UDAF director lives agricuture day-in, day-out

WALKING THE WALK

Division head lives and breathes beef industry

By Leann Hunting, Animal Industry Director, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food

Snow is flurrying as I write this, the clouds skidding across the Wasatch Mountains. The air is crisp and cold. After the drought of the past few years, it looks like this year’s snowpack is above average. The grasses and the sage of spring and summer grazing looks to be almost normal. But there’s nothing normal in farming, whether it’s the ranches of Utah or the wheat of Nebraska or the tobacco of the South. It’s the unusual and the abnormal that is the usual joy and wonder of ranching.

We lost two bred cows last week; one gummer cow we were hoping to get one more year out of and the other from what we guess was a pulmonary embolism. She had a bloody nose for a couple of days and then died, blood staining the fresh white snow all around her. Earlier that month, we lost two of our breeding bulls. One we found after the coyotes had picked him clean and the other was fresh-smelling after he’d gotten stuck in a swampy area around the ditch. Emotional and economic losses are all too common in ranching. Things are more elemental, closer to the financial edge, surrounded by animal predators and a predatory market, battered by international controversies . . . and for the last several years the storms of a pandemic.

Despite the hardships of weather, drought, feed shortages, feed prices, parasites, land development, interest rates, market values, politicians who don’t understand agriculture, and consumers who blame the producers for, well, everything. Sill, trying to raise livestock for a living is a worthwhile adventure and sublime. For me it is anyway. Ranchers and farmers tend to just buckle down and get on with it, resigned to outside forces.

I have the pleasure of blending two worlds; my professional career as Director of Animal Industry at Utah Department of Ag and Food, and my personal family ranch. As the director, I supervise all animal agriculture within the State of Utah. There are seven programs within this division; Meat and Poultry Inspection, Animal Health, Domestic Elk, Livestock Brand Inspection, Aquaculture, Predator Control. and Horse Racing. I like to say that animals alive and dead are regulated through this division. Each week looks different, depending on the needs of the programs and the seasons of the year. Spring and Fall are busy for brand inspection, winter provides aerial hunting opportunities within the predator control program, the legislative session begins late winter, and so on. Our division serves the most wonderful people, those who are working to feed and clothe America.

I grew up on a family farm and ranch in southeastern Idaho. I was one of six kids that were all expected to help plant and harvest crops, contribute to the gardening and canning, and help work the livestock. One experience from my childhood has stuck with me. One spring morning my dad took me out to the pasture where our cows were calving. There was a newly-born calf struggling to stand up. Its back half was eaten away and mangled. It was still alive and its mother was in distress as she walked circles around her little baby. My dad pointed to the calf that was still alive, just half-eaten, and said, “Leann, that’s what coyotes do to calves.” This experience has allowed me to empathize with the livestock producers who lose animals each year to predators in Utah. The predator control program is one of my favorites and one of the most valuable to Utah ranchers.

After my “work” day is completed, my husband Hadley and I tend to our own herd of animals. It’s a common sight to see when I pull in my driveway, coming home from Salt Lake City, the truck and trailer loaded with two horses and our cow dog ready to go to work. We doctor our animals as needed; move them from pasture-to-pasture through rotational grazing; gather, sort, weigh and ship; and all of the other chores that come with this wonderful life. Our office is a pickup that’s always smeared with mud; big decisions are made there. I don’t trust gleaming pick-ups. A friend of mine told me, “If you have time to wash and wax and detail your truck, you should go out and fix some fences instead.”

Facing the same challenges personally as the producers I serve professionally provides me with the understanding, compassion, and insight needed to manage these statewide programs and advocate for them.

ANGUS IN THE BASIN Performance-Tested Angus Bull and Female Sale

Duchesne Co. Fairgrounds, Duchesne, UT, 1 p.m.

1 Red Angus Bull • 5 Registered Open Yearling Angus Heifers

LISONBEE MAVERICK 2105 DOB 2/15/21

Poss Maverick x Connealy Consensus 7229

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 6 1.5 65 110 29 .99 .91 74 159 264 His dam is a flushmate to VAR Generation 2100 out of Sandpoint Blackbird 8809.

OAR ATLANTIS 381 DOB 2/28/21

Square B Atlantis 8060 x Basin Payweight 1682

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C -2 4.8 79 134 24 .93 .77 72 147 284

This powerhouse traces back to Sitz Henrietta Pride 643T.

LISONBEE OPTICAL 2113 DOB 2/18/21

Connealy Confidence Plus x V A R Discovery 2240

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 3 2.1 71 125 25 1.31 1.09 74 187 320

HIs dam is a direct daughter of the million dollar-producing VAR Blackcap 9319.

LISONBEE RAWHIDE 2114 DOB 2/19/21

Poss Rawhide x EXAR Monumental 6056B

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 14 -1.0 68 119 30 1.11 .67 83 178 304 Calving-ease, carcass and cow family all in one –tracing back to Riverbend Blackcap X1243.

OAR ATLANTIS 201 DOB 2/12/21

Square B Atlantis 8060 x TEX Playbook 5437

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 6 1.5 69 121 23 .55 .91 72 129 272

A powerful individual that stems from the dam of Werner War Party.

OAR PLUS ONE 341 DOB 2/23/21

E&B Plus One x Connealy Consensus 7229

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 12 .2 74 116 21 1.14 .79 82 145 282

His dam stems from the Davis YR Blackbird 558H cow family.

Join sale hosts Lisonbee Angus and BID LIVE Oldroyd Angus for this offering of SALE DAY Superior Performance Genetics at the Centennial Center in Duchesne, UT at 12 p.m. MST for lunch, followed by the sale beginning at 1 p.m.

BULLS SELL: SEMEN-TESTED • PAP-TESTED • DNA-TESTED WITH GE-EPDS REGISTERED FALL HEIFERS SELL OPEN & READY TO BREED • FREE DELIVERY

AUCTIONEER: Eddie Burks, 270-991-6378 LISONBEE ANGUS

Jim Lisonbee 435-724-2318 212 S. 1930 W. Roosevelt, Utah

OLDROYD ANGUS

Steve Oldroyd 435-828-2975 1220 S. 2500 W. Vernal, Utah

MLA LAR LADY FIREBALL 077 DOB 9/11/20

GB Fireball 672 x Byergo Black Magic 3348

SHE SELLS OPEN

CE BW WW YW MK MB RE $W $B $C 14 .9 79 137 31 1.11 .70 92 162 299 Numbers and phenotype here in one package. She is as good as her picture!

SALE MANAGER MATT MACFARLANE MARKETING Matt Macfarlane 916-803-3113

m3cattlemarketing@gmail.com

RECORD NUMBERS ENROLL IN HEREFORD FEEDOUT PROGRAMS

Seedstock and commercial cattle producers enrolled a record 756 head of Hereford and Hereford-influenced steers in the American Hereford Association’s (AHA) 2022 feedout programs. The significant increase in cattle numbers from 104 participants in 17 states underscores the value producers are gleaning from the opportunity.

“I enrolled cattle because I wanted to get the carcass data back and attribute how those cattle perform going back to their dam and sire,” says Lee Elzemeyer, a Hereford breeder from Richmond, Ind., who is participating in the Hereford Feedout Program (HFP) for the second year. “As a producer it is important for us to know which animals produce the highest quality meat, while also looking at other traits that can add premiums to the final product.” He encourages others to participate.

Participants in the HFP, which began in 2020, enroll a minimum of five head of steers that comply with a specified 45day weaning and preconditioning protocol. They receive feedlot performance data for their cattle throughout the feeding period, as well as carcass data at the end.

Similarly, the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) Fed Steer Shootout (FSS) program, begun in 2017, enables NJHA members to enroll a minimum of one steer, meeting the same weaning and preconditioning requirements of the HFP. Juniors also receive feedlot and carcass data for their entries and have the opportunity to compete for lucrative prizes by participating in an associated feedlot education program. This year’s FSS includes 200 steers from 74 NJHA members in 17 states.

“The growth in the feedout programs provided by the AHA is exciting to see and is a great testament to the progressiveness of Hereford breeders across the country,” says Trey Befort, AHA director of commercial programs. “These programs provide a great avenue for participants to gain a better understanding of the cattle feeding industry, while collecting valuable data to benchmark genetic merit and make improvements.”

Cattle for both programs are fed at HRC Feed Yards at Scott City, Kan., which provides the platform for participants to maximize their profit potential and to expand their marketing avenues by gaining access to an industry-leading marketing grid offered by U.S. Premium Beef®. This allows participating cattle to be candidates for the Certified Hereford Beef® brand through National Beef Packing Company. HRC offers participants convenient, cost-effective financing options. HRC also hosts an annual field day where participants have a chance to see their entries during the feeding period.

Kora Hawkins, Jane Lew, W.V., competed in the 2020 and 2021 FSS and attended the field day. “Meeting new people, learning about the feedlot and understanding how cattle perform was a great experience,” she says. Hawkins is participating in the 2022 program and encourages others to participate to learn more about their genetics to make better breeding decisions.

For more information about the Hereford Feedout Programs, visit hereford.org/genetics/breed-improvement/ feedout-program/.

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