Association Summer Conference, where I presented a workshop, “Table Truths in a New York Minute.” The theme this year is “Reclaiming our Legacy,” and I was joined on the program by several dynamic speakers including radio personality, Trent Loos, Masters of Beef Advocacy trainer, Daren Williams, and world economic policy analyst, Ross Korves. Hot topics of the event were climate change legislation, HSUS agenda, global market economics and agriculture advocacy. Throughout the conference, I met a group of incredibly dynamic individuals, including father-son due, Dale and Cliff Pfundstein of Sterling, IL. Cliff has returned home to the family’s cattle operation, and they detailed the many challenges facing multi-generation ranches. Listen to what they have to say about this topic.

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What’s the biggest issue facing the beef industry today? Answer that question in the BEEF Daily Summer Sweepstakes by noon today for your chance to win cool prizes!

Have you heard of the Masters of Beef Advocacy Program? This program is an e-learning opportunity developed to assist producers across the country in becoming effective spokespersons for the industry. The program consists of six, 1-hour core courses for the 2009 fiscal year: beef safety, beef nutrition, animal care, environmental stewardship, modern beef production and the beef checkoff. Throughout the summer months, I will be highlighting some of the dynamic people involved in the MBA Alumni Program. Today’s featured individual is Danielle Johnson from Navarre, OH, and she is dedicated to telling the beef production story. Listen to her podcast to learn more about her background, her thoughts on the industry and how you can get involved in sharing the agriculture story!

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Last Thursday, I traveled to Humboldt, S.D. to the farm site of S.D. Secretary of Agriculture Bill Even to listen to Dr. Temple Grandin speak. While at the farm, Grandin talked to producers about best animal handling practices, and following her presentation, she walked the crowd through Secretary Even’s facilities and showed us places where he could improve the work sight. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Grandin for BEEF Daily. I hope you’ll take a minute to hear what she has to say about livestock handlers and animal behavior. Thanks, Dr. Grandin, for the interview!

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