Empowering Women to Ranch

Jennie Hodgen, Ph.D., a sponsor and meat scientist on the Merck Animal Health Value Chain & Consumer Affairs team, agrees wholeheartedly with WIRED’s mission. “We have increasingly more females entering into the daily activities of ranching. We want to make sure we’ve equipped them with the same tools, and they learn in a hands-on manner. We try to educate with the whys and hows of why we use products.

“One of the most important things I think participants should take away from this is that there are a lot of resources available. We love tradition in this industry, but sometimes we need to make sure we are keeping up-todate with new products and handling techniques because we’ve learned so much in the past five to 20 years,” Hodgen said.

The agenda varies at each location. “We try to look for things significant in that region,” said WIRED Program

Director Tammi Didlot, a Red Angus producer for the past 12 years from Moore, Oklahoma. “We always want to focus on and keep in the integrity of our program the safety of you, your cattle and your operation.”

Oklahoma CattleWomen President and beginning Red Angus commercial producer Cheyenne Sparks said they try to have as many female presenters as possible because it makes it more comfortable when you are learning from other women.

“We just learn better from each other,” she said. “It’s all going to be very centric to making us all feel confident in our abilities.”

Live at WIRED

On Saturday, May 6, cattlewomen from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Kansas gathered at Payne Ranch outside Mustang, Oklahoma. Even a steamy 92-degree early summer day didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of 65 women ranging in age from 11 to 70plus years.

They may spend their weekdays as bankers, nurses, interior designers and genealogists, but on this day, each came together to learn more about the beef industry.

The morning kicked off with hands-on presentations from P&K Equipment, Merck Animal Health and Moly Manufacturing. The ladies learned about equipment safety, chuteside manners, implants, identification methods and vaccine handling.

Mid-day, participants moved down the road to the agritourism side of the Payne operation – Growing Paynes, a u-pick seasonal produce market. In addition to touring the site and learning about agritourism and consumer education, participants learned about animal nutrition, animal disease traceability and how personalities affect how you approach media.

Empowering Women to Ranch

The women also toured female-owned Backyard Butchery, Oklahoma’s only mobile processing unit.

When the Payne family was asked to host the WIRED event, Kelli Payne jumped at the opportunity. “We can always learn from each other. With the low cow numbers we’ve had in the drought, sharing the diversification piece was important for these ladies,” she said.

The Payne family dove into agritourism to diversify their operation in 2010. Payne said it’s an excellent way to tell beef’s story when customers come for produce. “We can certainly begin the conversation because they see our cattle running behind it.”

Payne is not new to breaking barriers for women. She was the first woman to be named president of the Oklahoma National Stockyards. She advises women who are trying to get more involved in the beef industry to remember everything is what you make it.

She said she hoped the women left the event inspired. “I want them to know that you’re not always successful overnight. You’ve got to work hard, but if we can do it, they can do it too.”

Amy McKinney, Cushing, Oklahoma, is a pharmacist by day, but she and her husband are building a herd using two

Red Angus bulls they recently purchased. They are selling beef locally, but efficiency is a factor with a job, a young family and a farm.

She said the equipment demonstration helped her learn how to easily connect and disconnect different implements for the tractors that she has sometimes struggled with on her own ranch.

“When you have a corporate job and then you have this, there’s only so many minutes in a day so the quicker and more efficient you can get, the better your operation is.”

Grace Baxter, an Oklahoma State Collegiate Cattlewoman from Dripping Springs, Texas, attended to make valuable connections with other cattlewomen from across the country. “Those opportunities you get to connect with individuals in the industry are going to help elevate you to a status that you want to be at after graduation.”

Besides the contacts she made, Baxter is returning home with new knowledge and inspiration. “The biggest thing I’ve learned today is to make the best with the resources you’ve been given.”

She added, “WIRED is a great learning opportunity and it’s at a discount- ed rate for college students. It’s an affordable option to get high-quality leadership experience and real-world hands-on learning.”

The Measure of Success

Didlot said when she reads the evaluations at the end and 100% of participants say they would come again, she realizes the impact of the program. “When you get that, you can tell yourself, ‘Mic drop – we’re good.’ That’s the icing on the cake.”

She shared that a Nebraska feedyard manager recently sent a group of ladies that worked for him to WIRED for hands-on training that helped them obtain their Beef Quality Assurance certification. “They gained so much from it and their energy and excitement told me, ‘Check, we’ve fulfilled our goal.’”

ANCW leaders share a commitment to keep this program going and growing. Going forward, Coffey said they are looking to evolve the program to include junior high and high school students around handling and safety measures, plus a transitional program that helps family members hand down the ranch to the next generation.

If you would like to find out more information about future WIRED events or other American National CattleWomen programs, visit ANCW.org. //