A different kind of cowboy contest

True, cowboys are known for flexing their muscles and proving their skills. Any number of rodeo events come to mind at this thought.


However, visitors to Montgomery, AL on September 13th will see a different type of cowboy contest, one which cattlemen should find particularly interesting.

Beginning with the opening ceremony to start at 12:30 p.m., the Montgomery Stockyards, LLC will host a Quarterfinal for the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship. Last year's World Champion Auctioneer, Kyle Shobe of Lewiston, MT, will serve as the MC of the contest.


This is a great opportunity to showcase Alabama to the rest of the country as this event will draw contestants and onlookers from far beyond the state's borders. We hope you're able to attend as the crew from MSY will also be hosting a customer appreciation day on this date.


For more on the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship Quarterfinal, please click here.

To visit Montgomery Stockyards, LLC and their new website, click here.

Learning to tell our own story

One thing you can say about being involved in the cattle business is that you never stop learning. Whether its new trends in production technologies or just a better way to fix fence, there's always something new to learn.

This said, maybe one thing we should all study up on is how to answer consumers questions about our industry. Let's face it, if less than 2% of our country's population is involved in production agriculture then the rest of the 98% probably has a few questions. Isn't it in our own best interest to be able to give them straight answers they can depend on?

One of the best resources provided by beef checkoff dollars are talking points on a variety of issues that come up every day. When a member of the media calls here to the ACA office, these talking points are an integral part of our play book for delivering fact-based comments.

 

Recently, Drovers Journal released an insert of Beef Industry Talking Points drawing upon information gathered using checkoff dollars. Our hat goes off to Drovers for compiling this making it available.

To read the all 13 pages of the document covering Communication, Food Safety, Hormones, Antibiotics, Factory Farms, Environment, Types of Beef, Nutrition, and Animal Welfare, please check out the link below:

Beef Industry Talking Points from Drovers Journal

Shipping Out for Afghanistan

Ask anyone who works in and around the beef industry, not only in Alabama, and find out what the best part of their job is. Likely, they'll say the people. The reason for this is because the folks involved in the beef industry/cattle business/farming/ranching are usually cut from a different cloth. They're a hard working bunch who know how to persevere and can find a silver lining in just about any situation. Take for example a cattlemen friend who, during the the drought this area experienced a couple of years ago, made a point to mention how mud hadn't really been a problem lately.

To this group of folks, an occasional pat on the back is certainly due. Part of the mission of the Bama Beef blog is to highlight these folks and tell their stories.

One such person who'll have the spotlight shined in his direction today is Dr. Terry Slaten of Cullman, AL. Up until last week, Dr. Slaten served as the Associate State Veterinarian for the state of Alabama and before that a large animal veterinarian in Cullman County. He is a past-president of the Cullman County Cattlemen's Association and former Regional Vice President of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association. In fact, during Dr. Slaten's tenure as CCCA president, the county's chapter membership totalled right around 800 members.

Now, Dr. Slaten is taking on a new challenge and shipping out to Kabul, Afghanistan as part of the U.S. Army Veterinary Service. His responsiblities will include overseeing military base food inspection operations as well caring for military service animals being employed in the war on terror.

We wish you luck Dr. Slaten, and a safe and speedy return.

Producer Profile: Ryan Solomon of Headland, AL

More and more, the discussion surrounding our nation's food supply is focusing on the source of food products. Rightly so, consumers are taking an interest and asking "where does my food come from?"

While some groups have used this opportunity to scare consumers into thinking that food is produced in big corporate factories, the true story behind where your food comes from actually carries a lot less sensationalism.

The fact is 98% of the beef farms and ranches in this country are family-owned; many of which are located right here in Alabama.

In the first of what we hope becomes a regular series here on the Bama Beef blog, we'd like to highlight one such beef producer and member of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association. We hope you enjoy this snapshot of a real cattleman in Alabama and that it helps you answer the question, "where does my food come from?"

Wrapping Up the AJCA Round-Up

A couple of weeks ago, on what has to have been one of the hottest weekends of the year, more than 150 families converged on the Garrett Coliseum grounds for the 4th Annual AJCA Round-Up. Despite temperatures creeping toward 100 and humidity hovering right around 75, folks actually had a good time.

Scratch that; we had a great time.Yes, it was hot, but the kids and parents who participated in the 12 different contests and events had a blast. Today, we've even got the pictures to prove it.

To all the volunteers and sponsors who pitched in their time and money, we say a big THANK YOU. To Ryan Clark and the rest of the AJCA Board of Directors who spent 5 days in Montgomery serving as the staff of the AJCA Round-Up, we say a big THANK YOU. Last but not least, to all the youth and parents who chose to come and spend the weekend with us, we can't say "thank you" enough. We hope you had fun, we hope you learned something, and we hope to see you back next year.

Click here for complete results and pictures from the 2010 AJCA Round-Up.

A couple of oldies but goodies

Over the years, the Alabama Cattlemen's Association has been involved in some pretty interesting projects revolving around promoting beef. Whether it was putting the first "Beef Wagon" out on the highways in the mid 60's or posing for pictures in victory lane at Talladega Super Speedway some 40 years later with a replica of that beef wagon, there certainly have been some memorable moments.

Recently, as we try to often do, several ACA staffers were cleaning and organizing in and around the ACA headquarters building when we ran across two original 45 rpm vinyl records. Not having a phonograph on hand, we were able to take the two records to a local sound studio in Montgomery and have them converted over to CDs so we could listen to them. Never a group to settle, we converted them one more time to MP3 format so that we could share them with you here.

These songs date back to approximately the Fall of 1965 and were recorded by local artist Jack Turner. E. Ham Wilson, ACA's first Executive Secretary, often asked Jack to perform at ACA events. Louise Wilson teamed up with several collaborators from within the ACA family to write the script for these and other songs over the years.

Enjoy:


"Beef Time"




"We're Eating More Beef Tonight"

A tribute to our friend Ed Whatley

Just about everybody who's been involved with the Alabama Cattlemen's Association over the last 40 years has gotten to know Ed Whatley. Starting in 1965 as the driver of the original "Beef Wagon", Ed's career with the Alabama Cattlemen's Association drew to a close last week.

Except for five years when he left to run a steakhouse and then a family-owned meat business, Ed has largely been the face of beef promotion in Alabama since '65. For all the people he's helped, mentored, and cooked for over the years, he has a great many friendships to carry with him into retirement.

Don't worry though, Ed will remain a part of the ACA family for years to come whether its pitching in during the ACA convention or the SLE rodeo. You may even see him around the state as he gets rolling with his custom catering business and his "Cattlemen's Steak Shake" seasoning.

Below is a short video shown at Ed's recent retirement party.



In case you're counting, this officially makes 3 posts in our opening day of the Bama Beef Blog. While we can't promise that type of per-day volume in the future, we do look forward to adding regular content of interest to this blog.

Have you visited The MOOseum?

If you haven't visited the ACA headquarters building in historic downtown Montgomery, you're missing a real treat. Not only is it one of the nicest cattlemen's association facilities in the country, but it also houses a pretty special museum on its first floor.

The MOOseum is something you have to see to believe. We hope this short video on the history of The MOOseum encourages you to visit:




Please call Sarah Gilliland to schedule group tours - 334-265-1867.

Here goes...

And we're off.

After much consideration and thought, here you find the inception of the official blog of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association. We hope you enjoy reading our posts in the future and find that they serve to keep you either informed, entertained, or some combination of the two.

There are several reasons for starting this endeavor but chiefly among them is the recent passage of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association 2010 Strategic Plan. In this plan is a directive to make more use of electronic communication tools to spread information to our members and supporters. We hope this venture also affords the opportunity to "put a face on the producer" by letting consumers get to know more about cattlemen here in Alabama.

Please, share with us your feedback and ideas as this project continues to grow and develop.