Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back talking with the Chief Executive Officer of National Livestock, Robert York. This time, Hays and York talk about the future of the cattle industry when it comes to marketing.
National Livestock is based in Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma National Stockyards and consists of businesses spread out across the country focused on cattle. York and his team have the chance to interact with cattle producers across the country on a daily basis, including here in the Southern Plains.
“The industry has changed so much, and the cattle have changed so much,” York said.
Genetics have improved immensely, York said, and there are countless ways producers can differentiate themselves.
“You do have to approach it from a better-than-average standpoint if you want to consistently get the best prices,” York said.
Many generational producers have been aggressive with adoption of programs for their cattle, York said, which has been exciting to watch because of the herd and genetic improvements that have followed.
“Based on how my grandpa used to do things, and how my family would have done it years ago, it was a lot of different process,” York said.
Value-added programs have been beneficial for producers, but York said before changing up an operation, a producer might need to measure the cost and profit of doing so.
York also talked about a new ranching operation in Southeastern Oklahoma that is part of National Livestock.
“We started a new company called 1931 Legacy Ranch- 1931 being the year that National (Livestock) was founded, and then Legacy because we want to tell the story about the producers, not a story about National (Livestock),” York said.
The 1931 Legacy Ranch will produce an Oklahoma grown beef product, grown by co-op members.
“It has been an exciting change for us,” York said. “We do have a storefront we hope will be open this year, we are developing a beef brand and getting the labeling done.”
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.
