AgWired

The Cattle Industry Summer Conference is over. It’s been a great week of cowboys, steaks and following the grass roots process of the work of the NCBA and CBB. Helping me wrap up my coverage is CBB Chairman, Dave Bateman. I want to thank CBB for once again having me in as their Beef Board Blogger.

I spoke to Dave after the joint board meeting was over. Dave says it’s been a great conference. He says we’re looking at some difficulties like decreasing revenues due to things like cattle numbers being down along with lower imports.

Dave says committee members rose to the occasion though by prioritizing projects and that they have done an exceptional job. He says there’s a “unity of decisions” although that doesn’t mean everyone is happy with every decision. As he puts it, no one likes to see really good programs get cut back. He says that they’re beyond cutting the fat and now they’re cutting into the muscle.

Dave does point to a bright spot which is foreign markets. He says that the numbers are up and for that reason they’ve put some extra money into the foreign markets program.

He also says that the conference has been a good place to start the effort to improve the Checkoff with recommendations. In conclusion, he says that with the cow herd shrinking, “we’re a victim of our own success.” He says producers are so much more efficient in terms of production that revenues haven’t kept pace.

You can listen to my wrap up interview with Dave here:cisc-08-bateman-2.mp3

Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

The first ever winners of the BQA Award were announced today.

Quality. It’s not only a word written in an instruction manual but a responsible action – one must live it and then teach it. That was the underlying theme this week as two producers were honored with the national Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) award, created to recognize outstanding beef and dairy producers from across the country who incorporate BQA principles as part of the day-to-day activities on their operations. The winners were selected based upon their commitment to beef quality assurance while operating sustainable cattle operations.

A common trait among the two winners is a strong desire to continually improve BQA on their operations while successfully encouraging others around them to implement BQA. The National BQA award winners are selected annually by a committee of representatives from universities, state beef councils and cattle industry groups. For more information about the beef checkoff or BQA program, visit www.bqa.org, www.dbqa.org or www.beefboard.org.

Listen to my interview with Jim and Anne here: cisc-08-bqa.mp3

Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

In a real show of gratitude, we allowed Joe Schuele, USMEF, to attend the media reception here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. We even let him say a few words. We did it because we appreciate all his hard work in the media room for years.

Joe let us know how much he enjoyed doing it and said that we’d be taken care of very well by Grace Webb and Melissa Tessitore, pictured here with him.

We know where to find Joe though.