Cary King Encourages Participation and Growth

Carson Pemberton Interen, Kentucky Cattlemen's Association

Seizing the opportunities that are presented to you is something that many could learn, but few have embodied as much as incoming Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association President Cary King. A Kentuckian through and through, Cary and his wife Kim built up their seedstock cattle operation by taking life’s opportunities by the horns. Following a love of animals and agriculture, King bought five registered heifers from John Venable. King originally had the idea of doing CPH cattle, however, he took the opportunity presented to him with his registered cattle and went in the direction of bulls. King let his kids, Tia and Clayton, name the first bull he bought. What they came up with, 98.1, after the local Lexington radio station. It was all by chance that Mr. Venable sold King registered heifers, but King took the opportunity and ran with it which led to his current operation of seedstock cattle. From there, King wanted to continue to improve his bulls, leading him to take classes in artificial insemination in Mount Sterling. King now artificially inseminates his herd; however, he invests in the best cleanup bulls he can find to ensure the best genetics and highest standards in his operation. Through this meticulous attention to detail, King has AI sires stacked for several generations in his herd. King’s farm, Four Kings Angus, now backs up to his golf course in Mercer County. King’s grandfather moved out to California at the turn of the century and took a job watering golf courses in Los Angeles. Following the tragedy of Pearl Harbor, King’s grandfather moved back to the Bluegrass state to follow his dream of opening a dairy. However, as life happened, King’s grandfather ended up going back to what he knew, turning the grounds into a golf course. In honor of Kentucky’s rich heritage, the golf course is named Bright Leaf Golf Resort after the highest quality leaf of tobacco, which is the same level of quality King expects from his cattle. It was through King’s love of learning that he ended up getting involved in the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association. After the purchase of those five original heifers, King realized that he needed to improve his cattle knowledge. He decided to take advantage of all the opportunities and programs that Kentucky Cattlemen’s offered. Once one class ended, King found himself even more excited for the next. As King gained more understanding to help him best manage and grow his herd, he realized how valuable Kentucky Cattlemen’s is for the education and knowledge that it provides to producers. From those first classes, King was all in becoming active in the Mercer County association, along with the state level. King has since served as the Region 1 director,

Kentucky Beef Network Chairman, and now Kentucky Cattlemen’s President. As King has seen much growth and success during his time in the association, he has many goals that he hopes to progress as President. One of his main focuses is to help producers throughout the state turn more profit per head. King pointed out that to keep producers and the agriculture industry in Kentucky going, one has to be able to make a livelihood. King says this can involve many components. One is to focus on expanding small and medium size packing plants. Going hand in hand with that is taking advantage of the opportunities that are presenting themselves. King mentioned the booming bourbon industry as providing a possible feed source for cattle. However, the state needs people to dry the product, produce distillers grain, and then deliver to farmers as a feed source. If this was combined with packing plants, cattle could stay in Kentucky without being shipped to other states. Seizing some of these opportunities can help the cattle industry “keep it here, finish it here, and pack it here”. King also wants to make membership a priority in his coming year, expanding the organization’s reach to more producers across the state. His biggest piece of advice for producers is to take advantage of all the educational opportunities presented. King encouraged producers to come learn and enhance one’s knowledge about the industry and if “you know everything, then please come teach.” Over the next five years, King hopes to see the agricultural relationship with universities across the state become stronger than ever before. An example of this is the proposed Livestock Center of Excellence facility in Woodford County in partnership with the University of Kentucky. King hopes this facility will help push Kentucky to be the “Denver” of the east, where not only Kentucky producers look for answers, but the whole eastern US. When students and people from across the state and the region visit the facility he hopes it will help educate them about the agriculture industry. Whether it be cattle, pork, or poultry alike, King hopes we can connect the curious to the facet of the agriculture industry that most interests them. He emphasized how the war and competition with other meats is no longer the biggest concern. Instead, we as a state need to push animal agriculture as a whole. King hopes this facility will help promote all of agriculture in our old Kentucky home. When asked about the greatest piece of advice he has ever been given, King launched into a story about purchasing a heifer. After the purchase, King brought the heifer back to unload with his son Clayton. The heifer shoved King against the gate, eventually flipping King over. As a sore King sat in a sale the next day, a man named Mr. Cox asked him if he was okay. King told him about the encounter and Cox proceeded to ask if “she was a good heifer.” King, who was caught up in pedigree, emphatically said that she was great. Cox reminded him that she wasn’t and if she pinned him once she'd most likely pin him again and he needed to sell. Then, Mr. Cox told him some words that he has yet to forget, “Love your wife, forgive your children, but never do either to your cattle.” In his year of Presidency, Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association looks forward to more of Cary King’s anecdotes, advice, and leadership and we are excited to see all he accomplishes.