What's Going On Wednesday: June 29, 2016

We may sound like a broken record from the past couple of months, but where in the world did June go? It feels like just yesterday, we were welcoming June, summertime grilling and Beef for Father's Day. Now we are gearing up for the Fourth of July, the AJCA Round-Up, Alabama's Best Steak, Beef 101 programs and pretty soon, back to school season. 

Time flies when you're having fun, and your ACA staff has had a busy summer thus far with some big projects leading the way. This week is no exception to the crazy calendar, so take a break from that sweltering Alabama sunshine to enjoy finding out what's going on this week at the ACA. 

Tasting the Tot Roast

The time has finally come for the Bama's Best Beef plaque presentation. On Tuesday, contest coordinators Erin Beasley and Kayla Greer will met ACA Vice President Jack Batts and Madison County Cattlemen's Vice President Don Lyles to join in congratulating West End Grill's owners, kitchen and wait staff on an outstanding showing in the inaugural Bama's Best Beef contest. 

While there, the ACA will host a media conference and plaque presentation, as well as try out that delicious, beefy Tot Roast. Stay tuned for updates on if it passes the Beef Girl's muster. 

Lawson State Culinary School Visit

This morning, the Beef Girl is in Birmingham as Lawson State
Culinary School will be learning all about beef from pasture to plate. This school recently started working with the ACA to enhance their beef education by participating in BEEF 101 this past spring. After the course this week, we will begin planning a farm tour in the fall.

AJCA Round-Up

Save the dates and sign up today. The 10th annual AJCA Round-Up will be held July 21-24 at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. It's a busy week for Round-Up Coordinator Madison Tew as she is getting ready to close down registration and director application for the year, so get your submissions in by July 1 because we'd sure hate to not see you there. 

Madison is also busy working on sponsorships this week to help fund the show! All county cattlemen chapters are encouraged to sponsor the state's premier livestock youth development event. For questions or to submit a sponsorship, email Madison or call (334) 265-1867. 

A Stop to See Chef D

On the way up to visit West End Grill on Tuesday, ACA's Erin Beasley and Kayla Greer made a stop by Drake State Culinary School to visit Chef Darrell Echols. "Chef D" will be making a special appearance in The MOOseum renovation, and these two staffers are making it happen! Be looking to find this beef-loving chef in Slim's Kitchen...

Alabama Cattleman July Issue

The magazine staff here in the office are typing and designing away this week as the July magazine is about ready to head to press. Final article submissions, pictures, advertisements and edits are being added in preparation to send to over 16,000 people in the state of Alabama. 

Who's ready for the July issue? Be looking for it to hit your mailbox around July 10. 

Fourth of July Holiday

We would like to take advantage of this online platform to note that the ACA will be closed Friday, July 1 and Monday, July 4 in observance of  Independence Day weekend. We encourage all to celebrate America, enjoy time with friends and family and eat beef!

  

What's Going On Wednesday: June 22, 2016

It's officially summertime in Alabama. 

Even though it's felt like it for two months now, the pop-up thunderstorms, high humidity and ridiculous heat indexes have verified its arrival. We hope our cattlemen are staying cool out in the hay fields and while keeping up with everyday tasks on the farm. We urge you to remember to dangers of the Sun and high heat, so don't push it out there! Grad your cowboy hat, water cooler and take a quick breather while you find out what's going on this week at the ACA. 

Executive Committee and ACF Joint Meeting

Tuesday was an eventful day for the ACA staff, Executive Committee and Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation board as they met to discuss ACA/ACF programs Tuesday. The group gathered at Sysco Central Alabama located in Calera to meet, learn and enjoy a delicious, beefy meal prepared by Sysco's Chef James.

While at Sysco, the group of 18 ACA leaders toured the loading docks and were floored at the organization of a distribution system that is firmly dedicated to three major branches of food safety- traceability, sustainability and cold storage integrity. A system of codes and wearable technology used by Sysco ensures proper handling to guarantee safe, quality food upon delivery. As cattlemen, we appreciate the highest level of integrity used in handling our prized product. Thanks, Sysco! 

This was an important meeting as the group disucussed a few major topics relating to the ACA and ACF. The discussion points of the day were:

• Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation scholarships
• Cowboy Tag Sales
• Increasing AJCA Chapters in the state
• How to Increase Private Treaty Sale Checkoff payment
• and Membership, including the new Associate Membership

Good discussion and brainstorming will leave the ACA staff busy as we begin to take that feedback and develop programs of work. Some of those new programs of work will be announced at the August Board Meeting. 

Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation Scholarships 

One of the topics was scholarships at yesterday's meeting, and the ACF Board is proud to announce the creation of three new scholarships for the upcoming school year. Stay tuned for more information! 

The ACF Board also reflected over the past 20 years of scholarship funding by Cowboy Tag sales and voted to honor two men who helped get this tradition started. The ACF Board is pleased to say that at the 2017 Scholarship Banquet, two "Tagged for Greatness" scholarships will be given under the names of Representative Curtis Smith (Colbert County) and Senator Bobby Denton (Chilton County), the Alabama leaders who were instrumental in getting the Cowboy Tag passed into law, in appreciation of their service. 

Be on the lookout for scholarship applications to come out in October! 

AJCA Round-Up

The 10th annual AJCA Round-Up will be here before you know it! Just think, one month from today, we'll all be enjoying the events and contests at Garrett Coliseum. 

All the information you need for this year's show is available on our website, including links to registration! Don't forget, you must be a paid AJCA member in order to compete in the Round-Up. Join Today

Learn more, sign up and get ready for the 10th annual AJCA Round-Up to be held July 21-24 at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. We can't wait to see all our favorite Juniors, and they'll want to be there because Round-Up Coordinator Madison Tew has ordered some amazing prizes and it working daily on all the details associated with this year's show! 

BamaBeef.org - Under Construction!

The new BamaBeef.org is OFFICIALLY under construction with a completion date set for August 11. 

Get excited as this new streamlined website will offer all the user-friendly functions of a modern site with a good, old-fashioned look! The plan is for it to become your #1 resource to anything related to Alabama's Beef Cattle Industry. 

While ACA's newest webmaster Kayla Greer has been busy in online training and generating the website's content, the website design team has been working on completing the overall look of the site. We are excited to see what they've come up with as we are expecting those to hit our inbox any second. Stay tuned as training continues and we get closer to our launch date! 

Western Supermarket Meets the Beef Girl

On Thursday, ACA's Erin Beasley will be judging all seven of the Western Supermarkets stores in the Birmingham area for a current summer grilling promotion. Each store will be judged on decoration, meat case display and safety/cleanliness in the cutting room. At the end of the promotion, tonnage increase for each store will be factored into the overall winner of the promotion.

The MOOseum

The MOOseum is buzzing with activity from summer camps and day cares! We've got groups coming by to learn and play daily. 

Learn about beef cattle, sit on saddles, play in Cowboy Slim's kitchen and dress up like a rough-and-tumble cowboy for the afternoon. 

Book a tour for groups or just walk on in for individual families. We are located at 201 S. Bainbridge Street Montgomery, AL 36104. Got questions? Call 265-1867 or email Jessica.

Speaking of The MOOseum, big plans are in the works for renovation, and we mean it! Dr. Billy Powell, Erin Beasley and Kayla Greer are working this week to make renovation plans and edits. Get ready for the same, great children's center with a fresh face! 

Membership Report

The membership number of the day is 11,052 members of the ACA! We reached 11,000, and plans for 2017 Membership promotion were discussed at Tuesday's Executive Committee meeting. These plans included county officer training from the state staff at regional meetings to be held in the fall, so wait to hear more from that! We're here to help. Call us if you need anything! 

Also, Don't forget our John Deere Gator drawing sponsored by John Deere, SunSouth, Tri-Green Equipment and Snead Ag. For every new member you recruit, your name and the new member's name will go in the drawing. ACA members also have the opportunity to purchase more chances to win by calling ACA at 334-265-1867.

Junior Beef Expo

Thursday will bring a meeting to finalize plans for the 2017 Junior Beef Expo. Attending this meeting will be represenatives from the Southeastern Livestock Exposition, the Alabama Farmers Federation, Alabama FFA and Auburn University. 

Stay tuned and get excited for next year's state show! 

What's Going On Wednesday- June 15, 2016

It's been one of those weeks around the ACA. You know, the ones where you feel really busy and backed up with projects while nothing major is actually happening. The office is quiet this week as the staffers are at their desks gearing up for big projects ahead. For example, Dr. Powell and Martha Davis are planning the upcoming Executive Committee Meeting. Erin is planning upcoming beef promotions, while Kayla gets on building the new BamaBeef.org. Nicky is working on the largest magazine issue of the year, and Jessica is keeping things moooving smooth in The MOOseum. Cynthia is wearing many hats while she keeps membership up to date and keeps the bills paid around the office, and Madison is busy pulling together the 10th annual AJCA Round-Up! Keep reading to see what she and the rest of us are up to this week around the ACA...

AJCA Round-Up

Want to know more about the AJCA Round-Up? All information for this year's show is available on our website, including links to registration! Don't forget, you must be a paid AJCA member in order to compete in the Round-Up. Join Today

Learn more, sign up and get ready for the 10th annual AJCA Round-Up to be held July 21-24 at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. We can't wait to see all our favorite Juniors, and they'll want to be there because Round-Up Coordinator Madison Tew has ordered some amazing prizes and it working daily on all the details associated with this year's show! 

BamaBeef.org - Under Construction!

The new BamaBeef.org is OFFICIALLY under construction with a completion date set at none other than the August Board Meeting. 

Get excited as this new streamlined website will offer all the user-friendly functions of a modern site with a good, old-fashioned look! The plan is for it to become your #1 resource to anything related to Alabama's Beef Cattle Industry. 


Kayla and Erin met with their "coach" at the website designer to talk layout, design features, themes and functions this week. Kayla will begin training in the next week or two and will begin building the new site from the ground up after that! Stay tuned. 

Membership Report

The membership number of the day is 10,992 members of the ACA. We are SO close to 11,000, so send in your renewals!! 

Also, Don't forget our John Deere Gator drawing sponsored by John Deere, SunSouth, Tri-Green Equipment and Snead Ag. For every new member you recruit, your name and the new member's name will go in the drawing. ACA members also have the opportunity to purchase more chances to win by calling ACA at 334-265-1867.

SLE Livestock Week Meeting

The SLE Executive Committee is meeting today to finalize major plans and dates for the 2017 60th annual SLE Rodeo! With such a big anniversary on the way, a great rodeo is in the works. 

Mark your calendars NOW to head to Garrett Coliseum March 16-18, 2017 for the Southeastern Livestock Exposition Rodeo. 

A Day on the Green

Dr. Billy Powell and Pike County cattleman Ed Whatley will spend the day out of the office Thursday and in the good, ole Alabama heat! It's for a good cause, though, as they will be participating in the 4-H Foundation Golf Tournament as the representatives for the ACA. Send them good thoughts tomorrow for accurate aim and long, straight drives. 

The MOOseum

The MOOseum is buzzing with activity from summer camps and day cares! We've got groups coming by to learn and play daily! 

Learn about beef cattle, sit on saddles, play in Cowboy Slim's kitchen and dress up like a rough-and-tumble cowboy for the afternoon. 

Book a tour for groups or just walk on in for individual families. We are located at 201 S. Bainbridge Street Montgomery, AL 36104. Got questions? Call 265-1867 or email Jessica.

Speaking of The MOOseum, big plans are in the works for renovation, and we mean it! Dr. Billy Powell, Erin Beasley and Kayla Greer spent the entire day Tuesday making renovation plans and edits. Get ready for the same, great children's center with a fresh face! 

Army Worm Watch

Contributed by Dr. Kathy Flanders

Shane Middleton in Mobile County (dairy farm) reported late last week on an outbreak of army worms in some millet.  He indicated that they have populations that warranted spraying. He also indicated that a neighbor had them as well.

The Middleton farm is located in the far western edge of Mobile county and just across the line into Mississippi.

If you experience issues with army worms, contact your local Extension office to report.

What's Going On Wednesday: June 7, 2016

There's a lot of national blue and corn gold floating around the office this week. That's right- it's FFA Convention week in Montgomery, and the Cattlemen's is proud to participate each year. Find your black slacks and blue corduroy jackets and keep reading to find out what's going on at the ACA this week. 

2016 FFA Convention Events

Wall of Honor Luncheon
The ACA is proud to host the 2016 FFA Wall of Honor Luncheon in the Cattlemen's Building. Seven new inductees will find their place on the FFA Wall of Honor. Later that afternoon, Dr. Powell will give his Treasurer's report at the FFA Foundation meeting and will be introduced as a past state officer during that evening's meeting. 

FFA Proficiency Awards
ACA President Bill Lipscomb and SLE President Thomas Ellis are pleased to join us in Montgomery to present the Beef and Livestock Judging Proficiency Awards on Thursday morning. 

FFA Trade Show
ACA Director of Social Media and Communications Kayla Greer and Intern Madison Tew are excited to spend Wednesday and Thursday at the FFA Trade Show alongside other ag commodities and businesses from the state. Come by and visit them if you're there. They'll be promoting the Round-Up, the AJCA and taking names for an "I Love Beef" gift basket drawing! 

Membership Report

The membership number of the day is 10,858 members of the ACA. Don't forget our John Deere Gator drawing sponsored by John Deere, SunSouth, Tri-Green Equipment and Snead Ag. For every new member you recruit, your name and the new member's name will go in the drawing. ACA members also have the opportunity to purchase more chances to win by calling ACA at 334-265-1867.

SASDA Meeting

Dr. Powell spent his Sunday and Monday with the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture John McMillan serves as president this year and invited Dr. Powell to speak at their Monday morning meeting. He spoke to 15 different states agricultural leaders on the Alabama beef industry and the impact of the checkoff dollars used to answer the question, "Where does my food come from?" 

AJCA Round-Up

Want to know more about the AJCA Round-Up? Well you can know TODAY! All information for this year's show is available on our website, including links to registration! Don't forget, you must be a paid AJCA member in order to compete in the Round-Up. Join Today

Learn more, sign up and get ready for the 10th annual AJCA Round-Up to be held July 21-24 at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. We can't wait to see all our favorite Juniors, and they'll want to be there because Round-Up Coordinator Madison Tew has ordered some amazing prizes! 

Summer Grillin' With the Beef Girl

On Thursday, Director of Checkoff Programs Erin Beasley will be taping summer grilling segments with the folks from local TV show “Time of Your Life." The recipes that will be featured are Old South Burgers, Grilled Ribeyes with BBQ Rub and Citrus-Marinated Kabobs. These segments will air each week leading up to the big Fourth of July holiday.

Sysco Summer Promotion

Retail Promotion starts this weekend in Birmingham! The beef checkoff will fund the summer grilling contest with independent-Birmingham retailer, Western Supermarkets. This contest awards the stores that have the best summer grilling decorations and sell the most beef this weekend through the Fourth of July holiday. Each year, this contest generates a large increase in beef sales for Western. We are excited to see the results again this year!

 BamaBeef.org - Under Construction!

Grad your hard hat before visiting Kayla's office. The new

BamaBeef.org is OFFICIALLY under construction with a completion date set at none other than the August Board Meeting. 

Get excited as this new streamlined website will offer all the user-friendly functions of a modern site with a good, old-fashioned look! The plan is for it to become your #1 resource to anything related to Alabama's Beef Cattle Industry. 

Kayla and Erin met with their "coach" at the website designer to talk layout, design features, themes and functions this week. Kayla will begin training in the next week or two and will begin building the new site from the ground up after that! Stay tuned. 

Don't Miss Your Chance to Advertise!

The July issue of the Alabama Cattleman offers you the opportunity to maximize your advertising dollars and target your audience with this special magazine issue.

Since 1958, cattle producers have used this informative publication to help keep them abreast of industry happenings and learn about managing their business. Our readers are one of the largest purchasers of equipment, fencing materials, bulls, replacement heifers, semen, animal health supplies, chemicals, guns, ATV’s, boots, farmland and so much more. 

The July issue will be a special one, as it will be mailed to over 17,000 cattle producers and industry-related individuals across the state including the 12,000 members of the ACA. This special issue will include numerous educational feature articles and will be used as a reference for months to come. Please contact Nicky to reserve your space in the July issue by June 10th! 

The MOOseum

The MOOseum is buzzing with activity from summer daycares and is ready and waiting from your family to come learn and play! 

Learn about beef cattle, sit on saddles, play in Cowboy Slim's kitchen and dress up like a rough-and-tumble cowboy for the afternoon. 

Book a tour for groups or just walk on in for individual families. We are located at 201 S. Bainbridge Street Montgomery, AL 36104. Got questions? Call 265-1867 or email Jessica.

Miscellaneous News

• President Zippy Duvall of the American Farm Bureau stopped by for a visit at the ACA Building this morning. He's good friends with Past ACA President Jimmy Holliman! 
• The agenda is being made for the upcoming joint meeting of the ACA Executive Committee and the Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation Board. Just as a reminder, that meeting will be held June 21 at Sysco in Calera. 

What's Going On Wednesday- June 1, 2016

Well hello June! 

When did the past five months happen? If anybody knows, please call and tell us because we can't believe that the summer months are already here! We hope this week's blog post finds our cattlemen staying relatively cool and probably in the cab of a tractor pulling a hay baler. It's that time of year, so hit that tractor into auto pilot, kick back and enjoy finding out what's going on at the ACA this week! 

Bama's Best Beef Winner Announced!

West End Grill’s “Tot Roast” has been named “Bama’s Best Beef” after two months of social media promotion! After last week’s final round which generated over 1000 reactions, more than 100 shares and 139 comments, the Tot Roast was named the winner Friday, May 27 at 9 p.m. over the contest’s other finalist, Deano’s Grill’s “Deano Burger.”

The West End Grill owners and staff will be presented with a

plaque and on-site media conference directed by Alabama Cattlemen’s Association leadership and staff. We encourage all Huntsville-area members to visit West End Grill and offer your congratulations! Erin and Kayla certainly can't wait to try the dish themselves!

As described by the restaurant’s menu, the Tot Roast is, “crispy fried tater tots smothered in [West End Grill’s] Mississippi pot roast, cheese and gravy. One hundred percent Angus beef is slow roasted with a secret blend of spices and layered on top pepperoncinis and sticks of real butter, all to make the pot roast.” 

AJCA Round-Up

Want to know more about the AJCA Round-Up? Well you can know TODAY! All information for this year's show is available on our website, including links to registration! Don't forget, you must be a paid AJCA member in order to compete in the Round-Up. Join Today

Learn more, sign up and get ready for the 10th annual AJCA Round-Up to be held July 21-24 at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery. We can't wait to see all our favorite Juniors, and they'll want to be there because Round-Up Coordinator Madison Tew has ordered some amazing prizes! 

Membership 

The membership number of the day is 10,849 members of the ACA. The renewal drive is over, and we will draw for the winner of the $500 beef certificate on June 8. Stay tuned! 

Don't forget our John Deere Gator drawing sponsored by John Deere, SunSouth, Tri-Green Equipment and Snead Ag. For every new member you recruit, your name and the new member's name will go in the drawing. ACA members also have the opportunity to purchase more chances to win by calling ACA at 334-265-1867.

Don't Miss Your Chance to Advertise!

The July issue of the Alabama Cattleman offers you the opportunity to maximize your advertising dollars and target your audience with this special magazine issue.

Since 1958, cattle producers have used this informative publication to help keep them abreast of industry happenings and learn about managing their business. Our readers are one of the largest purchasers of equipment, fencing materials, bulls, replacement heifers, semen, animal health supplies, chemicals, guns, ATV’s, boots, farmland and so much more. 

The July issue will be a special one, as it will be mailed to over 17,000 cattle producers and industry-related individuals across the state including the 12,000 members of the ACA. This special issue will include numerous educational feature articles and will be used as a reference for months to come. Please contact Nicky to reserve your space in the July issue by June 10th!   

AJCA Round-UP

BQA Mail Outs

Have you gotten BQA certified at an on-site training program this year? If so, be on the lookout for your certificate and bumper sticker in the mail. ACA Director of Checkoff Programs Erin Beasley got those put together and mailed out last week! 

Congrats and great job to our Alabama cattle producers who have become BQA certified! 

Cash for CAFOs

The Alabama Cattlemen's Association with be meeting Thursday morning alongside Alabama Farmers Federation Poultry Producers representatives at the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM). The primary focus of this meeting is to discuss funding for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. Over $400,000 was added to the ADEM budget to offset CAFO expenses by the department, and this meeting will help determine a budget for this allowance. 

Make Way for a New BamaBeef.org 

You heard it right, a new ACA website is in the works! Erin Beasley and ACA Director of Social Media and Communications Kayla Greer had a conference call with our representative to get the paperwork in hand to launch the website redesign project.

Kayla has her sights set on this being her major project for the summer, and she hopes for an August launch date! The team of website designers are on board to help her reach that goal! Hmmm...maybe by the Summer Board Meeting? 

Engaging Post of the Week

The popularity of our Facebook is growing, as you may remember from the social media alert on last week's blog post! Last week we celebrated reaching 8,000 followers, and this week that number has already grown to 8,400. 

Even more exciting than that, however, is the popularity of a single post from this week! On Sunday, we posted the picture you see to the right. It reads, "Do not educate children to be rich. Educate them to be happy, so when they grow up they know the value of things, not the price." Pretty picture, pretty quote, pretty big numbers!! 

To date, this post has reached over 145,000 people through the power of liking, sharing and commenting. It has received over 7,000 reactions, over 1,600 shares, 172 comments and 3,800 post clicks. That's huge!

Think about it. That's 145,000 people who have been exposed to the ACA and our message just this week at NO cost to us. Thanks, Facebook! 

View Our Page 

The MOOseum

Schools are out. Temperatures are rising. Children are getting bored at home. 

We know how it goes, but we also know that The MOOseum is ready and waiting for your family to learn and play. Learn about beef cattle, sit on saddles, play in Cowboy Slim's kitchen and dress up like a rough-and-tumble cowboy for the afternoon. 

Book a tour for groups or just walk on in for individual families. We are located at 201 S. Bainbridge Street Montgomery, AL 36104. Got questions? Call 265-1867 or email Jessica. 

SASDA

Looking slightly ahead to next week, Dr. Powell will be spending his Sunday and Monday with the Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture John McMillan serves as president this year and has invited Dr. Powell to speak at their Monday morning meeting. He will be speaking to 16 different states agricultural leaders on the Alabama beef industry and the impact of the checkoff dollars used to answer the question, "Where does my food come from?" 

Joint Meeting Ahead

The agenda is being made for the upcoming joint meeting of the ACA Executive Committee and the Alabama Cattlemen's Foundation Board. Just as a reminder, that meeting will be held June 21.