Agriculture Proud

On Episode 024 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, Ryan Goodman and Carrie Mess continue the Over A Beer series talking about hot topics in agriculture. This week’s Ryan quizzes Carrie with frequently asked questions about dairy farming. Thanks to our sponsors (if we had sponsors) – Spotted Cow Beer from New Glarus Brewing for the hydration and to Crawfish Junction for the location for the discussion. Be sure to hop on over to Carrie’s Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to connect with her. If you’re interested in helping your business learn more about involving social advocates in your outreach and marketing strategies, or if you’re an advocate looking to get involved, check out GROW Influencer Group. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Agriculture Proud podcast. Check out all my episodes at BeefRunner.com/podcast. Like what you see here? Sign up for my newsletter to be notified of future stories and weekly headlines. Click here to sign up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beefru

We’d be lying if we said occasionally getting into a fight with activists isn’t fun and entertaining. But it is also exhausting and can make you look like a fool. On Episode 023 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, Ryan Goodman and Carrie Mess continue the Over A Beer series talking about hot topics in agriculture. This week’s topic is activists we encounter and how to handle the situation. Ryan and Carrie both have some experience dealing with hateful comments online. Whether it be writing about controversial topics on CNN or encountering a coordinated vegan attack, these experiences have taught a few lessons about handling the situation. How do we define activism? Are agriculture advocates activists? While fighting vegan or animal rights activists online may feel good, that is not agriculture advocacy. Other people can see crazy too, so sometimes it is best to ignore the people on extremes that will never change their point of view. We should spend more time worrying about those in the movable middle who

Everyone aside from those too young remembers the iconic television commercials with Sam Elliott, a catchy tune and the phrase – Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner. But what happened to those ads? Many ranchers complain because these ads aren’t front and center. Why aren’t our Checkoff programs spending $5 million for a 30 second Super Bowl ad? [Read in as an angry complaint] In Episode 022 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, Dairy Carrie and Ryan continue their Over A Beer Series, with a conversation about beef and dairy checkoff programs. I discussed some of the recent news around the Beef Checkoff in an earlier post. For this podcast episode, Carrie and I carry on the conversation and discuss our experience with these programs. We’ve found that many critics love to complain, but don’t show up to state or national checkoff meetings to express their concerns, reach out to ask their state directors, or even show up to experience Checkoff programs working with consumers. Checkoff programs aren’t doing the same things

Agvocacy – a term coined within the agriculture community; commonly used to refer to agriculture advocates. Whether our start was documenting ranch life in Wyoming or selling lingerie on Twitter, our online advocacy has transformed over the past several years. Make sure you listened to the first episode of the Over a Beer series! In Episode 021 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, Dairy Carrie and Ryan continue their Over A Beer Series, with a conversation about the evolution of agvocacy via social media. Highlights: There have been a number platforms over the years. Some have grown, some have fallen back. One thing for sure is today’s prominent medium for sharing information is video and audio. Your overall body of work matters more than a single post to attract clicks and views. Chipotle and Panera. Subway. Earl’s. While it may be popular to boycott the latest changes in food and ag retail, consider whether you’re writing about a hot topic for people within your own community or to reac

When good friends get together and sit down and catch up over a beer, you never know what will come of the conversation. This is especially true when Dairy Carrie is involved. On Episode 20 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, we launch a new series, appropriately titled, Over a Beer. On a recent visit to Wisconsin, Carrie and I sat down to discuss several topics that are on our minds and of great interest in the agriculture and food communities as we enter 2017. For this episode, we take a moment to introduce ourselves and our roles in the agriculture communities. I hope you’ll take a moment to provide some feedback. You never know what topics we may tackle later on in the series. Thanks to our sponsors (if we had sponsors) – Spotted Cow Beer from New Glarus Brewing for the hydration and to Crawfish Junction for the location for the discussion. Be sure to hop on over to Dairy Carrie’s Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to connect with her. If you’re interested in helping your business learn more about involv

In Episode 018 of the podcast, I visited with the National Bison Association to learn more about raising bison commercially across the United States. We touched on a fair number of statistics to describe this sector of the agriculture business on a national level. On Episode 019 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, I follow up with a conversation more specific to Montana and what raising bison looks like from the perspective of a rancher who works with the animals on a daily basis. Aaron Paulson currently serves as President of the Montana Bison Association and ranches on the Snowcrest Ranch in Southwestern Montana, one of several ranches owned by Turner Enterprises. Much of their bison meat is marketed nationally under the Great Range brand label at several retailers such as Costco. As discussed in the podcast, many ranchers also make their meat products available locally. A sample of those offering bison meat and products locally in Montana are listed online. Follow the Montana Bison Association on Facebook, o

On Episode 018 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast, I visit with Jim Matheson, Assistant Director of the National Bison Association. We discussed bison ranching in the United States, how this may differ from wild bison on public lands or even cattle ranching. We also touched on the growth of bison meat markets and how that meat fills demand for certain consumers. You can learn more about bison ranching on NBA’s website – BisonCentral.com. The site also shares where you can find bison meat and a few recipes and tips for cooking bison. Be sure to connect with them on Facebook – National Bison Association. I hope you enjoy this episode of the Agriculture Proud podcast. Check out all my episodes at BeefRunner.com/podcast. Like what you see here? Sign up for my newsletter to be notified of future stories and weekly headlines. Click here to sign up. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/beefrunner/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/beefrunner/support

You know that graduate student who gets the lucky draw to help with those “fun” summer projects? Yep, that was my role when I first met today’s podcast guest. Now, to be honest, the summer project wasn’t too bad. I had the opportunity to help measure the results with a new fly tag project by taking photos of cattle each week for an entire summer. There are definitely worse ways to spend Monday mornings than stalking cows around pastures with camera in tow. Thank goodness there is technology to help count the flies in the pictures or I may have really gone cross-eyed. On Episode 017 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I am joined by Dave Thomas. He is the Dairy Insecticide Marketing Manager for Bayer Animal Health, based out of Tennessee. I was able to catch up with Dave on a recent trip to Kansas City when we sat down to talk about everything flies and fly control around cattle. I’ve received numerous reports of this being a particularly bad year for pinkeye in cattle, so it should be a relevant topic for many

For years, we’ve talked about sharing your story in the context of agriculture advocacy. Today, while there is an increasing number of agriculture advocates sharing their stories on blogs, that doesn’t mean we’re doing it in the most effective manner to reach the audience we truly would like to reach. On Episode 016 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I catch up with a fellow Montanan, Kari Lynn Dell. She’s a rancher and rodeo cowgirl, who happens to be an author. Kari has views of Glacier National Park from her house, doesn’t live far from the Canadian border and doesn’t think it abnormal to see snow most months of the year. We talk a bit about ranching and rodeo, but quickly moved into some advice Kari can share from her experience as a writer. Agriculture bloggers are often quick to jump on the advocacy train with an agenda to their writing, but Kari proposes use of entertaining storytelling to draw your crowd in. I think she makes a good point a few of us (yes, myself included) could learn from to help reac

Episode 15 of the Agriculture Proud podcast brings a brief review of my Team Beef story, how I came to be involved in the program and tips for those who want to join in. You can find out more about Team Beef programs in your state, by checking with your Beef Council or joining the Team Beef USA page on Facebook. For those of you in Montana, sign up for our awesome Team Beef Montana! And of course, I explain more about what the program is in this week’s podcast. You should definitely check out my previous posts about Team Beef on the blog. You’ll see quite a few posts about the Montana Running Ranchers. This is a 12-member relay team I’m part of, primarily consisting of ranchers or those of us working with ranchers. Each year we participate in a 200-mile Ragnar Relay, which is a great opportunity to connect with thousands of other runners while sharing a great message about beef and ranching. This year we’re headed to Hawaii, October 14-15. Learn more about this event and how you can sponsor us on the Mon

I’ll be the first to admit, I didn’t really care for my livestock entomology course in college. Fortunately for us, there are people who love the subject and work to study the flies and biting pests that we often find during these long, hot summer days. On Episode 014 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I sit down with Dr. Doug Ross, Technical Services Entomologist for Bayer Animal Health. Dr. Ross shares a little about the tools farmers and ranchers have to control these pests and how companies like Bayer work to make sure these products are used properly to ensure safety for our food, animals, humans and the environment. For most of us, controlling flies around the house can be as simple as using a fly swatter or a quick trip to town for a product to use in the garden. For livestock farmers and ranchers, controlling these flies and pests can be a little more involved because pests can affect animal health, performance and even spread diseases. As Dr. Ross shared, control for pests in livestock can fall under

If you’ll recall on last week’s podcast, we visited with a younger rancher from British Columbia (Episode 012) after my trip to the BC Cattlemen’s Association Annual General Meeting in Penticton. This week we’ll continue with conversations from that meeting. On Episode 013 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I sit down with Kevin Boon. He’s General Manager of BCCA, based in Kamloops, BC. As I’ve had an opportunity to visit a few of these Canadian Association meetings during the past month, I find there is more in common with U.S. ranching than there are differences. Sure, there are differences in a few government policies and organizational structures, but ranchers are still dealing with many of the same issues. So, it’s been a great chance to hear from some of these cattlemen and women and get their perspectives on the issues. It was also great to hear how the BCCA is working to ensure younger producers have their voices heard through better representation in the organization’s leadership roles. It was great t

On Episode 012 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, we’re headed north to British Columbia to discuss a number of topics with attorney and rancher, Ryan Scorgie, from Kamloops, British Columbia. I was able to catch up with Ryan during a recent trip to Penticton for the BC Cattlemen’s Annual General Meeting. Succession planning is an important topic for many farmers and ranchers across the country as we prepare to pass the business from one generation to the next. Ryan shares his advice on how to start that planning process and where you can find resources for more information, including how the younger generations can be prepared for this planning discussion. We also discussed Ryan’s role as a rancher in the community as he uses drones on the cattle operation and works with local researchers to evaluate methods for pain management in cattle. Ryan also pays close attention to trending topics on the food scene – grass-finished beef, being able to match our product to needs of consumer, and the need to educati

A few weeks ago (Episode 008), we discussed photography skills with Jenn Zeller, South Dakota Cowgirl, in the context of being out on the ranch for advocacy and sharing your story. This week, we take a little different approach to photography skills and turn our attention to capturing those sometimes hard-to-get photos of cattle on the ranch when you want to utilize images for online marketing or advocacy. I’ve been receiving questions from several ranchers over the past few months as we’ve been selling cattle on AgriClear, so I figured this would be a very fitting topic. Summer is the perfect time to be capturing those photos of cattle with slick hair coats and green landscapes, even before you begin planning for fall or winter marketing. On this week’s episode of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I’m joined by Rachel Cutrer, founder and CEO of Ranch House Designs. Rachel has strong roots in the ranching and cattle community, being part of the V8 Ranch, a premiere Brahman and Shorthorn breeder located in Texas.

It’s always a great day when farmers gather a great audience on social media when sharing their story. In recent weeks, Brian Scott has seen his audience grow multiple times over when he posted a video of his 6-year-old son operating the tractor during planting season. The video, posted on The Farmer’s Life Facebook page, has more than 5.4 million views to date. On Episode 10 of the Agriculture Proud podcast, Brian Scott, farmer from Indiana and blogger at TheFarmersLife.com joins us to discuss how he has grown an audience of almost 43,000 on his Facebook page. Brian regularly shares the different activities throughout the changing seasons, often using his drone or gopro camera to capture new perspectives of farming and field work. In the podcast, Brian shares a few tips on how others can utilize these tools to share their life on the farm or ranch. Brian joined me a few years ago on CNN where he discussed numerous hot topics on the farm. This evolved into one of his most popular posts ever where he explains

I’ve always been a big supporter of our Land Grant University extension and research programs. Growing up in 4-H had me acquainted with their efforts from the start. Continuing education in the college of agriculture had a natural integration through my undergraduate years, and my graduate research program allowed me to dive even deeper working closely with a state Beef Cattle Extension Specialist. Today, I still work with these programs by volunteering on the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station State Advisory Council. So, am always excited to catch up with our Extension and Research faculty to help share the stories of their important contributions in the agriculture communities across the country.  Episode 009 of the Agriculture Proud podcast features guest Dr. Megan Van Emon, Montana Beef Cattle Extension Specialist located in Miles City, Montana. Dr. Van Emon also works on a USDA-ARS research station, Fort Keogh, so she has the opportunity to serve and be involved in a number of great p

Have you met likely the most popular rancher on Instagram. Jenn Zeller is the guest for Episode 008 of the Agriculture Proud podcast. I always have fun catching up with Jenn, so I am excited to have her on the podcast to share a bit of her story and knowledge. Jenn has been recognized by Instagram for her work in sharing the experiences of ranch life through photography. In this episode, Jenn shares a few tips for those of us who would like to improve our photography skills and what to avoid when you’re capturing scenes on the farm and ranch. She does a great job of explaining the basics of what to look at for those of us less-advanced with the camera. Also, Jenn has a great story to share in moving from the Dallas area to rural South Dakota. She loves working with horses and cattle and was excited to take her story to Los Angeles with Instagram last year. I think you’ll really enjoy this story. Be sure to catch up with Jenn online. She can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, as well as writing for her

Happy Earth Day this week! I hope you celebrate by sharing more about the work our farmers and ranchers are doing to conserve our environment and be more sustainable in maintaining our open spaces. On Episode 007 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast I feature a conservation group you may have heard about, but may not have connected with the farming and ranching community. In this week’s episode, I am joined by Jesse Tufte and Nancy Labbe of the World Wildlife Fund. Both of these gals work with WWF’s Sustainable Ranching Initiative, which works “to establish a productive dialogue between conservation interests and the ranching community in the Northern Great Plains; driven by the goal of maintaining grasslands by ensuring that ranching stays viable and sustainable.” I was first introduced to this program while working with the Montana Stockgrowers Association. WWF expressed interest in and continued to work with us to enhance Montana’s Environmental Stewardship Award Program which works to recognize ranc

BRD. Google results tell me this is Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Germany’s official name. But that’s about all I know in German history. BRD in my life actually stands for Bovine Respiratory Disease. On this week’s episode of the Agriculture Proud podcast, I catch up with Dr. Jim Little, a technical services veterinarian with Bayer Animal Health to discuss more about this disease – BRD, which has more than a $1 billion impact annually on the cattle business. This disease may commonly affect cattle considered “high-risk” stemming from factors of “commingling with other animals, transportation stress, immune status, nutritional condition, environment conditions, and the skill level of management to diagnose cattle displaying symptoms of BRD” (Richeson, 2008). BRD does have a major impact on health, efficiency, and performance of stocker and feeder calves. According to research from Snowder et al. (2006), BRD has a large impact on both stocker and feeder calves, with 13% and 17%, respectively, of calves bein

Episode 005 of the Agriculture Proud Podcast takes us to Colorado for a visit with Sarah Bohnenkamp. Sarah is a leadership coach who works with and helps us work with millennials. I met Sarah a few years back working with the American National CattleWomen’s Beef Ambassador program and we’ve kept in touch over the years. She’s a gal full of energy and some great advice who can help all of us better understand our own leadership skills and work better with those around us – even on farms and ranches.  Currently, I’m working with Sarah to put on a Leadership Series in conjunction with the Montana Stockgrowers Association as we work with a group of young ranchers throughout the year to be better leaders in their communities and in their careers. Sarah also helps me address a question submitted by readers. How do we respond to friends and relatives when disagreement arises surrounding controversial topics – such as GMOs, antibiotics in meat, etc.? We want to preserve those relationships, but it’s not always t