Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back featuring comments from Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Intern, Maci Carter’s interview with Executive Vice President of the American Hereford Association, Jack Ward, talking about Cattlemen’s Congress.
One aspect of Cattlemen’s Conference, a blueprint for the future of the beef cattle industry, was about practicing ethical behavior and integrity. Ward put together a synopsis at the end of the conference about what was said.
Marketing and sales have changed significantly over the last 20 years, Ward said, as there is more utilization of online and video sales.
“Over two million head of feeder cattle in ’22 were sold through video sales,” Ward said. “When you start doing that, and buyers or consumers aren’t necessarily seeing the product before they buy them, you have to be very honest with them upfront. Ethics and integrity are so vital.”
The bottom line, Ward said, is putting integrity and ethics at the very highest level when doing business. Ward also talked about how technology has progressed in the industry over the years, aiding in genetic advancements.
“When I came to Hereford (American Hereford Association) 20 years ago, we were running genetic evaluations twice a year,” Ward said. “It took about three weeks to get the data put together and cleaned up to put into the evaluation and took another few days to actually run the evaluation and then to look at it afterwards.”
Today, Ward said AHA along with many other beef breed associations run genetic evaluations weekly.
“Within those genetic evaluations, we not only have pedigree information and phenotypic information, but we also have progeny information, and now genomics- a set of markers that go in there,” Ward said. “It is all used at the same time, simultaneously, and we do those weekly.”
Dr. Frank Mitloehner of the University of California, Davis, who was the keynote speaker at the event, emphasized being an advocate for the cattle industry.
“We had a great keynote speaker looking at this area of sustainability and how the consumer’s mindset is towards animal agriculture and being an advocate for it,” Ward said.
Ward said that the industry will continue to receive pressure to produce more with less, so advocating for that product is critical.
“You have got to be at the table,” Ward said. “You need to have somebody at the table to share that story.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
