Kentucky Beef Network

Becky Thompson Director, Kentucky Beef Network

December always proves to be a busy month of holiday preparation, convention planning, and attending county meetings. My family and I made the 14 hour journey back to Nebraska to visit my family and attend Christmas gatherings. It is great to have my girls Maelee (10) and Madelyn (8) back on the farm playing in the snow and helping my mom prepare Christmas dinner just like I did when I was growing up. Through the fall I met with the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board (KADB) recipient review committee several times along with the Kentucky’s Office of Agricultural Policy (KOAP) staff to review our new KBN 12 application programs and benchmarks. The KBN 12 application will be presented to the KADB at their December 16th meeting. I appreciate the time the committee members and staff took to go through our KBN 11 reports as well as the KBN 12 application and listen to our updates to gain a better understanding of their impact for Kentucky farmers. The KADB and KOAP staff should be commended for their dedication toward the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund making sure each applicant and program will somehow impact rural Kentucky agriculture. The board and staff show huge passion for the future of Kentucky agriculture.

There were a little over 4,700 preconditioned feeder calves that sold through the Profit Through Performance Sale, Kentucky Certified Hereford Influence sale, and three CPH-45 sales across Kentucky during the first two weeks of December. If you have current questions on the requirements of the programs or historical market information, please visit the CPH website or the Kentucky Hereford Association website. The market reports can be viewed on the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s USDA market reports listing.

Have you met the Kentucky Beef Network’s boots on the ground yet? Do you know Ben, Charles, Jacob, Jeff, Ron, or Greg? These hardworking men are your Kentucky Beef Network facilitators. If you haven’t met your KBN facilitator I encourage you to reach out to them and ask them to visit your farm to see what KBN opportunities we could offer you. KBN’s mission is to assist beef cattle producers, improve animal health, genetics, forages, and marketing opportunities by enhancing producer profitability. All 38,000 cattlemen in Kentucky have the opportunity to benefit from programs and services offered through the KBN. KBN facilitators are spread throughout the state and all have different backgrounds and production experiences depending on their location in the state. They are equipped to draw from their own experiences and expertise to help you collect weaning weights on your calves, explain opportunities KBN has with its Integrate Reproductive Management Program, Master Education Series, or on farm environmental practices. The staff and facilitators of the Kentucky Beef Network are here for you, the Kentucky beef producer. We can provide services to add value to your cattle and protect your livelihood as a beef producer, but most of all we can be your companion. If you ever have any ideas on how we can help you more, please call our office and give us your suggestions. I hope to see you all at convention. Happy New Year!

Whitesville, KY (270) 993-1074 benlloyd0223@gmail.com

Winchester, KY (606) 205-6143 ronshrout@bellsouth.net

Cave City, KY (270) 646-5939 dale.embry@yahoo.com

Ewing, KY (606) 782-7640 stephensbeef@gmail.com

Springfield, KY (859) 805-0724 jacob.settles4@yahoo.com

Dan Miller Industry Coordinator, Kentucky Beef Network

If you tend to livestock in the winter you undoubtedly face two time consuming chores: Feeding hay and keeping water sources thawed. Dr. Higgins has dedicated a lot of time and effort addressing these two issues for Kentucky producers, and I would like to highlight the later. To date we have installed 16 tire water tanks at Eden Shale. They range from 4 ft to nearly 9 ft in size. These tire tanks are excellent at housing a large volume of water and allowing 12-14 mature cows to drink at once, which is a huge benefit during the warm grazing months when cattle’s water consumption is at the highest. But on the flip side, once the temperatures go below freezing the exposed water will turn to ice.

There are a lot of factors that determine how low the temperatures can go before a tire waterer will freeze. For instance, how many animals are drinking from it, is the sun hitting the tire, how much wind does the tire get, etc. We find that generally the tires will stay thawed down to about 28-25 degrees depending on conditions. Anything colder, and ice will start to form.

Dr. Higgins has experimented with several methods that all help to keep the tires open. He has developed lids of varying shapes and applications that work well. He has also successfully used 12 volt pumps to keep the surface of the water moving to slow the creation of ice. Most recently he has borrowed an idea from the Arctic, where water is not presented to the cattle until they are standing at the water tank ready to drink. The concept is simple, an 8 ft tire waterer is completely covered with a homemade insulated lid. The lid consists of basic lumber, insulation, and a water proof type paint. The lid has two bowls that the cattle can drink from. These bowls stay dry until the cattle are ready to drink. When the cattle walk up to the tank, they are detected by a motion sensor which turns on a 12 volt pump below the lid inside the tire. This pump (a boat bilge pump) fills up the bowl so the cattle can drink. The motion detector keeps the pump running while animals are present. Once the cattle leave the tank, the pump shuts off and the water in the bowl drains back down into the tire through the pump and through two small holes drilled into the bottom of the bowl. This keeps the bowls dry so that there is no water exposed to the elements to freeze. This system is powered by 12 volt marine batteries that are charged with both a solar panel and a wind turbine (pictured in the background). During the winter months there are very few days that it is not either sunny, or cloudy and windy. This allows the system to charge most every day, and also on windy nights. An electronic controller manages the charging load to the batteries, as well as operates the 12 volt pump when water is needed. The entire system is self sufficient and requires no user input to operate. This fall we have had livestock using this water tank with the lid installed and it has functioned correctly. However, as we get into winter its design will be tested with the colder weather. Stay tuned for updates as we collect data this winter and evaluate the application of this design.

THE BUSINESS BREED

President: Henry B. Smith Vice President: Anne Patton Schubert Secretary/Treasurer: Anne DeMott Past President: Jason Crowe

Gary, Nicole, & Ethan Blevins 59 Fieldstone Court Greenup, KY 4114 606.465.4040 blevinsblackcattle@gmail.com

6077 Helena Road Mayslick, KY 41055 Charlie Boyd II: (606) 584-5194 • Blake Boyd: (606) 375-3718 www.boydbeef.com • cboyd2@maysvilleky.net

927 Old Liberty Pike • Hustonville, KY 40437 (859) 238-0771 • www.branchviewangus.com James S. & LuAnn Coffey, Donald & Donna Coffey Annual Production Sale- 2nd Saturday in April

531 Rick Rd. Park City, KY 42160 Eddie Burks • (270) 991-6398 www.burkscattle.com

Joe D. or Karen Burton 480 Hominy Hill Rd. Nancy, KY 42544 Joe: (606) 305-3081 Located 15 miles West of Somerset • klburton01@windstream.net Bulls & females sold private treaty. Inquiries Welcome. Sell only what we would buy. Data driven since 1981.

661 Hopewell Road Liberty, KY 42539 Matt Coffey: (270) 799-6288 Dewey Coffey: (606) 706-2699 Genetics for Maximum Profitability since 1984

10825 Red Lick Road Irvine, KY 40336 (859) 582-0761

2315 Davis Bend Road Canmer, KY 42722 timmothyljeffries@gmail.com www.davisbendfarms.com Tim: (270) 528-6605 • Leslie: (270) 528-6435

448 Corder Farm Road Monticello, KY 42633 Ronnie Corder (606) 348-6588

Spring Sale: 4th Saturday in April Fall Sale: 3rd Saturday in October www.greatmeadowsangus.com Dale Brown (859) 940-8437

Eddie Hamilton 2142 Stilesville Road Science Hill, KY 42553 edjohami@aol.com (606) 271-1286 Bulls and Females for Sale

Tom McGinnis 1024 Hinkle Lane • Shelbyville, KY (502) 633-1634, home • (502) 633-5100, work (502) 655-0164, cell

Jimmy Gilles 5160 Lee Rudy Road Owensboro, KY 42301 (270) 929-5370 jcgilles86@gmail.com

Angus Bulls & Females Slaughters, KY Keith: (270) 635-0723 Reese: (270) 635-1137

Kris and Sara Lynn 2184 Bardstown Rd Springfield KY 40069 573-721-6663

Bob, Kathy, and Rob Clark (859) 748-5558 1446 Kennedy Bridge Rd. Harrodsburg, KY 40330 1446 Kennedy Bridge Rd. Harrodsburg, KY 40330 Bob: (859)339-2610 • Rob: (859)612-1594 mtmoriahfarms1@gmail.com www.mtmoriahangus.com

Richard and Glenda Stallons 1240 Dogwood Kelly Road Hopkinsville, KY 42240 Home: (270) 885-4352 Cell: (270) 839-2442 rstallons@bellsouth.net

Jim & Cathy Shaw 935 Miller Road • Hodgenville, KY 42748 (270) 769-8260 www.shawfamilyangus.com Quality Registered Angus Cattle since 1975

5202 East Hwy 80, Russell Springs, KY 42642 Charles “Bud” & Pam Smith: (270) 866-3898 Henry & Melissa Smith: (270) 866-2311

Eric & Sherry St. Clair 13433 Falls of Rough Road • Falls of Rough, KY 40119 Home: (270) 257-2965 • Cell: (270) 617-1079 www.stclairangus.com Performance Tested Bull & Female Sale April 2020

Jacob Tamme, Owner-Operator (859) 583-7134 jacob.tamme@gmail.com www.tammevalley.com & Find us on Facebook!

250 Bright Leaf Dr. • Harrodsburg, KY 40330 Cary & Kim King Carymking@yahoo.com • fourkingsangus.com Cary Cell: (859) 613-3734 • Colby Myers - Purebred Manager

Nathaniel & Darla Denham Nathaniel(Bub), Sarah, Ashley Denham (606) 423-2457 • (606) 875-0780 tripledangus.com

370 Ferrill Hill, Buffalo, KY 42716 Kenley Conner 270/358-8057 Registered Angus Cattle

4040 Taylorsville Rd Taylorsville, KY 40071 Gordon Schubert 502-477-2637 • 502-548-8440 Anne Patton Schubert 502-477-2663 • 502-548-2359

Gil, Mary, Corbin, Caroline, and Catherine Cowles 500 Rockfield Richpond Road Rockfield, KY 42274 (270) 843-9021 • Fax (270) 843-9005 Located 7 miles west of Bowling Green, 1/2 mile off Hwy 68/80

Shawn, Melissa, Devin & Dylan Gibson (270) 337-3072 or (270) 692-5304 Dennis & Emily 270/337-2128 or 270/402-4338 Watch for us in Branch View Production Sale in April

Tim and Amy White 3664 Military Pike • Lexington, KY 40513 Home: (859)223-0326 Tim: (859) 509-5401 • Amy (859)227-2552 whitefarm4@twc.com

KENTUCKY ANGUS ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Return to: Anne DeMott 1220 Angus Trail Lexington, Kentucky 40509 • Annual Dues $35

NAME

FARM NAME

ADDRESS

CITY

PHONE 1 STATE

PHONE 2 ZIP

EMAIL