Spend enough time on the road and you’re bound to rub shoulders with travelers who take a casual interest in your work. Included in that category would be those who outright loathe the product you represent. Such was my experience on a recent flight to Ohio. After buckling in and exchanging pleasantries with the passenger beside me, I shared that I was a cattle magazine editor. She then promptly replied that she was a devout vegan. To be quite honest, I could foresee where the discussion was going right from the start. But for the most part we wandered down the conversational path without any rhetorical scrapes.

Stepping into the role of leadership brings with it responsibility, and agricultural leaders are no different than a leader in the corporate world. People are selected as leaders because of their vision and willingness to serve but also because of their willingness to fulfill the responsibilities of the role.

  U.S. beef exports set record highs in 2011 for both volume and value. The U.S. exported 2.8 billion pounds of beef in 2011, 21 percent more than in 2010 and almost 11 percent above the previous record set in 2003. The value of beef exports at $4.6 B was up $1.2 B (34 percent) compared to last year. In the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released June 12, USDA predicted 2012 beef exports to decline about 6 percent in volume and imports to increase about 18.5 percent.

The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) selected the Padlock Ranch in Big Horn County as the winner of the 2012-2013 Montana Environmental Stewardship Award, sponsored by MSGA’s Research, Education and Endowment Foundation. Headquartered in Ranchester, Wyoming, with the bulk of land ownership in Big Horn County, Montana, Padlock runs 11,000 cattle on approximately 500,000 acres in three ranch units. Owned by the Homer Scott family and managed by President/CEO Wayne Fahsholtz, the Padlock Ranch is designed to be a profitable family-owned ranch.

“Healthy people, healthy cattle, healthy planet” is the motto of the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University. It aptly fits this institution located within the College of Veterinary Medicine on this university campus, tucked in the cattle-rich Kansas Flint Hills.

One by one, they had questions – lots of them. A roomful of grass-fed beef producers came to Texas A&M University in College Station recently to learn more about an emerging aspect of beef production that is steadily gaining momentum.

A new poll released by Consumer Reports says major differences exist at grocery stores in how they offer antibiotic-free meat and poultry, and that consumers are willing to pay more for protein that is raised without antibiotics.

Refocusing after the drought will be the focus of the Cattle Trails Wheat and Stocker Cattle Conference, a joint effort between the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, to be held July 31 in Wichita Falls, Texas.