Cary King: President’s Thoughts

Cary King President, Kentucky Cattlemen's Association

Well it’s been a busy start to my year as your President, and I love it that way. I’ve been asked, “what do you want to accomplish this year?” My answer is, I want to seek every opportunity to ensure Kentucky's cattle producers can make a decent profit on their cattle, weather they have 10 head, or 1,000. I think we might need to be sure that we are treating what we do like the huge buisness that it is. Are we proud of our cattle? We should be. Beef is a big money industry, as you can see when you visit your favorite meat case, it is our job to figure out things we need to do differently to be sure we can keep more of those meat case dollars right here in our state. Do you have ideas? First let’s look at our assets: 1. God has blessed us with all of this beautiful grass. 2. God has given us plenty of rain to keep that grass growing. 3. We grow plenty of grain to feed our livestock and to supply the largest

Bourbon industry in the world. They then produce a major amount of distillers grain that could be utilized to feed cattle. 4. We are located within a days drive of a large portion of the American population that consume major volumes of beef. When Kentucky's main cash crop was tobacco, there were a few cows around, but we didn’t give them much thought. When the major tobacco industry left we just got a few more cows, but still didn’t give them much of our attention. With our great educational programs, some producers have upped their game, but some of us are still just pulling calves off and sending them to the yard bawling for mama, and wonder why we don’t see a bigger check. Are we leaving a lot of cash on the table? Are we concerned enough about how the cattle we raise grade? Do you know that more than 80% of America’s cattle grade Choice or Prime? Carcass weights have gone from 600 to 700 pounds to 800 to even 1000 pound carcass. Are your cattle following these trends? Are mine? The demand for American beef around the world is the strongest it’s ever been. These things do not happen if we don’t educate ourselves, utilize the best genetics, and put the effort in. Are we doing enough to be sure ours are the best they can be? With the Cattlefax data we see the the worlds consumer’s will pay for the best! I was excited to be able to represent you in Houston, Texas as we attended the NCBA convention. We are so well respected on the national level. Our state ranks right up there with the big boys thanks to the years of work that Dave Maples has put in assembling his great staff, Please be sure you and every cattle person you know is a member of KCA. Call 859-278-0899, or visit kycattle.org, and I highly recommend also joining NCBA, the National Cattlemens Beef Association. Call 1-866-233-3872, or visit NCBA.org. They are working everyday on our behalf to promote the best and safest source of protein in the world, and defending us against all of the many anti animal agriculture groups that want you out of business. I really enjoyed talking with the new NCBA President Don Schiefelbein who spoke so well at our KCA convention. His operation in Minnesota is on the cutting edge of the industry. Read about their families beef operation, we can learn a lot from seeing what they have done, and incorporate some of their practices in your business plan. Both groups are working on things that are so beneficial to all of us in Frankfort and in Washington DC, promoting our beef exports.These markets are bigger than they have ever been. Do you know that our friends at NCBA were instrumental in stopping this administrations efforts to do away with the stepped up basis and their attempts to raise the death tax on all of us? These laws now help us leave our family farms to the next generation without a huge tax consequence. Get involved, go to meetings, see how every voice is heard, and don’t be fooled by some of the other groups with their negative talking points. Research their leadership and who they are affiliated with. Are they associated with HSUS, PETA, or OCM? There are a lot of people that want the entire animal protein industry gone. They are wolves in sheep clothing. When you go to the big cattle states like Kansas and Texas, you see that Beef is their life. They treat it like the huge industry that it is, and all those cattle feeding states would love to continue to come and buy our calves at the lowest price they can, and then do the work to get them straightened out and turned into beef, and make their bottom lines look good, we can do that ourselves. I think we are sitting in a good spot to change the whole ag industry in Kentucky, but we can’t just keep doing things the same way and hope it changes. We have to change it. As most of you know we have been working to bring more beef packing to Kentucky. We have worked hard to develop Beef Solutions to turn our market cows into a great ground beef product sold in every Kroger store in Kentucky. We will soon be adding the Northern Kentucky region. Sixteen more Kroger stores will be selling your ground beef. We are even in several other bordering states, and that is not an easy thing to do. Call the office and ask for Dan Miller to help you enroll your cattle today, don’t wait until you have open cows to sell, do it now so when you have some open, you will be ready. We have been working for years to attract a large commercial packer, and we were so close to having American Foods Group locate here. But as we talked to one of their cattle procurement men in Houston, they will probably locate in the St Louis area. We were so disappointed, but we need to move forward. AFG will be wanting to develop a cattle supply chain to their plant, it will only be 5-6 hours from most of us. They want cows and fat cattle, opportunity? I think so. I think we need to start thinking about finishing more of our cattle out, and going directly to market. That means we need everyone thinking about, barns to feed cattle because of mud issues and ways to best utilize our feed options. You might be the one to open a facility to remove water from the distiller’s slop, I realize that not everyone has the time or facilities to finish their calves, but maybe that hard working young person in your area needs to build a large barn to finish them for you. Could you retain ownership? All indications point to some good years ahead for cattle producers. If we all get onboard, working together, thinking together, we can do big things. What we cannot do, is fight each other, arguing about the same old issues. Remember, “We must hang together, or they will hang us one at a time” Benjamin Franklin. I would love to come to your county meetings, I want to hear your ideas. This industry is worth the time to expand! I believe we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg! Please call or text me directly at 859-6133734, or call your KCA office at 859-278-0899 Thanks for the opportunity to serve