Remembering Dan Williams, by Clint Reese

the event live, there’s a vast array of key insights and action items to glean from session recordings led by subject matter experts.”

Highlights from the impressive lineup of speakers and sessions include: • Jack Bobo, CEO of Futurity, pondered if animal agriculture can come together to “save the planet.” • Three long time agriculture advocates, Brandi Buzzard, Debbie Lyons-Blythe, and Carrie Mess discussed how their advocacy efforts have changed over time and how they have adapted to be more effective in their outreach and engagement. • Danette Amstein of Midan Marketing and Maeve Webster of Menu Matters shared current consumer trends and how to make the most of them. • Aaron Putze, senior director of

Any news from your county? Be sure to share your meetings, sales, field days, etc., with your fellow cattlemen through the Connection!

information and education at Iowa Soybean Association, discussed how we can move forward with a “Mindset Relationship” and focus on the things that matter most.

All available session recordings from the 2022 Summit can be viewed at bit.ly/3AqAE5R. To read a condensed overview of insights shared at the event, check out the highlights report.

The 2023 Summit is set for May 4-5 at the Renaissance Arlington Capitol View Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Check the Summit website for the most up to date information. You can also follow the hashtag #AAA23 for periodic updates on social media. For general questions about the Summit, please email summit@ animalagalliance.org or call 703-5625160.

Get involved - Show your support for the Alliance’s outreach efforts by becoming an official 2023 Summit sponsor! For more information on 2023 sponsorship opportunities, contact Casey Kinler at ckinler@animalagalliance.org.

Thank you again to our 2022 Summit sponsors: Watt Global Media, Farm Journal, Meatingplace, National Pork Producers Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Board, American Feed Industry Association, United Egg Producers, Dairy MAX, Adisseo, Progressive Dairy, Kemin, American Farm Bureau Federation, Empirical, American Veal Association, National Chicken Council, Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, N.C. Farm Bureau, and Eggland’s Best.

The Alliance also thanks the following members for their continued support of Summit and other Alliance programs: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, Zoetis, Merck Animal Health, C.O.nxt, Diamond V, Genus PLC – PIC/ABS, Aviagen Group, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cargill, Dairy Farmers of America, Hendrix Genetics, Hy-Line North America LLC, Iowa Soybean Association, Midwest Dairy, National Turkey Federation, Nutrien, Provimi North America,Inc., Seaboard Foods, and Tyson Foods Inc.

About the Animal Agriculture Alliance. The Alliance safeguards the future of animal agriculture and its value to society by bridging the communication gap between the farm and food communities. We connect key food industry stakeholders to arm them with responses to emerging issues. We engage food chain influencers and promote consumer choice by helping them better understand modern animal agriculture. We protect by exposing those who threaten our nation’s food security with damaging misinformation.

Submitted by CLINT REESE

Dan Williams, who died much too young, was destined to become a livestock auctioneer. Dan was born on February 10, 1951, in Boone and was a lifelong resident. He died on August 10, 2022, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

His granddad, Ed Williams, was a livestock auctioneer and sold livestock at the Boone Livestock Market when the facility was located in Town. His dad, Hite Williams, was a noted livestock auctioneer and sold livestock at the Asheville Livestock Market for many years, as well as other locations in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Dan, with a business degree from Appalachian State University, was to inherit the talents of his forefathers and also apply his business training in his livestock endeavors.

Dan was no ordinary auctioneer. He was a world class auctioneer who won the World Livestock Auctioneering contest in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1982. To date, he is the only person to hold that title from the great state of North Carolina. His sponsor for the competition was the Horney brothers, who operated the Siler City Livestock Market in Chatham County and the Turnersburg Livestock Market in Iredell County, where Dan was an established auctioneer for both markets.

Livestock auctioneers are loosely classified into two categories; those who sell mostly purebred livestock and those who sell commercial cattle that normally come through regular sales at livestock facilities. Dan initially started selling commercial cattle and later sold purebred sales. He also expanded into selling automobiles and a variety of other sales where bids are taken at whatever kind of sale. Dan was talented and flexible and able to adjust to almost any situation or kind of sale.

Morris Fannon, an auctioneer from Virginia, was probably the first auctioneer to sell cattle directly off the farm in North Carolina. The buyers would have been onsite where the cattle were located. Later, as producers and cattle buyers became more comfortable with this type of sale, telephones were used to connect buyers with the sale and auctioneer. Some auctioneers did not adjust easily to taking bids over the phone while also taking bids from buyers who were present. Dan was one who could really handle the phone professionally.

Later, as tele-auctions became more prevalent and buyers trusted the description of the cattle on the farm, many chose to stay at home and purchase cattle by phone. Several sales were conducted later, where the telephone conference call was set up at the N.C. Cattlemen’s Association office with the buyers and auctioneer at their respective locations. Dan handled many of these sales.

Growing up around the stockyard and his family’s involvement in the cattle business, he continued this love by raising cattle in North Carolina and Tennessee. He developed many lifelong friendships with farmers and producers throughout the Southeast and beyond. He was an instructor, a mentor, and a trusted advisor to many through the years. He took great pride in doing the very best job he could do, not only for the seller but also for the buyer.

His greatest joys were found in sharing life with his wife, his children, his grandchildren, and extended families and friends. He was very much a “people person” but found peace in the simple pleasures like watching the cattle grazing in the cool of the afternoon or the hummingbirds whizzing around the feeder on the back porch.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Nancy G. Williams, son, Ben Williams of Boone, son, Dr. J. Tyler Williams and wife Christy of Savannah, Ga., daughter, Hannah W. Phillips and husband Matt of Boone, and four grandchildren, Isaac Franklin-Williams of Boone, Ada, Elliott and Cash Williams of Savannah, Georgia. Brothers and sisters by marriage; Skip and Dee Greene; Ted and Connie Greene; and beloved nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his beloved parents, Hite and Reba Williams, and his in-laws, Perry and Theresa Greene.

In lieu of flowers, at Dan’s request, any memorial gifts can be made to:

Mount Lawn Cemetery Association P.O. Box 1787 Boone, NC 28607