What is Youth Beef Team and why youth should join

Interested in learning more about the beef industry, meeting new friends, winning prizes or having fun? Then you need to join our Youth Beef Team (YBT)! The Youth Beef Team began in 1994 as a way to include youth in the Iowa Cattlemen’s organization and is sponsored by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Foundation. It is the flagship program that we offer to grow our future beef industry leaders.

Vital issues face the beef industry today. Every student encounters information in school and from the media on food safety, animal rights, the environment and nutrition. Our goal is to equip young cattlemen and women with information they need to speak out positively for the beef industry, pointing out the advantages beef offers to our health, our environment and our economy.

In addition to yearly awards, YBT members who are seniors are eligible to compete for up to three, $2,000 scholarships in the spring. Seniors submit an application, participate in a personal interview and give a presentation to the panel of judges.

Youth Beef Team is open to junior high and high school age kids who are interested and excited to promote the beef industry. These youth then receive training about various resources and skills on working with the consumers they encounter. After their training, members are encouraged to go out and promote beef through presentations to various groups, farm and school tours, submitting editorials or recipes to publications or social media, participating in ag fairs or working with other groups throughout their community and surrounding communities. These activities can be exceed the rental rates of the marginal land sought to be conserved) done as individuals or groups. Members earn points for their activities based on the type of activity and the people reached. At the end of the year, members are awarded prizes for the various levels of points attained and are recognized at a breakfast during the Iowa State Fair. In order to receive an award, youth must do at least five activities throughout the year.

• Allow responsible grazing as a management practice on buffer strips, headlands, and waterways (Passed) ICA membership also brought forward actionable resolutions in the Live Cattle Marketing Committee. There was unanimous support for ICA’s proposal to establish a working group to assess the efficacy of the recently launched Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program. Additionally, ICA worked with other state affiliates to introduce and enact Fed Cattle Pick-up Time, which promotes the adoption of an industry-wide practice for cattle to be picked up or delivered no later than seven days after the cattle are traded, unless otherwise negotiated at the time of trade.

Schedule A Training

If you are interested in scheduling a training session for your area, please contact Mary Greiman at mary@iacattlemen. org or call 641-425-1533 or 515-296-2266. Please visit our website: www.iowacattlemensfoundation.org for more information about the Youth Beef Team as well as all of our other activities.

April 2023