LISTEN HERE>>>RADIO SPOT - APRIL 23, 2020
The is Liz Kierl, Manager at the Sandhills Cattle Association and this is your Sandhills Cattle News. It’s been a while since I’ve submitted a radio spot. For that I apologize. The office has been closed to COVID-19 and to be honest, trying to record radio spots with kids in the house is like pulling teeth! More than likely, at some point in this shot clip, you’ll probably hear my kids in the background.
The last couple of weeks have been slightly hectic at the Sandhills Cattle Association! ZOOM online conference meetings have been held, conventions have been postponed and then rescheduled, Educational, performance and carcass Contest calves were reimplanted, scholarship interviews have taken place, and everyone is trying to find out what the pasture prices are doing right now!
I’ll start my report by saying, as of this moment, the pasture prices have not been reported to me as deviated from those recorded in March. It appears everyone is staying the course with their current rates. The rental rate reports I have been receiving seem to have remained steady. If you have deviated from the rates in March, please let me know, so we can adjust the averages.
I want to take a minute and thank the Board of Directors and the committees who have met via ZOOM this past month. I know it is not always a smooth transition to go from in-person meetings to online meetings, but they sure have done a tremendous job at embracing the technology and learning on the fly. As members, you should be very proud of your board’s ability to handle the situations that have arisen and come up with logical solutions to the problem.
That being said, a couple of weeks ago, I announced that we postponed the Annual Convention. The board voted last week to set a date for the 2020 Annual Convention for September 22nd and will remain in Thedford. The schedule of events is still in discussion, so I will release them as soon as we finalize them. We are also delighted to announce the Peterson Farm Brothers are still planning to come as the evening entertainment!
The Educational, Performance, and Carcass Contest calves were reimplanted on April 9th. We have quite the deviation in the size of calves entered in the contest this year. Our heaviest steer currently weighs 1506 pounds with the lightest steer weighing in at 768 pounds with the average weight of the entire lot at 1133 pounds. The entire set of calves is averaging 3.95 pounds per day of gain, with the highest ADG currently rating at 5.38 pounds per day. There’s a lot more data where these statistics came from, so if you have calves in the contest, please be expecting your Reimplant Report very soon.
This was my first year organizing the scholarship contest for the Sandhills Cattle Association. Eleven applicants sent in their applications, which were reviewed by six judges. The judges evaluated the applications giving each a score and a rank. The top six applicants were scheduled for interviews on Saturday, April 18th. The students were offered the opportunity to utilize ZOOM or come in for a face-to-face interview. Two students utilized the online conference while four traveled into Valentine. Four judges spent seven hours listening to the students explain to them who they were and what they aspired to do with their lives. Scholarship winners will be receiving their notification in the mail and are asked to accept their awards at the Annual Convention in September. After sitting in on a few of the interviews, I can honestly say, you have nothing to worry about with their generation!
We have a great opportunity for local artists and photographers. We are converting the front and back covers to color in the Sandhills Cattle News starting in May. This provides a great opportunity for folks to submit their photos and artwork for the front cover. Otherwise, I am sure that you all will grow tired of seeing my photography. We also have colored ad space available on the front inside, the back inside and the back covers for those interested in advertising with us.
We have a GIANT list of pastures and feed available on the website under List Services for those looking for a place to go with your bovine critters.
Until next time, this has been your Sandhills Cattle News with Liz Kierl!