American Gelbvieh Association to Host Commercial Cattlemen Educational Symposium

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All cattlemen and women are invited to attend the  American Gelbvieh Association’s (AGA) third annual commercial cattlemen’s educational symposium titled Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup. Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup will be held Friday, December 8, 2017, beginning at 1:30 p.m. CST at the Hyatt Regency Wichita in Wichita, Kansas. Cattle producers from all segments of the beef industry are invited to attend this free event that will feature industry-leading speakers. A provided beef lunch will be served prior to the event starting at 12:00 noon.

This year’s Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup features industry-leading speakers who will provide insight on how the right genetics and management pay off through the beef supply chain. Speakers include Donnell Brown of R.A. Brown Ranch and current president of the Beef Improvement Federation, Myron Edelman, executive director of the American Gelbvieh Association, and Kevin Unger, resource manager for Lincoln County Feedyard and Leachman Cattle of Colorado.

Donnell Brown and his wife Kelli are the fifth generation to own and manage the R.A. Brown Ranch in Throckmorton, Texas, a family business since 1895. They raise registered Red Angus, Angus and SimAngus cattle and sell 600 bulls each October as well as 250 bulls each March. They use technology such as artificial insemination, embryo transfer, ultrasound and genomic testing to produce superior genetics that fit the needs of the beef industry. Brown was trained to use selection index models in the late 1980s and considers it a major contribution to the strong genetic merit of their herd.

Myron Edelman is a native of Kansas and grew up in the agriculture industry. He has held varied positions within the agriculture industry including livestock manager of Wagonhound Land & Livestock Co. Most recently, he was the director of value added programs at the Red Angus Association of America prior to becoming the executive director of the AGA in 2014. Edelman believes the experience of operating a large commercial ranch that included feedlots combined with providing marketing assistance to ranchers in a breed association setting is the foundation needed to direct the Gelbvieh association in providing accurate genetic tools and marketing services to the beef industry.

Kevin Unger lives in northwest Kansas near where his family homesteaded in the late 1800s. Unger started his career in the seedstock business with Red Angus and Simmental and has since moved to the feedyard sector. He previously worked for Decatur County Feedyard in various positions and served his last 10 years as manager. In 2014, Unger went to work for Lincoln County Feedyard and Leachman Cattle of Colorado where he serves as resource manager. Unger works to engage the rancher, the feedlot and the packer to identify and build a better end product through whatever means necessary. All feedlot and carcass data endpoints are collected and assimilated back to the production level to improve end product and advance best management practices. The system keeps an eye on the industry for new and useful tools to advance these production models and keep family operations profitable.

The Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup is being held during the 47th Annual American Gelbvieh Association National Convention. For more information about the Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup, please visit www.gelbvieh.org or call 303-465-2333. Registration is not required to attend this free event.

 

AGJA Members Gain Industry-Wide Exposure with Leadership Conference

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In early August, the American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) joined forces with the American Junior Shorthorn Association and the American Junior Simmental Association to put on a unique leadership conference in the beef industry called The Summit. Over 85 members from these organizations came together as strangers and left as friends and contacts they’ll have forever in the livestock industry. I could write in length about the impact this had on the participants’ AGJA experience and their lives going forward within the field of agriculture.

At the beginning of the conference the organizers split the larger group into smaller groups to intermix participants from each breed. For the next three days, these small groups worked as a team and interacted on a more personal level as well as the large group. To kick off the conference, Tom Field, Ph.D., director of the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program- University of Nebraska-Lincoln, really set the tone with a speech about the future. He spoke about the exciting things the program is doing to help students jumpstart their small business ideas in agriculture,
to chase their vision and dream, and never give up. Maddy Ruble from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) also explained how NCBA goes about interacting with consumers as they move forward in a world that’s further and further removed from production agriculture. But, the most fun of the day might have come with a choreographed lip-sync performance/competition between the small groups.

The next day was the very educational with “real world” beef industry visits. The two big stops for the day, besides Memorial Stadium, of course , were at the US Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) and GeneSeek. Visiting MARC was a great educational opportunity to see research projects that affect cattle producers’ day-to-day lives. GeneSeek provided the group with a unique opportunity for members to learn about the complex world of genetics and the genomic testing. Of course, a crowd favorite was the tour of Memorial Stadium and the great history of the
University of Nebraska’s football program. Later that night a little fun was had with a competition of the water Olympics.

On Saturday, there were several speakers in the lineup. In the morning we were given a crash course in meat science and a tour of the UNL meats lab. The group also listened to a very thought-provoking presentation on the impact of genetic selection by Matt Spangler, Ph.D., professor and Extension beef genetics specialist with UNL That afternoon, Kate Hagans with the Kansas Farm Bureau came and spoke on the importance of social media used in agriculture with an expanding technological world. We capped off the day with some bowling and finished the conference the
next morning with goodbyes.

This was an outstanding leadership conference with some tremendous opportunities for our members. These types of leadership events are going to be critical in the development
of our members as we try to feed a booming population while working through it all with more and more people removed from rural America. The connections gained and the skills that were developed made The Summit leadership conference a tremendous success.

Seedstock Plus Showcase Sale XII & 9th Annual Customer Appreciation Sale

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Auctioneer: Jeremy Anstine
Reported by: John Burbank

Sale Averages:
6          Bulls                                        $7,208
13        Spring Pairs                             $4,327
26        Spring Bred Heifers                $2,812
11        Older Spring Bred Cows        $2,086
12        Fall Pairs/Breds                       $3,379
42        Open Heifers                           $1,713
1          ½ Interest Female                    $6,000
1          Pick of Bred Heifers               $5,250
1          Pick of Open Heifers              $2,450
1          Flush                                       $3,600
114      Lots                                         $2,865

This year’s Seedstock Plus Showcase Sale XII and 9th Annual Customer Appreciation Sale was enhanced with the addition of a black dispersal and red purebred dispersal for Kenyon Cattle/ Little Sioux Gelbvieh and a registered herd dispersal for Four Winds Ranch. The sale also included an offering of herd bull prospects. The entire day’s offering was very well received and there were quality cattle sold across all divisions. There were 84 registered buyers of which 52 bought representing 10 states. Overall a solid sale with many new customers purchasing along with the repeat customers of Seedstock Plus.

Sale highlights include the lot 7 herd bull prospect consigned by Mulroy Farms selling for $15,000 to the “Hole In One” group comprised of Waller Gelbvieh, Oak Ridge Farm, Zimmerman Gelbvieh, Duck River Gelbvieh and Burbank Cattle Co. Hole In One is a Homo Black, Homo Polled PB Gelbvieh that sports top 1% CE/FPI, top 2% BW/TM, top 3% WW/CEM, top 10% YW/MK/MB EPDs in a sound, quiet, eye appealing package.

The top spring pair came from Four Winds Gelbvieh and the lot 117/117A Red purebred Gelbvieh brought $8,700. The 4-year-old female sold at $6,100 going to Jack Welle of Iowa and the calf sold for $2,600 to Lewis Eslinger from Missouri. The top spring bred female was the lot 1, pick of the bred heifers from Sandy Knoll Farms. The buyer was Zimmerman Gelbvieh and the purchase price was $5,250.

In the fall division, lot 4 half interest female sold for $6,000 to Oak Ridge Farm, Arkansas. The consigner on this elite Balancer female was Burbank Cattle Co. Stuecken Brothers consigned a truly unique purebred Gelbvieh in lot 13 that sold for $6,000 to Roitsch Cattle Co, Texas.

The the top selling open heifer was a halter broke, showy March born Balancer female consigned by Nowack Cattle Co. Lot 80 was purchased by Danny Carroll, Missouri at $4,000. The Carroll family also purchase lot 76, a halter broke purebred Gelbvieh also consigned by Nowack Cattle Co. for $3,000. We will see both of these heifers in the show ring over the next year.