8 NATIONAL CATTLEMEN
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STATE BEEF COUNCILS
Building beef demand by inspiring, unifying and supporting an effective state/national checkoff partnership.
BQA, States Join Forces for Feedyard Assessment By Chase DeCoite, Associate Director, Beef Quality Assurance Program Over the past 30 years the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program has built its success on being a nationally coordinated, state implemented partnership. This summer that commitment was on display as the checkoff funded BQA program sponsored an internship for Kansas State University veterinary students to conduct BQA Feedyard Assessments throughout Kansas. When the dust had settled, 74 feedyards had completed the assessment conducted by six KSU veterinary students in June and July. The assessments were a collaboration between KSU, Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas Beef Council and NCBA, which manages BQA on behalf of the Beef Checkoff Program. Because of the tremendous success in Kansas similar projects will occur this fall in Nebraska and Iowa. “I am extremely pleased that the BQA
program was able to partner with KSU veterinary students to assist feedyards across Kansas in conducting BQA Feedyard Assessments,” said Josh White, NCBA executive director for producer education. “The commitment of these students is impressive and is demonstrated by the number of feedyards assessed or re-assessed in a short window of time.” These efforts are significant because of the increasing interest among consumers about where their food comes from, and the industry’s efforts to be more transparent. The BQA Feedyard Assessment is an industry tool that allows producers to share with consumers their commitment to producing high quality beef. The demand by industry stakeholders and consumers for producers to take part in the BQA Feedyard Assessment is growing and BQA is doing all it can to help producers through this process. The assessment is designed to help
producers set benchmarks in their journey of continuous improvement; results of the assessment are not shared with anyone except those who the individual feedyard chooses. The Feedyard Assessment can help feed yards
gain insight as to what is working and what can be improved on their operation. For more information on the BQA Feedyard Assessment and other BQA resources visit www.bqa.org.
Producer Families are Focus of New Wyoming Website, Marketing Wyoming beef producers are in the spotlight for the Wyoming Beef Council as it introduces its newly redesigned website, wybeef.com. The council is featuring Wyoming producers on its website and in its marketing efforts to help introduce U.S. and Wyoming millennial consumers to the ranchers and farmers who produce nutritious, wholesome and delicious beef. Included with the information about the ranching and farming families are recipes that will appeal to today’s consumers. The Graves family, with a fourth generation now on their operation in Platte County, Wyo., is one of 11 families to be featured on the inaugural launch of the new site. Jim and Donita Graves run a cow-calf operation that approaches ranching as a business, not just a lifestyle. Their son, Josh, his wife, Jill, and their two daughters, Jadea and Jessie, also live and work on the ranch. “Featuring stories about Wyoming ranching families and their favorite recipes continues to resonate with millennials, and
Wyoming Beef Council
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they are among our most frequently visited web pages,” according to Ann Wittmann, WBC executive director. “The Graves family is a top notch example of Wyoming ranchers and stewards of the land.” Explore stories of this and other Wyoming operations being highlighted in the WBC site at www.wybeef.com/meet-our-ranchers. NCBA IT Services assisted with the redesign and launch of the WBC website. It’s one of about nine state beef council sites that have been and will be launched with NCBA expertise and assistance this fiscal year.
BPOC Federation Members
Wyoming is using their website to spotlight those who produce beef with their redesigned website; among them the Graves family: pictured here, Jim and Donita with their son, Josh, daughter-in-law Jill, and granddaughter Jadea.
Members of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee met in September to allocate funding for the 2017 Beef Checkoff Program (BPOC). Half of the 20-member committee are selected by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, and half by the Federation of State Beef Councils. Representing the Federation at the Committee meeting were: (back row,
left to right) Steve Hanson (Federation chairman and BPOC vice chairman, Nebraska); Scott McGregor, (Iowa); Gary Deering (South Dakota); Austin Brown III (Texas); Brent Buckley (Hawaii); Jerry Effertz (Federation vice chairman, North Dakota); (front row, left to right) Barb Downey, (Kansas); Kristin Larson (Montana); Dawn Caldwell (Nebraska); and Clay Burtrum (Oklahoma).
Future Dietitians in Kansas Receive Focused Beef Training Students enrolled in dietetic internship programs at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City and Kansas State University in Manhattan were provided enriched beef education recently, thanks to the Kansas Beef Council. About 30 dietetic interns and faculty participated in the two checkoff-funded events, designed to provide accurate information about, and practical experience with, beef to future professionals in the field. These individuals will deliver dietary advice to thousands of patients and clients during their future careers.
Beef nutrition information at the events was provided by KBC Director of Nutrition Audrey Monroe, RD, LD, while cattle raising information was shared by White City, Kan., rancher Debbie Lyons-Blythe and Wamego, Kan., rancher Barb Downey, who is a Federation member of the Beef Promotion Operating Committee and a former KBC chair. Daren Williams, NCBA senior executive director of communications, presented tips on responding to media questions and conducting on-air cooking demonstrations. This was the fifth year KBC has conducted dietitian events targeted to university interns. For a visual glimpse of this year’s training in Kansas, go to KBC YouTube page.
Rancher Debbie Lyons-Blythe details cattle raising practices to future Kansas dietitians at a Kansas Beef Council-sponsored event.