If you’re not at the table, you risk being on the menu.” That’s a maxim that J.D. Alexander says he likes to cite when folks ask him about industry participation.
Leigh Rubin, creator of Rubes®, the cartoon that appears each month in the BEEF Xpress section of BEEF magazine (you can see a gallery of past cartoons here), was recently profiled in a segment on WSMV TV in Nashville, TN....More
Noted animal behaviorist Temple Grandin, a Colorado State University professor, is among inductees of the 51st Anniversary Western Heritage Awards, set for April 21 in Oklahoma City’s National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (NCWHM). Grandin will be feted, along with the late Walter Prescott Webb, a noted Texas historian, in the museum’s Hall of Great Westerners....More
As promised, it’s time to kick off February with an exciting new photo contest. The theme is “Winter Wonderland On The Ranch.” I’m looking for your best winter photos....More
In a move that reflects the growing agricultural labor shortage across the country, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman has decided to seek a federal waiver that would allow Kansas dairies and feedlots desperate for workers to hire undocumented immigrants.
Rodman has met several times with officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about a pilot program that would place employers and undocumented immigrants in a special state-organized network. The goal is to create a legal, straightforward manner of organizing existing immigrant labor....More
As a farmer and rancher, Jeff Raymer spends his days doing hard physical labor. As an amputee missing his right leg 4 in. above the knee, Raymer needs a prosthetic leg that can handle tasks like feeding cattle, harvesting crops or driving a tractor....More
You can’t turn on the tube these days without seeing the now-familiar faces of the Republican candidates vying for a chance to run for the U.S. Presidency. Many have fallen, with only a few remaining in the race, and as the debate turns heated and personal, we have to ask, “Is the internal rancor in the primaries harming Republicans’ chances against Obama in the November election?”...More
Miss America 2011 Teresa Scanlan has changed the way people view pageant girls. During her reign, she began advocating for agriculture by establishing partnerships with The Hand That Feeds Us, U.S. Cattlemen's Association and Real Farmers, Real Food. In the 90-year history of Miss America, Teresa has taken the Miss America organization off the beaten path.
As a result of Teresa's advocacy, more state title holders are coming forward to support their state's farmers and ranchers....More
Despite a burgeoning urban farming movement, most people in the developed world have no idea what goes into running a successful farm. For the last few months, MyFarm, an experiment led by the United Kingdom's (UK) National Trust, has given armchair farmers in the UK the opportunity to vote on major decisions at a 2,500-acre organic farm (the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, UK) online....More
"Are you going back to school in hopes of graduating to more job opportunities? You might want to avoid these degrees," warns Yahoo News in a recent article, "College Majors That Are Useless," which appeared on the long-forgotten search engine homepage. Can you guess which made the top five?...More
Michelle Obama celebrated her 48th birthday last week with her husband and friends at a D.C. steakhouse where the menu features a $28 hamburger named "The Obama."
BLT Steak describes its Obama burger as an 8-oz. American Kobe burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, burnt tomato ketchup, and scallion mustard.
American Kobe beef is from a line of Japanese Wagyu cattle, which traditionally are fed a special diet and massaged to produce the fat-marbling for which the meat is prized....More
