Hello again to our dedicated blog readers and fellow Alabama cattle producers. While Bama fever and Tiger pride is beginning to grip our hearts and minds, your state Cattlemen’s team is gearing up for a busy fall season ahead. Preparations are being made for our upcoming regional meetings, October Beef Month, Beef 101 programs and all the other exciting events that come when the leaves start to change. While we work away on beef promotion efforts, you’re preparing for fall calving season, your annual sale and fall weaning. Let’s all take a break from the madness to update on all that’s happening with your state cattlemen’s association this week.
Membership Software – Loading Now!
ACA Membership Coordinator Jessica Kennedy is buried under 50,000 membership profiles and many, long-winded training programs as she works toward launching our new membership software. She is working throughout the day to get herself trained on this new program so that she can train you at our upcoming regional meetings. The plan is to have the software up and running by the kickoff of the November membership drive, with training and plenty of time for questions before the launch.
Note: We are asking that NO MORE information be submitted to the Ag Returns software. If you have new county information to submit, please contact Jessica Kennedy.
Bama’s Best Burger- Fiery 4
After an impressive Elite 8 round of the Bama’s Best Burger contest, the 
Fiery 4 finalists have been named. Before we tell you who made it to the top, we want to update you on the scale this contest reached during the week-long tenure of the Elite 8 round. In just seven days, we were able to garner a reach of over 223,500 Facebook users, generate over 26,800 post engagements, encourage over 22,100 clicks on the contestants’ photos and earn 1,149 new page likes on top of the 1,124 from the previous round. This puts us 105 likes away from reaching 20,000 Facebook followers!
Check out who made the Elite 8 cut from each region:
North
- Rattlesnake Saloon’s “The Duke Burger” (Tuscumbia)
Central
- Black Rock Bistro’s “Alabama Burger” (Jasper)
South
- Hamburger King’s “Deluxe Cheeseburger” (Montgomery)
Gulf
- Our Place Diner’s “Bacon, Egg & Cheese Burger” (Ozark)
Now the fun part is underway! Judges (who shall not be named) are traveling across the state to each venue to try their popular burgers. That’s a pretty good gig! These judges will submit their judging cards at the end of September is just enough time for us to announce the winner of the Bama’s Best Burger contest on October 2 to kickoff Beef Month in Alabama!
ACA REGIONAL MEETINGS
The staff is busy preparing for regional meetings which start the first week in September. We ask that all county officers try to attend these meetings as we will be doing the following:
- A survey for you to complete to help us plan for convention, magazine and website
- County secretaries will get the first look and some training on the brand new web-based membership program that will be used for the upcoming membership year
We’ll also be bringing October Beef Month supplies, updates, software training and open discussion to your back yard. If you’re interested in an October Beef Month box, contact Jessica.
Here are the dates:
9/5 Marshall County Dinner
6:30 p.m. Guntersville Extension Office
9/6 Lawrence County Breakfast
7:30 a.m. Mel’s Stockyard (Moulton)
9/12 Tallapoosa County Dinner
Location/Time TBD
9/13 Tuscaloosa County Breakfast
7:30 a.m. Heritage House (Tuscaloosa)
9/19 Clarke County Dinner
6:30 p.m. Big Mike’s Steak House (Thomasville)
9/20 Pike County Breakfast
7:30 a.m. Pig Cafe (Troy)
If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Jessica Kennedy.
Monroe/Conecuh Counties cattlemen tour
From what we hear from Monroe County cattleman Tim Tucker, the Monroe and Conecuh Cattlemen’s Tour was a great success! The group of 60 visited four outstanding cattle operations, a rock quarry and Bogs and Boulders ATV park. They enjoyed a hamburger supper at C. R. Pate’s Camp and were joined by many more county members for the meal as well as District Judge Jack Weaver and the Conecuh County sherriff. The county leaders want to say a big thanks to all involved and to the farms and friends who hosted them throughout the tour!
Tuscaloosa County Summer Meeting
Tuscaloosa County Cattlemen’s Association held its summer meeting last Saturday, August 19 at the Tuscaloosa County Extension Office. A strong crowd of 130 people were in attendance, and President Steve Ballard had ACA Executive Vice President Erin Beasley come speak to the group. YCLP representative, Blake Hamner, also gave a report on the program. A strong cake auction raised close to $2,500 for the junior cattlemen program in Tuscaloosa County.
Franklin County Sells Big at Watermelon FEestival
Did someone say watermelon? All we heard about were those delicious steak sandwiches!! The Franklin County Cattlemen’s Association knocked it out of the park this past weekend at the Watermelon Festival in Russellville. The event hosted 40,000 people, and the cattlemen sold an incredible 3,200 steak sandwiches at the event. WOW! Money raised from this fundraiser goes to provide at least two scholarships at each of the six public schools across the county. Excellent work, Franklin County!
Sen. Allen Fundraiser
ACA Executive VP Erin Beasley attended a fundraising reception for Sen. Gerald Allen last week. Senator Allen is a longtime friend of the ACA and represents Tuscaloosa, Lamar and Pickens counties. You may recognize him by his famous homemade biscuits that he makes each spring at the senators breakfast held at the ACA building!
CATTLE JUDGING FIELD DAY
Join the 30+ youth who have already registered for this event! On September 16, youth across Alabama are invited to participate in a cattle judging class with Auburn University Livestock Judging Coach Jason P’Poole, participate in a cattle judging clinic, learn during a questions class and get feedback on their reason-giving skills from P’Poole and ACA’s Michael Agar, an alumni of the Mississippi State Livestock Judging Team. This event is FREE to all youth, and while AJCA membership is not required, it is encouraged.
Registration for the event is now available online. To learn more or to register, visit BamaBeef.org/JudgingFieldDay
October Beef Month- Bringing the BEEF to Alabama
Get ready for an exciting month of beef promotion! October Beef Month
plans are coming together nicely…you’ll even notice a few changes to the promo game plan. The following programs are planned and will take place during the busy month:
- Ibotta beef coupon promotion
- Social Media takeover on Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram
- Beef Up the Blood Drive at the ACA office in partnership with the Dept. of Agriculture
- Beef Week in Montgomery featuring beef at 5 downtown restaurants
- Beef 101 educational programs
- Cowboys in the Classroom reading program (if you want to request books, contact Jessica at the ACA office)
Fall Armyworms in Alabama
Damaging populations of fall armyworms have been found in 
eight Alabama counties. While that is far fewer counties than last summer, it is important to check valuable forage grasses. Armyworm caterpillars are detrimental to cattlemen and forage producers. The damage can seem to appear overnight.
(Excerpt from Extension Daily article. Continue Reading.)
Here are a Few Handy Links You May Enjoy:
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Ozark is in gulf region?
Hi Pete. In order to have four equally-sized regions in the contest, we had to create a southernmost region. Since “north,” “central” and “south” were already taken, we needed a name for that region. Last year’s Alabama’s Best Steak contest winner, Big Mike’s Steakhouse, was actually from the “gulf” region as well.