Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays visits Kansas Rancher Jan Lyons in this first of a two-part series. Watch for part two to be posted tomorrow.
Lyons has held many leadership positions in the cattle industry including 1994 Kansas Livestock Association President, 1996 Cattleman’s Beef Board Chair, and 2004 National Cattleman’s Beef Association President. At the 2024 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in San Diego, CA, she was presented with the Visionary Award which recognizes individuals in the beef industry who have demonstrated exemplary support of and commitment to the checkoff’s goals and vison.
Lyons, along with her husband, Frank, began raising cattle south of Manhattan, Kansas, over 40 years ago. She grew up helping her father and brother take care of a small Angus herd in eastern Ohio, and she and Frank wanted to raise their daughters, Debbie and Amy, to understand the value of good cattle and the ideals and work ethics that go along with raising them.
Lyons began as a leader in the local and county 4-H programs and for the Kansas Junior Angus Association. Her volunteer efforts only grew from there.
During the late 1980s and into the 1990s when Lyons was serving, the cattle industry was riddled with demand issues and the emergence of Mad Cow Disease (BSE). “It was an all-hands-on-deck moment,” Lyons said. “We were fortunate to have a plan in place to increase demand when it was hitting its lowest in 1998. We focused on the consumer as well as demand and with joint activity from the industry, were able to increase demand. With checkoff dollars, our own self-help program, we were able to utilize authorizations and programs that were able to change that profile.”
During the time of the Beef Checkoff’s inception in 1986, Lyons was Chair of the Seed Stock Council in Kansas and represented them on the Kansas Beef Board. “I was so enthralled with Jo Ann Smith’s efforts that when she came to Kansas, I said, ‘We’ve got to get on-board with that.’ So, yeah, we rounded up people for the second vote that would take place at the extension offices. We were able to get that passed, and by having those dollars available, it has certainly made a difference in our operations and way of life.”
Lyons understood that her leadership position meant that she had to have a plan, not only to be successful, but also for potential crisis. “BSE was the number one potential crisis on our list because we had seen what happened in the United Kingdom with cattle being slaughtered and dying from BSE. Their industry was, quite frankly, devastated. It took them months to rebuild trust in the safety of their product.”
In the mid-90s, Lyons and other cattle industry leaders within the NCBA sent an authorization request to develop a crisis plan for BSE, long before it was ever-present in the U.S. The plan was approved by the joint operating committee and funded by the Beef Checkoff.
“The plan was so good that not only did we ramp up research on BSE – so we had facts and truth to present – but we had a dark web created so that if and when we took that off the shelf, we would open that up and allow consumers to see the real details about BSE from the research we had done,” Lyons said.
She emphasized that it was an all-out effort across the country, and targeted messages ensured the participation of the entire industry. The plan had the industry as ready as it could be when December 23, 2003 arrived when USDA Secretary of Ag Ann Veneman announced that BSE had arrived in the US with the Cow that Stole Christmas.
Tomorrow in part two- Lyons will share how that plan helped the US Beef Cattle Industry stay afloat after BSE was discovered in the US.
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 at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
