News Update
December 23, 2013
Angus Journal and American Angus Association to Close Dec. 24-25 for Christmas Holiday
The Angus Journal and American Angus Association offices in St. Joseph, Mo., will close for the Christmas holiday Tuesday, Dec. 24, and reopen on Thursday, Dec. 26. The Angus Journal wishes everyone a Merry Christmas!
Missouri Family Honored for Historic Herd
The Historic Angus Herd Award is presented to Angus breeders or immediate families who have been in continuous production of registered Angus cattle for 50 years or more. To honor their dedication to the breed, the American Angus Association is proud to recognize Gleonda Farms, Miller, Mo., as a Historic Angus Herd.
Leon Kleeman got his start in the Angus business at 8 years of age when his dad, Bert Kleeman, gave him a bucket calf out of an Angus-cross milk cow. He later sold that calf to purchase a show steer, which began a lifelong love of the showring. In the mid-to-late 1950s, Kleeman started buying registered-Angus heifers for his herd. The initial purchase was from John and Cecilia Eck of Pierce City, Mo.
Kleeman’s reputation for quality cattle quickly spread throughout the Ozarks. In 1961, when he was 20 years old, he exhibited both the champion bull and female at the Ozark Empire Fair Junior Show in Springfield, Mo. Both animals were sired by an Earl Marshall bull. Also that year, Kleeman was honored with a Missouri State 4-H Proficiency Award and won a trip to Chicago.
Throughout the years, Kleeman has worked for many cattle operations, including the Equen Plantation, Minter, Miss., and Blue Sky Farm, Kearney, Mo. He became known for a keen eye fitting cattle, and while with Equen he fitted for the Texas circuit, where they showed the champion female and reserve champion bull, Equenmere 1406, owned in partnership with the famous actor Fred MacMurray.
For more information, view the full release here.
NCBA Announces National Anthem Contest Winner
Oh, say, can you sing? Rylee Werth can and will be singing at the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention. Werth will sing the National Anthem during the Opening General Session Feb. 4 and at the Grand Ole Opry House during the Cowboy’s Night at the Opry II.
Werth is an 11-year-old Kansas native whose family has a 400-head cow-calf operation in conjunction with a feedlot on the family farm. Actively involved in showing cattle at the local and national level, Werth hopes to continue her involvement by one day showing at the American Royal and National Western Stock Show.
As the inaugural winner to the National Anthem Singing Contest, Werth will receive round-trip airfare for two to Nashville, a hotel room for three nights at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, free registration for two to the convention, and western wear from Roper and Stetson. More than 16,000 votes were cast through Facebook and www.beefusa.org to decide the winner.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Alan Robertson Speaking at AFBF Annual Convention
Alan Robertson, the “beardless brother” on A&E’s reality TV show Duck Dynasty, will be the keynote speaker at a general session at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF’s) 2014 Annual Convention, Jan. 12-15, 2014, in San Antonio.
Alan is the oldest son of Phil Robertson, founder of the Duck Commander Company, the family’s Louisiana-based duck-call business. He grew up hunting and fishing, helping to build the foundation of the company in the 1970s and 1980s.
Before rejoining Duck Commander in 2012, Alan was a full-time minister at White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in Louisiana for more than 25 years. He and his wife, Lisa, enjoy helping carry out the family’s commitment to spreading the gospel of Christ through their love of hunting and the great outdoors.
More than 7,000 Farm Bureau members from across the nation are expected to gather in San Antonio for the 95th Annual Convention to hear from distinguished leaders and participate in a grassroots policy-setting process that will guide AFBF through 2014.
Robertson will speak at the general session of the convention on Monday morning. AFBF President Bob Stallman is the keynote speaker at the Sunday opening session; Gen. Stan McChrystal, a retired four-star general and former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, will speak at the closing session on Monday afternoon.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Understanding and Targeting Millennial Consumers
The beef checkoff program has a direct target on Generation Y, also known as the millennial generation. This group was the topic of the Consumer Trends Forum hosted earlier this month by the Kansas Beef Council (KBC) and Kansas CattleWomen.
Estimated at 80 million people, the millennial generation includes those born between the years 1980 and 2000. Millennials are projected to make buying decisions for the next 40 years and soon will be the largest purchasing generation. The beef checkoff is targeting the older end of this generation who are becoming parents and starting families.
“This generation is well-connected, owning an average two to three devices including smartphones, tablets and computers. Their influence over brands is tremendous because their online communication has shaped a conversation that begins with the consumer instead of a conversation the ends with the consumer,” explained Michele Peterson Murray, director of integrated communications at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the beef checkoff program.
Murray continued by saying the beef checkoff must communicate the nutritional value of beef and highlight the ease and versatility of beef to this generation. These points are being emphasized in a new digital marketing plan that is part of the strategy to reach these consumers. Through this plan, beef checkoff-funded advertising is transitioning toward increased digital promotion, including online commercials; revised, easier-to-use websites; and advertising and advocacy conversations on established digital platforms including Facebook and Pinterest.
Farm Computer Conference Gives Families Updates at Lake of the Ozarks Jan. 10-11
An annual Computers on the Farm Conference covers more than computers, says program organizer John Travlos, director of University of Missouri (MU) Agricultural Electronic Bulletin Board (AgEBB).
Farmers, and especially their children, also learn about their smartphones, tablets, digital cameras and new apps for agriculture.
The conference, Jan. 10-11, is at Tan-Tar-A Resort, Osage Beach, Mo.
The technical meetings prove popular with young people, Travlos says. “The kids help parents use new technology. It is a family affair. We give a special welcome to FFA and 4-H members.”
The conference is for all people interested in computer applications on the farm, he adds.
“We have experts telling about computing advances. However, farm users teach, as well, sharing ideas and software they developed,” says Travlos, who manages the MU AgEBB. AgEBB is part of the MU College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
Classes feature lots of hands-on training. Participants are encouraged to bring their own equipment. Exhibits offer more information and potential for hands-on use of technology.
Some of the software and apps developed by MU specialists include weather tools by Ray Massey, Columbia, “precision agriculture” by Kent Shannon, agricultural engineer, Centralia, Mo., and crop-nutrient-management tools by John Lory, soil scientist, Columbia.
Brad Scharf, MU animal scientist, will return with an update on “Heat Stress in Livestock.” The apps are available for Android and iPhones.
Travlos adds there will be new information on unmanned aerial vehicles. “We try to keep up with the rapid changes going on in agriculture.”
Also added are computer security, update on farm taxes and cloud computing.
The program begins 5:30 p.m. Jan. 10, and ends the following afternoon. Special room rates at Tan-Tar-A are available at 800-826-8272 for those attending Computers on the Farm.
For more information, please view the Angus Journal’s Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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