Little Washburn Creek runs through the wooded hills of Sebastian County, Arkansas, where Tracy and Julie Leonard created a nontraditional ranch.

And just when ag equipment sales had begun to turn around … President Trump tweeted in early March that “trade wars are good and easy to win. But every war has casualties,” regarding a proposed 25 percent tariff on imported steel and 10 percent tax on imported aluminum. 

A farmer and a farmhand were hiking in the forest when a bull moose suddenly appeared and charged them. The farmer climbed a tree, and the farmhand ran to a nearby cave. The moose stood its ground. About every minute, the farmhand would run out of the cave only to be met by the angry moose and chased back in.

Of his successful 600-head commercial cow operation, Larry Echols says, “I just want to hit singles and not strike out.”

Americans, and by extension the cattle industry, will receive a boost in 2018 due to the recently passed tax reform bill. Mike Murphy, director of protein research and risk management for CattleFax, told producers at NCBA the new tax policy stands to return $900 per household on average.

Red Angus Association and American Hereford Association announced a bold industry move to collaboratively create the Premium Red Baldy verification program for commercial cattle.

By the time you read this, I’ll once again be walking the aisles at NCBA’s convention in Phoenix. I learned something last year at the convention in Nashville I think will prepare me for a better show this year and a better year beyond that.

Amy Freeburg was elected president of the National Hay Association in September 2017.