PROMOTING YOUR PRODUCT Illustrating the best throughout the Intermountain West By Western Livestock Journal Field Representative Logan Ipsen for the Utah Cattleman Ten years ago, I was looking for a way to help the breeders in Utah and surrounding states find a way to market their cattle throughout the intermountain region. As I had been traveling this area for both the American Angus Association and Western Livestock Journal, I had become familiar with many of the programs in knew of the quality that was grazing the pastures; however, many of these programs weren’t being recognized for that quality. I tried to figure out a way to help these programs tell their own story to an audience they could relate to. Working with a national organization and a national publication meant these programs would have to compete against programs from across the country and so we needed something on a more regional and local level. That lead to conversations with Brent Tanner at the Utah Cattlemen’s Association. Ironically, he was looking for a similar way to tell a story of UCA beyond what their monthly newsletter was providing at that time. From there, a collaborative project was born. We spent a lot of time enhancing and building their mailing list and I began to reach out to programs that might be interested in the idea. The 2014 Utah Cattlemen Seedstock Edition was the end result. In that inaugural year, I had hoped to be between 40 and 50 pages in the magazine but I quickly found out there was a much larger need for something like this as a first edition was 96 pages. That support laid the foundation as this book is now nine years strong. This could not have been accomplished without the support of readers, corporations, programs and individuals that have seen the value year after year. What a lot of people don’t realize is how important this magazine is to the Utah Cattlemen’s Association.
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Utah Cattleman Seedstock Edition
This magazine benefits UCA in many ways by helping spread the word on issues that Utah cattlemen and women are facing and how UCA is working on a daily basis to help ranchers lives. The adversing revenue also helps the association on a financial basis. When issues arise that require a financial commitment from UCA, this magazine assists in the general fund so that UCA can take on opponents of agriculture without membership dues having to bear all the costs. As we all know, the Beef Checkoff Program, which serves us all in imporant ways, is only able to promote our actual product – beef – to the consuming public through ad campaigns and nutrition research. Checkoff money can not be used for legislator education on ranching issues or on lobbying efforts toward important industry initiatives. For those special purposes other funds within our trade association are needed. UCA continues to publish their monthly newsletter with advertising opportunities and I encourage you all to subscribe to that in order to keep up with the plethora of the issues UCA takes on throughout the year on your behalf. Another benefit that I have seen on a personal level is being able to stay involved with many of these advertisers programs and have watched as many have developed their cattle and stayed competitive in today’s changing marketplace. As you flip through this magazine, please note all the quality programs and how they are striving to produce a product that works in so many different environments, have genetics that help drive demand for your calves or have products that help you with ...CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
VOLUME 8
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FEBRUARY 2022
