County News

BARREN COUNTY NEWS

Submitted by James Bailey

The Barren County Cattlemen’s meeting was held Thursday evening October 20th, 2022, at the Barren County High School Trojan Academy. During the meeting Mr. Vaughn Holder of Burkmann Nutrition presented a program on Trace Materials. Pictured left to right is; Brad Carter, John Reed, Vaughn Holder, and Tim Shirley, all representing Burkmann Nutrition of Glasgow, Stan Buchanan representing B&B Fence Company, and Glenn Byrd, Program Coordinator of the Barren County Cattlemen’s Association. A delicious steak dinner was served which was sponsored by Burkmann Nutrition Of Glasgow and B&B Fence Company. During the Barren County Cattlemen’s meeting which was held October 20th at Barren County High School Trojan Academy, Mr. Ryan Quarles, Ky. Commissioner of Agriculture, made a presentation on the outlook of agriculture in Kentucky.

Submitted by Don Wilson The Barren County Cattlemen’s Association cooked steaks for The Barren County Farm Bureau Annual Banquet on September 24th. The cooks pictured are Robert Siddens, Bob Gerring, Carol Spiegl, Ken Wininger, and Don Wilson

The Franklin County Cattlemen’s Association held their Annual Membership Meeting Oct 13th at the Harrod Family Farm. Before the meal, attendees viewed some of the registered Charolais yearling bulls and embryo transfer calves the Harrod family produces. The Franklin County Conservation District, Shelby Vet Clinic and Blue Grass Stockyard Lexington sponsored the meal for the 84 members and guests. Tara Watkins from Firmly Rooted Flowers Farm provided beautiful table center pieces from her vast selection of cut flowers grown next door. Todd Akers, FCCA and FCCD board member gave an update on the Conservation District including their local & state cost-share opportunities. Jimmy Chambers, the new Woodford County FSA Director introduced himself and provided a brief update. Darrh Bullock, UK Beef Cattle Genetics Extension Specialist, presented a Power Point presentation on choosing herd sires using EPDs and explained the benefits of genomic testing. Dr. Alex Hagan DVM from Shelby Vet Clinic wrapped up the evening discussing fall herd health. On August 31, 2022, members of the Franklin County Cattlemen's Association traveled to the City of Hindman located in Knott County to cook for the Eastern Ky flood victims (below).

Jessamine County Beef Cattle Association were at it again. Cooking and giving out free food. This time we were cooking for the Youth Fall Classic show at the Blue Grass Stockyards. We provided hamburgers, baked beans, chips, cookies and drinks.

TWIN LAKES NEWS

Submitted by Steve Peddicord

The Twin Lakes Association held its fall quarterly meeting at the Clinton County Extension office in Albany. A record crowd for our membership was present with many new members joining that night. A beef chili meal kicked off the program with some wonderful desserts furnished by the local Clinton county Homemakers. The education session of the program was highlighted by Dr. Michelle Arnold, UK Ruminant Extension Veterinarian. She updated the group about concerns for the Asian Longhorned tick and how it needs to be managed by cattle producers. In addition, Chris Mason with the KY Dept. of Fish & Wildlife spoke about many issues involving the upcoming deer season, deer control tag process, and chronic wasting in deer herds. During the business session it was discussed that our association is working on a joint proposal with Blue Grass Stockyards of Albany to provide mature bull BSE testing. Many producers do not have adequate facilities to check mature bulls prior to the breeding season. By offering a twice a year (spring and fall) bull checking day at the stockyards, this would greatly benefit our producers. Fundraising possibilities for 2023 were discussed and the membership is looking forward to several cooking opportunities next year beginning with May (Beef month) and monthly cooking thru the October Foothills Festival. In November we recently completed our fall mineral program. This member-only program is in cooperation with Burkmann Feeds of Glasgow. TLCA members can purchase UK Beef mineral, protein tubs, and deworming products at group prices. This fall our order for mineral was over 11,000 pounds with almost 25% of the membership participating.

The LCCA directors and officers gathered together on October 27 for the Pastor to Pasture Tour. Each of the directors and officers invited their Pastor along for a day of farm tours throughout Lincoln and Garrard county. The event started off with a steak dinner prepared by Ag Credit of Stanford. LCCA past President, Buddy Pence and his wife Melinda were gracious enough to open their place up to host our luncheon. With prayer and a short devotion from one of the Pastors, lunch was served and great fellowship followed. After lunch the group traveled to Greg Kirkpatrick’s farm where we heard about his farming operation and viewed a large bale feeder. Jacob Settle from KBN did a great job talking about the importance of CPH sales and the local USDA was also in attendance as we learned of programs through their office available to producers. Next we stopped at Ronnie Caudill’s farm. Here the group got to see a bale of hay get wrapped with plastic and learn how and why Ronnie built his working facilities the way he did. Ronnie runs 30 plus head of cattle on his 50 acre farm where he also raises all of his own feed. We learned the management Ronnie puts into his operation. Once the talks and demos were completed the group got to view the 18 tractors Ronnie has collected over the years. Ronnie made mention that each one starts and runs! One of the groups favorite tractors was the Farmall H that was built by “Rosie the Riveter” while the men were off at war. Following Ronnie’s tour was a wonderful farm tour at Vice President of LCCA, Jeff Morris’s farm. Jeff gave top notch presentation to the group where everyone got to take a wagon ride across his farm that showcases some spectacular views! Jeff gave the history of the farm and showed some projects him and his father had worked on. One of them being how they had converted a manual head chute over to an automatic style that worked off of air instead of hydraulic. They had used old tobacco presses and fabricated the head chute to run off the old tobacco air press. Our last stop for the day was at Marksberry with a tour of the processing plant. Preston Correll gave an outstanding tour of the facilities showing how it has changed over time. Preston did a fabulous job answering questions and explaining the step-by-step process of the facilities.