Who enjoyed the snow that arrived last Friday bringing with it all the white, glisteny cheer of Christmas?! If you or your herd were dreaming of a White Christmas, you certainly got it! We tend to think our four-legged bovine friends were a little less concerned with the snow and more concerned with getting some hay to eat, wouldn’t you agree? They were thinking, “[Snow] way we’re in Alabama.” Be on the lookout for cattle in snow photos in the January magazine and keep reading to get all your Alabama Cattlemen’s Association updates for the week.
County Annual Meeting Season
It’s county annual meeting season, and our Bama Beef Events Calendar is bursting with meeting dates. Check it out, and be sure to send ACA Membership Coordinator Jessica Kennedy your county annual meeting dates for us to share! After your meeting, PLEASE SEND JESSICA ANY PHOTOS YOU TOOK AND AN UPDATED LIST OF OFFICERS.
Speaking of Jessica, she is still working to perfect the membership program. Stay tuned with more information from her and remember that we’re all learning how this new program works together! Secretaries who will be inputting membership can email Jessica or call (334) 265-1867 for their logins and website links. Before beginning to enter membership, we encourage secretaries to sign up for a training webinar. Jessica will begin scheduling webinars for next week. The plan is to have a maximum of 10 people per webinar so that there isn’t an overwhelming amount of questions and so Jessica can provide her knowledge and assistance equally among those tuning in. Flexibility will be key in signing up for these webinars as Jessica is having to coordinate the attendance of all 67 counties. If you cannot attend your scheduled webinar, you will have to catch the next! Never fear, you WILL NOT get left behind! The webinars will continue until everyone is trained. As always, Jessica will be available for questions and additional training following the webinars, as needed.
A Very MOOey Christmas
Well, the weather outside was frightful last week, and we had to postpone 
our 2nd annual MOOey Christmas event to consider the safety of our attendees. The MOOey Christmas has been rescheduled for tomorrow Thursday, Dec. 14 from 9 AM-12 PM. Cookies and milk, coloring activities, and of course The MOOseum tours will be available, and ACA Past President Bill Lipscomb will still be playing Cowboy Santa for a photo op. Special thanks to AJCA Officers Cassidy and Cameron Catrett for bringing their cattle reindeer, Priefert for loaning us gates and the Lee County Cattlemen’s Association for allowing us to borrow their welded cattle for reindeer games. Open to all, bring the kids!
Visiting North Alabama Stockyards
ACA Director of Industry Relations and Youth Programs Michael Agar took time this week to drive up north and visit the auction markets in Ashville and Arab, Ala. We want to thank Brad and Tilda Plunkett, owners of Ashville Stockyard, Inc. as well as Robbie Gibbs, owner of Arab Livestock Market, for taking time on a sale day to visit with Michael about the 
association. On behalf of the ACA and th Alabama Beef Checkoff, each stockyard was presented with checkoff signage to display with their respective stockyard name on it as well as some ACA sorting flags for them to use in the pens.
U.S. Senate Special Election, Jones Elected
On December 12, voters in Alabama went back to the polls for the special election between Roy Moore (R) and Doug Jones (D). Jones beat Moore in a historic win, placing a Democrat in the Senate seat for the first time since 1992. The results have significant impact on the GOP’s ability to carry out President Trump’s major agenda items in Washington such as tax reform, by limiting the number in the Republican majority by one.
Bama Beef Stocking Stuffer Special
Santa Claus is coming to town, and he’s on the hunt for the perfect stocking stuffers for his cattlemen friends. Lucky for him, ACA T-shirts are now available and ON SALE for the Christmas season. Hop on over to our online store where you’ll find our new T-shirts, and be sure to use the code MOOLAH20 to get 20% each shirt. Our “Black & Red ACA Structured Hats” and BEEF Tags are also 20% with the code above.
Convention Registration Opens FRIDAY
We hope you’ll “Hoof It to Huntsville” on March 9-10 to join us at the 75th annual ACA Convention & Trade Show. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers, fun events and the Alabama cattle industry’s largest industry trade show in the works. Registration opens on THIS FRIDAY, December 15 at BamaBeef.org/Convention. Be on the look out in your January Alabama Cattleman magazine for more information, including a schedule of events!
SLE Rodeo Tickets Go On Sale FRIDAY
The 61st annual SLE Rodeo is coming to town March 15-17 at Garrett 
Coliseum. PRCA 2017 Stock Contractor of the Year Frontier Rodeo Company’s elite bucking stock, PRCA Freestyle Bullfighting and hometown funny man Trent McFarland are sure to combine to make one excellent show for the whole family! Kids events will be available where your little buckaroo can play in the dirt like a real rodeo cowboy. If you’re in the market for an awesome stocking stuffer idea, you’re in luck. SLE Rodeo tickets go on sale to the public on THIS FRIDAY, Dec. 15. Call us at 888-2RODEO2 or visit us online to order tickets to the show and to learn more about the 2018 SLE Rodeo!
Holiday Appetizer Recipe Inspiration
Here are a Few Handy Links You May Enjoy:
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Last week at the state office, the state beef checkoff team hosted the 2018 Checkoff Task Force Meeting, and it was a day full of great ideas, planning, brainstorming and exploring areas of growth for the beef checkoff program. During this meeting, cattlemen and industry influencers gathered to hear a recap of this year’s program successes, learned about national checkoff goals and perspectives from NCBA’s Season Solorio and offered input and desires for areas of the program such as producer communication and education, retail/foodservice, advertising and social media, youth and issues management. Staff is now busy typing up all the new ideas, budgeting and preparing our more important presentation of the year for the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Look forward to all to come and thanks to all who took time out of their busy schedules to contribute their input on the Alabama beef checkoff program.
On another digital front, our ibotta coupon- which offered $2 OFF a roast of any brand or variety purchased at most Alabama grocers- encouraged the sale of over 5,700 roasts, provided educational beef messaging to over 16,900 app users and reached more than 539,200 Alabama residents. This coupon featured prominent checkoff logos and well-represented Alabama’s beef cattle producers. Great work, team!
On Wednesday, Oct. 11 ACA checkoff staff joined ACA President-Elect Jack Batts, Regional Vice President Jay Buckley and Walker County President Tyler McClendon in Jasper to award Black Rock Bistro with its Bama’s Best Burger winning plaque.
the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries to host a Beef Up the Blood Supply event with LifeSouth. All who donated blood earned a ribeye steak sandwich grilled up by ACA staff! We surpassed LifeSouth’s donor goal by five donors…just another way to show that cattlemen care!
On Oct. 12-13, ACA Director of Industry Relations and Youth Programs Michael Agar headed west to set up a booth in the Worlds of Work “Ag World” at Shelton State Community College where over 4,000 8
Auburn fan and Lauderdale County cattleman Dan Goode could not believe his eyes when we found this Shorthorn heifer in his pasture. Marked clearly with an Alabama “script A,” this calf was born a fan, by default, of the Crimson Tide. Her markings have made her quite popular and have even spread as far as ESPN, Fox Sports, Sports247, SEC Country, thanks to a little push from Paul Finebaum.
available online at 
Beef has been the talk of the town this October Beef Month thanks to the work of county chapters across the state! We at the state office have had an influx of great pictures from counties who have participated in Cowboys in the Classroom, hosted steak sandwich sales, educated about beef cattle at farm/ag days and even from restaurant-owning cattlemen who have offered a beefy special in their eateries throughout the month. Great job, cattlemen! View photos 
event in partnership with the Alabama Department of Ag and worked hard to educate influencers, such as Auburn City Schools food service representatives and culinary students, through multiple Beef 101 programs. Besides getting out and promoting beef, we’ve amp’d up our social media footprint through beef-specific advertisements and posts such as recipes, beef facts, production practice infographics, how-to videos, cooking tips and more. We’ve worked hard to point people back to the checkoff-funded BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com. Our website even took on a new look for the month as it features beef imagery in the background, an “October is Beef Month in Alabama” banner across the top and scrolls through delicious, themed recipes each week throughout the month. So far, we’ve promoted burgers, easy weeknight meals and tailgating appetizers, and this week is all about stews and chilis as fall weather brings a welcomed chill to the state!
Imagine a half-pound beef patty topped with made-from-scratch pimento cheese and a fried green tomato. If your mouth is watering at the thought of a burger of this caliber, then a trip to Black Rock Bistro in Jasper, Ala. is due in your future.
and Sysco Gulf Coast joined us at the Auburn Beef Teaching Unit & Meats Lab to learn about beef from pasture to plate. ACA President Richard Meadows welcomed the group, helped lead a conversation about the beef life cycle and gave a background on his cattle operation. Jason and Dr. Misty Edmondson spoke to the group about beef production practices during a live animal evaluation then Meats Lab staff fabricated a beef carcass into retail cuts for the group to see. It was a great program and introduced many of those who sell our product to the production and meat science aspects of the industry!
This week, ACA Executive VP Erin Beasley hosted NCBA Supply Chain Relationship Management Director Shelley Bradway to Alabama as she visited several distributors and participated in Beef 101. On Monday, Beasley and Bradway headed to Atlanta to visit Buckhead Beef to discuss educational opportunities and resources available to them through the beef checkoff. Following Beef 101 
on Tuesday, Shelley along with program staff and AU Meat Sciences faculty toured the new Golden State Foods meat plant in Opelika. This
We had great participation and feedback from our Regional Meetings. Thank you to all who attended! Out of 67 counties we had 39 represented this year. One of the highlights from the meetings was revealing a little about the new membership software. This new software will be available to all counties who wish to use it by November. The new software will be much more user-friendly and is updated quite frequently to improve functionality.
Your Alabama Beef Checkoff dollars went to work to host a Cattle Judging Field Day on Saturday, Sep. 16 at CK Cattle in Hope Hull. We were excited to have 50 youth from counties all over the state join us for the day. To kick off the event, Jason P’Poole discussed the fundamentals and terminology involved in judging cattle. Following the discussion, youth took to the pens to judge three classes, including Angus heifers, SimAngus heifers and ChiAngus bulls. Participants then took a lunch break while scorecards were tallied, and the top three in each age division received prizes for their success. A farm tour of CK Cattle finished out the day. We would like to give a special thanks to ACA Vice President Chris Langley, AJCA Director Chelsea Langley and Regional VP Jim Jordan for attending this event and the folks at CK Cattle for allowing participants to learn from their outstanding cattle.
Foreign Agricultural Service. The representatives have to come to Alabama from Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania to learn about American agriculture. ACA Executive Vice President Erin Beasley answered their many questions about the beef industry, led them on a tour of our building and even grilled up some delicious beef for them to try out!
Montgomery Stockyards welcomed Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) World Champion Auctioneer Brian Curless from Pittsfield, Illinois last week to visit the area and sell cattle on sale day. ACA staff enjoyed the opportunity to visit the market, meet with Brian and hear his impressive chant. While in Alabama, Brian also took time to visit Autauga Farming Company with ACA Past President Bill Lipscomb.
Fruitticher (WF) Foodservice, based out of Birmingham. New salesmen from around the state gathered to learn about beef from Pasture to Plate in an effort to sell more product. WF has heavily increased their beef sales over the last two years by focusing on steak cuts and also introducing branded beef items. They primarily sell to restaurants in the state. Next week, the checkoff is excited to partner with Certified Angus Beef (CAB) to offer BEEF 101 to 50 retail and foodservice people.