Where's Your Beef Tag?

Of course it's on the front of your car or truck, but  where is that? Maybe its in front of your favorite steak house, on vacation, at a tailgate party, or somewhere else. Wherever it is, good for you!

Now, we're asking you to take a picture of yourself and your beef tag to post on the wall of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association's Facebook page. Go ahead, snap away and post them yourselves. Let's show everyone how much we love BEEF in Alabama!

To visit the ACA's home on Facebook, click here.

Producer Profile: Sam Pinyan of Holly Pond, AL

This installment of Producer Profiles goes to Cullman County to highlight Sam Pinyan and his family in Holly Pond.

The Pinyans operate a multi-generation farm focusing on cow-calf production, poultry, stockers, and row crops. Just as they work together, they play together as well; travelling around the country participating in junior livestock shows.

We hope you enjoy this opportunity to get to know another cattleman in Alabama who works every day to provide high quality beef for you and your family.

The Interactive Meat Case

Imagine being able to go to the grocery store, pick up a package of beef from the meat case, and immediately know more about it. Image being able to know how to prepare it, how to cook it, how to serve it. Imagine too being able to immediately see a list of recipes highlighting the very piece of beef in your hand.

Well, imagine no more. This experience is now a reality thanks to the Interactive Meat Case featured on BeefitsWhatsforDinner.com.

A New Look for Bamabeef.org

There's big news to share. After months of work drafting, editing, and designing, the renovation of Bamabeef.org is complete and now published for all to see.

This project was a direct response to a directive from association leaders to make the organization's flagship online platform more interactive, intuitive, and attractive. In short, this is an online facelift well deserved by one of the nation's largest and most active state cattlemen's associations.

We hope you're able to navigate and use the new website with ease and that you make use of the functionality of being able to pay online for membership, merchandise, and more.

Thanks to Erica, Steve, and the rest of the team at EDJE Technologies for their hard work on the site. Your help in making our vision a reality is greatly appreciated. To learn more about the impressive work done by the EDJE team, visit them by clicking here.

 

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it" - Dizzy Dean

Since 1994, the Cullman County Cattlemen's Association has served more than 22 tons of ribeye steaks; 22.175 to be exact. That's the running total of a bi-annual steak sandwich sale in which members of the county's cattlemen's association cook and sell sandwiches with the primary purpose to promote beef and encourage hungry consumers to eat more of it.

The head wrangler and chief historian of this effort is Edwin Calvert of Cullman. Along with a small army of volunteers, this promotion effort grew from two small grills working off the back of two pick-up trucks in September of 1994 to a well-oiled machine churning out demand-building meals over an open charcoal fire.

Their first stab at the 2-day steak sandwich sale saw 1800 steaks leave the grill to be devoured by eager patrons. The most recent event, held the weekend of September 4th, required 5,192 steaks to get the job done. Since 2005, the cooking team averages 359 steaks per hour on Fridays and 333 steaks per hour on Saturdays. In total, they've used 132,619 steaks for these sandwich sales and when you factor in their annual meetings since '94, the cattlemen in Cullman County have used over thirty and a half tons of ribeye steaks.

No, it's not bragging in Cullman County. Our hat goes off to Edwin Calvert and the hard working volunteers from the Cullman County Cattlemen's Association and the Cullman County Cattle Women's Association.

A Hometown Favorite

As for those of us sitting in the crowd during the opening ceremony, we could hear the difference as the contestants were introduced. California, Texas, Mississippi, and on down the list went Kyle Shobe as he called out the hometowns of the auctioneers competing in the first qualifying contest for the title of 2011 World Livestock Auctioneer Champion. Each one tipped or waved his hat as he walked the half moon across the auction ring at the Montgomery Stockyards on September 13th.

Then came one auctioneer who drew more applause than any other. His starched red shirt contrasting against a necktie of spurs and lariats, his glossy black boots and his pressed palm leaf hat; this one was a hometown favorite. With a quick paced step and a toothy grin to the grandstand, Billy Younkin tipped his hat before donning his game face.

That was the start of the competition for a man from the town of Cecil who chants, rattles, and eyes bids while selling cattle each week here in Alabama.

Congratulations to Billy on your accomplishment. You worked your way through a talented field of 29 auctioneers to be named runner-up Champion of the day's contest and earned a chance to move on to compete next June in South Carolina at the 48th World Livestock Auctioneer Championship.

To learn more about this event, please visit the Livestock Marketing Association's website by clicking here.

To all the auctioneers who participated in the contest in Montgomery, congratulations and thanks for visiting the Alabama Cattlemen's Association building and The MOOseum while you were in town.

Producer Profile: Johnny Morrow of Tuscaloosa, AL

Too often, we take good leaders for granted. When this happens, we miss the opportunity to really get to know these people and learn from them.

One man who's certainly gained the respect of his fellow cattlemen as a leader is Johnny Morrow of Tuscaloosa County. His farm, actually located in Greene County, is known as a source of high quality females to replacement heifer buyers in this part of the world. As well, feeder calf buyers around the country are quickly learning to associate the Morrow Farms name with high performing, profitable cattle.

Johnny too has gained a positive reputation by simultaneously serving as president of the Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, president of the Tuscaloosa County Cattlemen's Association, and as a Regional Vice President of the Alabama Cattlemen's Association.

Need help paying for college?

If you know someone who could use some help paying for college, keep reading.

Each year, the children and grandchildren of ACA members are eligible for more than $20,000 in scholarships awarded through the Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation. Most of these scholarships are funded through the sale of the "Cowboy Tag" you've likely seen on the back of cars and trucks on the highway here in Alabama.

Each time someone goes to their local tag office to renew their license plate, they have the option to get a "Cowboy Tag" instead of the standard Alabama plate.Of the $50 that you pay to get the "Cowboy Tag", about forty five dollars comes to the Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation and is used to fund these scholarships and other educational programs.

Please pay careful attention to each and every scholarship offered and be sure to send in an application for each one that may apply to you. Each scholarship has its own criteria and no one person is eligible for each scholarship.

These scholarships will be awarded at the 2011 ACA Convention & Trade Show to be held February 11-12 at the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center located in the renovated downtown district of Montgomery.

For more information on these scholarships, please click here. Remember, applications are due to the ACA office on December 3, 2010.

Producer Profile: Jimmy Sealy of Uniontown, AL

There are a lot of good stories to tell within the beef industry in Alabama. Stories of yesteryear and bigger than life personalities. Stories of high-sellers, test-winners, and national awards. If a few don't pop into your mind immediately, you probably ought to try spending more time with folks who've been around a while; it'll be well worth your time.

Too often, the stories that go untold are the ones right in front of us. These are the tales of people we know who're working hard day in and day out to make this industry better; people that pull together as a family and stick it out as the cattle market dives and pitches through highs and lows.

In this installment of Producer Profiles, we take a short minute to look at the family behind Alabama Livestock Auction in Uniontown, AL. This is one of 24 stockyards in the state, and like the rest, the job of hosting an auction week after week isn't an easy one. As you'll see though, the Sealy family embraces this way of life.



To learn more about Alabama Livestock Auction, you can visit their website by clicking here.