News Update
June 10, 2010

First Woman to Major in Animal Husbandry at OSU Named 2010 Master Breeder Award Recipient

Oklahoma State University (OSU) has named Minnie Lou Bradley, the first woman to major in animal husbandry at the institution, as its 2010 Master Breeder Award recipient.

In 1986, believing beef was not only tasty but also a great health food, Bradley and her daughter Mary Lou launched B3R Country Meats, a beef merchandising program that grew into a company recognized worldwide for natural Angus beef.

Although the meat company was sold in 2005, the expanded 10,000-acre ranching operation situated in the Texas panhandle continues under the management of Minnie Lou, Mary Lou and Minnie’s son-in-law, James Henderson.

“The Bradley 3 Ranch program truly is focused on breeding problem-free cattle that will survive and thrive on a forage program, including standing low-quality winter range, with minimal supplementation,” said David Lalman, professor of beef cattle with OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

While this is the ranch’s primary focus, the Bradley operation has diligently worked to improve genetic merit for carcass quality and cutability, as well.

“They have been collecting DNA-marker data on their bulls since 1994, and are currently engaged — and have been for some time — in one of the nation’s most progressive research projects in this area,” Lalman said. “In fact, B3R has provided leadership on many industry innovations.”

Bradley 3 Ranch cattle have truly been bred to “fit” the harsh Texas panhandle environment.

Numerous honors and achievements have been earned by Minnie Lou and her family, in recognition of their dedication to the beef industry and perseverance in developing a successful cattle breeding program that takes the entire food chain into consideration.

Previous awards include OSU’s “Animal Science Graduate of Distinction” honor in 1988, Beef Improvement Federation’s Pioneer Award, Beef Magazine’s Top Forty Beef Producers, Texas Cattle Feeders Beef Merchandiser Award, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Environmental Stewardship Award and Certified Angus Beef Seedstock Commitment Award, among others.

“One of the highlights of a storied ranching and beef merchandising career was certainly being selected as the center-of-the-plate item for the Black Tie and Boots dinner at the inauguration of President George W. Bush in 2001,” Lalman said.

She was also recently elected to the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas.

Minnie Lou Ottinger was raised on a livestock and wheat farm in Hydro, Okla. She announced to her parents at an early age that she would be attending then Oklahoma A&M College and be a member of its nationally renowned Livestock Judging Team.

“She entered Oklahoma A&M in the fall of 1949, majoring in animal husbandry with a minor in agricultural journalism,” said Ron Kensinger, head of the OSU department of animal science. “True to her word, she was not only the first female member of our legendary Livestock Judging Team but one of its most successful members ever.”

In 1952, Bradley was the first woman to win the coveted high individual honors at the International Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Contest in Chicago. That same year she was high individual in the beef cattle category at the American Royal competition.

Shortly after graduation in 1953, Minnie Lou Ottinger married her college friend, Bill Bradley, and the couple purchased a small ranch in Childress County, Texas. And so began a noteworthy career in the beef cattle industry.

“The OSU award recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the genetic improvement of a breed of livestock,” Kensinger said. “The accomplishments of Minnie Lou Bradley in the beef cattle and meats industries, along with her many other related activities, document that she is a true living legend and a master breeder worthy of recognition.”

— Release by OSU Extension.

Beef Checkoff Creates New Foodservice Brochure

The beef checkoff continues to work in partnership with foodservice operators and chefs to keep steak at the center of their menu. In an effort to increase revenue potential for these restaurants, the checkoff has created a new brochure called “Steak. New Menu Frontiers” which helps encourage creativity from chefs by using rubs, marinades and new cooking methods as Bill Jackson, beef producer from Oakdale, Calif., and chair of the checkoff’s foodservice committee explains.

By creating this new tool, Jackson says, the checkoff is trying to encourage consumers who may have given up their restaurant-eating experiences to come back and enjoy that beef meal they’ve always known and loved.

Now that the tool has been created, it may seem like a daunting task to reach all restaurants across the nation. Jackson explains that state beef councils will play a major role in disseminating the new brochure.

Finally, Jackson says it’s really a simple theory: Today’s beef producers are not just producing a product, they want consumers to know the story behind it, and to know how proud they are to be producing a safe, wholesome product.

For more information about foodservice initiatives or to order your copy of the new brochure, visit www.BeefFoodservice.com or go to www.MyBeefCheckoff.com for a list of state beef councils and their contact information. To learn more about modern beef production, visit www.ExploreBeef.org.

— Adapted from a The Beef Checkoff Program release.

What Yardsticks Should Be Used To Measure Your Farm's Financial Stability?

Your lender may have made some comments earlier this year that still echo. He or she may have warned that your financial numbers were a concern because of declines in profitability, liquidity, or solvency, or maybe more than one of those. You received financing for another year, but the lender said if the trends did not reverse, there may not be another year. You thanked the lender for extending credit for another season, but since you walked out of that office, you have not been sure how to make the necessary changes.

Financial troubleshooting can be a daunting task, says Robert Jolly, an ag economist and farm finance specialist at Iowa State University. His newsletter in the June edition of the Ag Decision Maker says different problems require different strategies, and while some are simple, most are complex, and it is difficult to determine what may have to be done.

“Human behavior always complicates the identification and implementation of needed managerial or business changes,” he says. However, he offers an approach to determine what the problem is and how to solve it.

While Jolly does not mention it, one place to begin may be with that lender. Most will be able to identify whether your problems are with profitability, liquidity, or solvency. Profitability is the return to management, labor, and equity after costs are covered. Profit can be measured with an income statement and there are many financial ratios that a lender can share with you to measure profitability. Liquidity is your cash flow, and indicates whether you can meet your cash obligations, such as loan payments and family living expenses. It is best measured with a cash flow statement. Solvency is the ability to withstand financial adversity and represents your net worth or owner equity. It can help secure credit and shows the capacity of a business. It is best measured with a balance sheet. You can have a problem in one and not others; however, a continuation will deteriorate the others.

If one of those three has a problem, Jolly says it may have been caused by one of several indicators of success, which are efficiency, scale, and debt structure.

• Efficiency is measured in physical terms, such as yield per acre, or pigs per litter and reflects the relationship between inputs and outputs. While efficiency reflects a level of skill, it will judge the abilities of the owner, as well as the worker. Low efficiency will result in reduced profitability and when you have low returns and high costs, liquidity declines and eventually destroys solvency. While not simple, good farm management skills will be able to improve profitability.

• Scale is the size of your business, and may be too big or too small for your management ability. Measure the scale with the number of jobs on the farm compared to the labor available to do the job. It can be quantified as bushels or head per worker or workers per acre. If there is excess labor, then the funds allocated for family living can hurt the profitability or liquidity. Reduce labor by eliminating employees or increasing the size of the operation.

• Debt structure affects profitability by forcing it to fund too much interest. It affects liquidity by giving it too many loan payments to make. And it affects solvency by restricting the value of assets needed to secure the debt. When debt is too much, then assets have to be sold to reduce liabilities.

— Release by Stu Ellis, University of Illinois.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.