This week, my friend Terryn (visit her blog at
FaithFamily and Beef) and I attended the Nebraska Cattlemen Convention for a couple of days. It was held in Kearney. If you are not familiar with the Cattlemen Association, it is a group of Ag professionals, farmers, ranchers, college students, high school students, and businesses that all have the interests in agriculture.
If you are interested in more about the National Cattlemens please visit their website:
http://www.beefusa.org/
and if you are interested in Nebraska Cattlemen, please visit their website:
http://www.nebraskacattlemen.org/
I encourage you to join both of these organizations. They are so important to the Ag Community.
Make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you and the future - join Nebraska Cattlemen today!
We attended the Opening General Session and heard from the Nebraska Cattlemen President, Dave McCraken, and from Pete McClymont, Nebraska Cattlemen Exec., and Vice President, Dr. E. John Pollak, Director at US. MARC and Philip Ellis, President of the National Cattlemens. We also heard about the Beef program in schools in Nebraska. If you recall, I wrote an article for the Nebraska Cattlemen about Beef in Morrill County Schools. You can read it
here. All in all, the Opening General Session was full of facts, laughs and eye opening statements. We as an Ag Community, need to stand together.
The second day, we attended a meeting by Dave Specht. His presentation was titled, "Transition Planing is Optional... Well kind of." It was awesome. If you ever want to know how to ask the questions like, "When do I get to take over the ranch?' or "What are your future plans for the family farm?" You need to read his book, The Farm Whisperer - Secrets to Preserving Families and Perpetuating Farms.
"Have courage to ask hard questions, it's worth it." - Dave Specht
We also attended a meeting about VFD's and judicious use of antibiotics. VFD's stands for Veterinary Feed Directive. You see, both of these subjects are important to me and you.
VFD's are a written statement by a vet for treatment of antibiotics in cattle herds.
Judicious use of antibiotics is simply what we all practice when giving an antibiotic for ourselves, our kids and/or our animals. We need to use them timely, when needed, use them effectively and follow all directions. This information was good to hear.
"Thou Shalt Read and Know Thy Label."
We also heard that 1 beef animal gives 462 people an eating experience. Now that is a beef fact.
We concluded our Nebraska Cattlemen's Convention with a huge, delicious steak at the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation Lunch. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
My Fun Fact Friday is this:
It is worth it to join the Nebraska Cattlemen and the National Cattlemens Beef Association so that YOU can be involved in the future of Ag! Hit me up if you have questions!!
