Hello again to our friend, October Beef Month in Alabama! It’s a real treat for us to get to celebrate this delicious month of beef promotion and education throughout the state. Cattlemen are busy promoting beef and raising the beef as calving season is also in full swing across our great state! It’s a busy time…and we know you know all about it, so instead of wasting any more, we will get straight to the point on ALL that’s happening at the ACA this week.
Young Cattlemen Gather in South Alabama
On Friday and Saturday, the ACA hosted the YCLP Class V group in Fairhope, AL during their third leadership development session. The group received BQA training from Extension Veterinarian Dr. Soren Rodning at the Gulf Coast Extension and Research Center and then after had the opportunity to tour the facilities with facility director Malcom Pegues. Dr. Mulvaney led leadership training activities throughout the whole trip that challenged our young leaders to think outside the box! To top off the trip, the young cattlemen toured Mark Kaiser’s diversified cattle, poultry and row crop operation and discuss his many ventures such as eggs, peanuts, hay, and his 600-head cattle operation. Overall, it was a successful trip filled with productive conversation about leadership in the beef industry and a ton of fun. Special thanks to all who volunteered their time to make this weekend’s session a success!
Bama’s Best Beef Winner Announced
Our Place Diner in Ozark has been named the winner of the 2018 Bama’s Best Burger contest with its dish, the Big Bopper Burger. A beef patty topped with bacon, multiple types of cheese, fried-to-perfection onion rings and all the fixings, the Big Bopper Burger was stout competition for contest finalists. One contest judge, who wishes to remain anonymous, touted midway through judging, “Our Place is gonna be hard to beat.”
The Bama’s Best Burger contest began July 23 on the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association Facebook page with a nominations round that earned over 500 burger nominations from restaurants across Alabama. The most-nominated burger from each of contest’s eight regions moved on to compete in Facebook poll challenges that put competing regions head-to-head as fans voted for their favorite restaurant’s burger.
Contest finalists were Bentley’s (Hartselle) Cheeseburger; R & R Burgers (Springville) T-Rex Burger; Heards BBQ & Soul Food (Maplesville) Signature Burger and Our Place Diner’s (Ozark) Big Bopper Burger.
Finalist restaurants were then visited anonymously by a panel of industry judges who secretly taste tested the burgers throughout the month of September.
Our Place Diner owners will receive a plaque presentation and media conference from the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, bragging rights for one year and an influx of customers looking to try Alabama’s best burger. We know we’re excited to give it a try!!
Alabama National Fair Beef Shows
The weekend, ACA Director of Industry Relations & Youth Programs Michael Agar joined forces with the Alabama Farmers Federation to put on the Alabama National Fair Youth and Open Beef Shows. The event featured around 150 head of fine show calves exhibited by over 100 youth. Big congratulations are in order to Limestone County Junior Cattleman and District 1 Director Ashlyn Ruf who won Grand Champion Market Steer and Grand Champion Breeding Heifer. Congrats are also due to AJCA At Large Director Emma Merriman of Etowah County who won Grand Champion Senior Showman, Curt Williams of Marshall County who took the title of Grand Champion Intermediate Showman and Callie Rae Childers of Morgan County who was awarded the title of Grand Champion Junior Showman.
Great work to all these junior cattlemen and future leaders! Also, huge thanks to our AJCA directors who stepped up when needed to help in the ring and to make the show a success.
Policy Corner: Electronic logging & Trade
Livestock haulers have been granted an additional extension on the ELD delay until December 7, 2018. We will keep you current on what manifests from the remainder of the appropriations bills that need to be passed. These will include language and guidance for where we stand with ELDs in 2019. Stay tuned. In the meantime, trade negotiations continue as Mexico, Canada and the U.S. announced the USMCA this week to replace NAFTA. Details on this agreement will come out in the coming weeks and we will let you know how it immediately effects beef cattle. On the surface, the agreement is excellent news for the U.S. dairy industry.
Membership Update
Membership bailouts for the 2019 year are in the works. Be on the lookout for those to begin hitting mailboxes around November 1. ACA Membership Coordinator Jessica Kennedy will be sending out county contact information to leaders and will need to be notified of changes asap, so be watching those inboxes. We look forward to working with you as we head into a busy 2019 membership year!
BEEF 101 With Sysco Gulf Coast
On Monday, ACA Director of Education and Outreach Ali Cantrell hosted a BEEF 101 at Auburn with Gulf Coast Sysco’s sales representatives. They received an overview of the beef industry along with a tutorial of the fabrication process and a live cattle evaluation. The salesmen left with a better understanding of the purpose of each beef cut to increase their sales of beef products.
Cattlemen’s Convention & Industry Trade Show
Let’s Geaux to New Orleans!! ACA members can take advantage of a special discount code as they register for the Cattlemen’s Convention and NCBA Trade Show which will take place Jan.30-Feb.2, 2019 in New Orleans. Call the office or email krharden@bamabeef.org to confirm your membership status and receive the code for $75 OFF a regular registration and $25 OFF a trade show only pass. Registration for the event opened on October 1.
CHECKOFF REFERENDUM VOTE- OCTOBER 24
Cattle owners across the state will vote on October 24, 2018 to continue the $1.00 Alabama Beef Checkoff Program. Voting will take place for the referendum in every county Extension office in the state and will be open from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on October 24. The Alabama Beef Checkoff Program is essential for beef promotion efforts, issues management, producer programs and youth involvement carried out each year throughout the state. The program has been in place since 1962 as one of the first in the country and was reactivated in 2004 as cattle numbers declined. To date, the program has contributed to thousands of youth being involved in the cattle industry, multiple generations of producers taking part in educational programs and enormous return on investment from research efforts focused on beef cattle production. The wide array of programs available for funding through the Alabama Beef Checkoff Program can be found at www.BamaBeef.org/Checkoff. For questions about how your dollars are used, contact the ACA office.
BEEF Hits Radio and Television
Beef Month in Alabama his radio waves across the state last week to help us as we kicked off this delicious month of beef promotion and education! If you listen to Rick and Bubba or any iHeart media affiliated radio station you should hear the “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” campaign coming through your speakers on a radio near you. Later this month on October 19, ACA’s Ali Cantrell and Bibb County cattleman Ashton Cottingham will be visiting the Rick and Bubba studio to grill up some juicy steaks and discuss October Beef Month and the impact of the cattle industry in Alabama. Also, be on the lookout for our TV commercials on news stations across Alabama specifically in the local Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and Montgomery stations. We hope you enjoy seeing BEEF on your screen!
Beef on ibotta
Calling all Ibotta shoppers! The popular consumer app now has a rebate for any fresh beef products at most Alabama retail chains that offers $0.25 back on your beef purchases. The Alabama Beef Checkoff Program is excited to offer this incentive for shoppers as a way to encourage increased beef sales throughout October Beef Month. Download the app and start shopping today!
Food Tours with Comedienne Joy
The Alabama Beef Checkoff has partnered up with Comedienne Joy to host Beef Food tours in the Birmingham area every Sunday this October. ACA Director of Education & Outreach Ali Cantrell and Birmingham-area food blogger Joy King will take people throughout Birmingham to try beef meals from four different restaurants and then conclude at Western Supermarket for a mini BEEF 101 course. This promotion will also be featured on Comedienne Joy’s show with Fox station.
ALABAMA CATTLEMEN’S FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS- NOW OPEN FOR APPLICATION
The Alabama Cattlemen’s Foundation provides over $70,000 annually to 
qualified high school and collegiate students, courtesy of funds raised through the purchase of the Cowboy vanity car tag and generous endowments. Scholarship applications for the 2019-2020 school year are NOW AVAILABLE online at BamaBeef.org/Scholarship.
Applications will close at midnight on November 1. Visit www.BamaBeef.org/Scholarship to review application requirements and to apply today!
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