What's Going On Wednesday: April 13, 2016

Beef promotion, trips to D.C. and meetings, meetings and more meetings are the theme around the Cattlemen's building this week. There's always something going on that keeps the staff busy, but we sure love working for Alabama's cattlemen. Keep reading to find out what's going on at the ACA this week. 

Trip to D.C.

ACA Executive Vice President Dr. Billy Powell, President Bill Lipscomb and President-Elect Richard Meadows are in Washington D.C. Tuesday through Thursday of this week. While there, the trio will join with 30 other state cattlemen's associations to attend the Spring Legislative Conference. This trip will provide our state cattlemen's representatives with the opportunity to go on office visits with Alabama's congressional delegation!

Membership

We are wrapping up membership with 10,624 members as of today and 16 "Over the Top" counties. A number of counties are still lagging, though. RVPs are reaching out to their assigned county presidents about plans to get in the 2400 non-renewed members. Another conference call between the RVPs will be held on Monday, April 18 to report on the results. 

Get out and get recruiting; not only will it help the state association, but it could win you some awesome prizes. Just in case you need some incentive to get out and recruit, check out these prizes:

• 5 new members – ACA cap and knife
• 15 new members – ACA shirt
• 25 new members – ACA vest
• 35 new members – ACA Red/Black jacket
• 50 new members - $250

Top Hand Club sponsored by Alabama Ag Credit and Alabama Farm Credit

Just in case you need some more incentive in your recruiting efforts, let your non-renewed friends and neighbors know this! The April Alabama Cattleman magazine is the LAST magazine you'll get if you do not renew by April 15, and you have until Friday to renew now online and you'll get a package in the mail from us with some nifty ACA gadgets and gizmos such as a hat, iWallet and other goodies. Don't miss out- renew today! 

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

Ag Econ Interviews

Dr. Dea Cue Fields, the chair of the Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology Department at Auburn, invited ACA leadership to participate in the final interviews of the three candidates in the running to replace Dr. Walter Prevatt. All three candidates come with outstanding resumes, and we are excited and honored to be part of the process. 

ACA's Director of Checkoff Programs Erin Beasley participated in this week's round of interviews and speaks highly of the candidate. 

Bama's Best Beef 

We kicked off a springtime beef promotion on Monday that highlights Alabama's unique beef dishes. Using the power of social media to drive the contest and by promoting it to Alabama's restaurants and chefs, we've started to receive nominations of those not-so-average beef dishes made and served right here in Alabama. We've got our eyes set on all those unconventional, yet delicious, beef dishes! 

If you know of a beef dish from an Alabama restaurant that fits the bill, nominate them here.   

Beef 101

Starting today with Lawson State Culinary Arts and Moody High School FCCLA, we kicked off a busy month of Beef 101 programs. We offer this program tovarious influencer groups across the state in order to teach them about beef from “Pasture to Plate." 

We would like to invite our Board members to attend. Your role in this program is to interact with participants who are “non-cattle” folks so that they leave the program with a bright outlook on our industry.

Here are the dates and groups. We have 5 seats at each program

available at first come first serve basis. RSVP to Erin if you can attend.

Erin Beasley showing a side of beef
to Moody High School FCCLA students
at the Lambert-Powell Meat Lab in Auburn.

• April 19th- Faulkner State Culinary, Wood Fruitticher Foodservice Sales Team Leadership
• April 25th- Trenholm State Culinary
• April 29th- Jeff State Culinary, McAdory Middle School culinary students, American Culinary Federation chefs

For today's program, we were proud to have YCLP Class II alumni Alex Tigue on the team to help with carcass fabrication and the live evaluation! Great job, Alex. 

YCLP Class III

Speaking of YCLP- county presidents, applications are out now for the Young Cattlemen's Leadership Program- Class III. Send us your nominations of 20-40 year olds who work in Alabama beef cattle industry by MONDAY as the first meeting will be held May 11 in Montgomery. We look forward to another great year with Alabama's young cattle producers. Get the application

Meetings, Meetings and More Meetings

The ACA building has hosted quite a few meetings this week as well. On Monday night, Erin Beasley hosted a group from the Montgomery Dietetic Association. Youth Leadership Jackson County visited and toured the building Tuesday, and the Alabama Leadership Initiative will have a meeting here Friday morning. As usual, the Ag Coalition also met in the ACA Board on Tuesday morning as well. 

What's Going On Wednesday: March 30, 2016

As we leave the Convention and SLE Rodeo is our rear view mirror for 2016, we are gearing up a for a busy next couple of months! The MOOseum, checkoff and legislative fronts are looking busy as we begin heading into April and May. We stayed busy through the "winter," as our cattlemen across the state did with feeding and calving seasons, but it's time for beef promotion in Alabama. Keep reading to learn what's going on around the ACA this week!

Checkoff Corner

Busy April Full of Beef: 101

We would like to invite you to join us at Auburn University for the checkoff funded program, BEEF 101. Next month, we will hold 4 of these programs with various influencer groups across the state to learn about beef from “Pasture to Plate”. Your role in this program is to interact with participants who are “non-cattle” folks so that they leave the program with a bright outlook on our industry.

Here are the dates and groups. We have 5 seats at each program

available at first come first serve basis. RSVP to Erin if you can attend.

• April 13th- Moody HS and Lawson State Culinary School
• April 19th- Faulkner State Culinary, Wood Fruitticher Foodservice Sales Team Leadership
• April 25th- Trenholm State Culinary
• April 29th- Jeff State Culinary, McAdory Middle School culinary students, American Culinary Federation chefs

Beef Cookoff Weekend Ahead

The Alabama Jr. and Sr. High School Beef Cookoff will take place this Saturday at Carver High School in Montgomery. Thirty-eight students from 29 counties will participate in the state contest this year to show off their coveted beef dish. During the cookoff, students will learn about beef by participating in an educational program discussing beef cuts and careers in the food industry. Stay tuned for an update next week of event winners and highlights!

Bring It On: Bama's Best Beef

We've got an exciting, new spring beef promotion kicking off Monday, April 4 that highlights Alabama's unique beef dishes. Using the power of social media to drive the contest and by promoting it to Alabama's restaurants and chefs, we hope to receive nominations of those not-so-average beef dishes made and served right here in Alabama. We're not looking for your average burger or ribeye. Nope, we got our eyes set on beef tar-tar, beef wellington and all those other unconventional, yet delicious, beef dishes! 

After the nomination round, the contest committee will narrow it down to four top finalists who will then go head-to-head on social media in a photo contest.

Stay tuned for that contest and send us your submissions starting next week! 

Sysco Promotion Winners

Sysco Foodservice sales promotion kicks the year off strong for beef sales: The sales team at Sysco Calera set out to up their beef sales from January 18-March 17th. As a result, the team posted a 72,000 lb. increase in beef tonnage compared to this time last year. The top sellers were awarded Yeti coolers, funded through the beef checkoff. These promotions produce a fantastic return on investment for your checkoff dollars. Pictured are the winners from the promotion- Todd Johnston, Frank Odell, Andy Slaten, Nat Weis and Craig Smitherman. 

YCLP Class III

County Presidents, applications are out now for the Young Cattlemen's Leadership Program- Class III. Send us your nominations asap as the first meeting will be held May 11 in Montgomery. We look forward to another great year with Alabama's young cattle producers. Get the application. 

Membership

We are at 10,520 members out of our 12000 member goal. Get out and get recruiting; not only will it help the state association, but it could win you some awesome prizes. We have had 16 counties go "Over the Top." Just in case you need some incentive to get out and recruit, check out these prizes:

• 5 new members – ACA cap and knife
• 15 new members – ACA shirt
• 25 new members – ACA vest
• 35 new members – ACA Red/Black jacket
• 50 new members - $250

Top Hand Club sponsored by Alabama Ag Credit and Alabama Farm Credit

Just in case you need some more incentive in your recruiting efforts, let your non-renewed friends and neighbors know this! The April Alabama Cattleman magazine is the LAST magazine you'll get if you do not renew by April 15, and if you renew now online, you'll get a package in the mail from us with some nifty ACA gadgets and gizmos such as a hat, iWallet and other goodies. Don't miss out- renew today! 

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

YCLP and BQA Meetings 

Dr. Billy Powell, Erin Beasley and Kayla Greer had a successful meeting this morning with Auburn University Dept. of Animal Sciences' Dr. Wayne Greene, Dr. Don Mulvaney and Dr. Soren Rodning to make way to enhance the YCLP and Alabama BQA programs. The group also discussed ways of better implementing the Alabama Beef Cattle Strategic Plan. 

If you're not BQA-certified, become certified today for FREE thanks to Boehringer Ingelheim. Also, be on the look out for upcoming cattle meetings in the state that will offer you the chance to become BQA certified. 

Ag Awareness Day at Auburn 

Pending the weather tomorrow, ACA staffer Kayla Greer will be taking to her alma mater to help the College of Agriculture (COA) students with their "Ag Awareness Day" on campus as part of Ag Week 2016. The COA students will be taking over Haley Concourse on Auburn's campus and fill it with agriculture-related games, booths and equipment to expose non-agriculture students to the many commodities. ACA's steer trailer featuring the beef cuts will be there too! Check out the College's Facebook page to see all the fun events happening this week on Auburn's campus. 

Trip to D.C.

Dr. Billy Powell, ACA President Bill Lipscomb and President-Elect Richard Meadows are finalizing their plans for their trip to Washington D.C. in the next two weeks. While there, the trio will join with 30 other state cattlemen's associations to attend the Spring Legislative Conference. This trip will provide our state cattlemen's representatives with the opportunity to go on office visits with Alabama's congressional delegation!

Throwback Thursday: 1962

#ThrowbackThursday to June 1962 when Alabama cattlemen made a trip to Washington D.C. to protest the Farm Bill which would place feed grains under government control. Picture L-R are E.H. Wilson, Montgomery; Richard Arrington, Ramer; Gene Garrett, Uriah; John Kilgore, Jasper; W.J. Lee, Jr., Town Creek and Ed Wadsworth, Prattville. A few other cattlemen made the trip but were not pictured- John Armstrong, Selma; Harold Johnson, Notasulga; Cecil Whatley, Opelika; E.R. Howard, Toney and Done Smith of Prattville. The cattlemen were joined in Washington by thirty other farm leaders who opposed the bill.