Beef Ambassador

Beef lovers, industry leaders, and advocates,
In the world today, especially the United States, there are options in everything. What car you want to drive, where you want to live, what you want to do for a living, and (more to the point of the story) what you eat. This final option is one that people make on a daily basis, and it has a far reaching impact, especially on the beef community. There seems to be a “choose your adventure story” leading to what you eat each day. The two biggest questions that consumers ask themselves when is comes to beef are “to eat beef, or not to eat beef” and if so “what kind of beef”? Both of these are very logical questions, especially to an uniformed consumer. If their main source of information is large, public media, eating beef seems to be getting scarier by the day, when in reality, it is getting safer and healthier everyday. The United States, and many other developed countries, have the luxury of being able to turn down a protein source such as beef. In my travels, I have found that people from countries outside of the US understand this idea, and leap at the opportunity to eat beef, and recognize it as an excellent source of protein and other essential nutrients. We as Americans have the option to turn down beef for “alternative protein sources”, none of which hold a candle to all that beef has to offer. It is easy for the uninformed consumer to make this decision without the proper information. This is where other consumers, beef lovers, and industry members have to step up and help inform those making this decision for the wrong reasons. The second big choice that consumers have to make is what kind of beef they want to eat. Do they want grain fed? Grass fed? Locally raised? Organic? Natural? Angus? Hereford? Dry Aged? Select, Choice, or Prime? And even more importantly which cut? One of the 29 Lean cuts, or not? It is easy, even for someone who knows beef inside and out (literally), to get lost at the beef counter. This is another place where people have to step up and help inform people on what it is they may be looking for in a cut of beef. As the beef industry knows, our goal is to keep people coming back. If someone makes the wrong choice and has a bad eating experience, will they come back to the beef counter again? Are we bombarding our consumers with too many options? We know that it is great to give people the option to choose, and for every producer to have a niche they can fill, but is there a possibility of too many options? I can’t say either way, because I know what I like, and I love knowing that there is a choice out there for EVERYONE, but it is something I often find myself wondering about. I would love feedback on this subject from anyone!

Leaving you with beef for thought
– Kim

Beef lovers, industry leaders, and advocates,
As a National Beef Ambassador (and I know this goes for all of us, past and present), we are often asked the question, “What is a Beef Ambassador?” Personally, this is a question that I love answering because there are so many things that I can say about who we are, why we do it, and what I love about it. First, I see a Beef Ambassador as the youth face of the industry. Our job is to function as a bridge between producers and consumers. Many of the members of the team come from a producer stand point, while others can see more easily through the eyes of the consumer. This is one of the many reasons why it is so great to have a team. This year we literally come from all over the country, each of us with our own individual background in the beef industry. This allows us to connect with consumers on every level possible, as we all can see someone’s point or question just a little differently. The events that we attend are designed for us to establish a connection with people who would, in any other circumstance, never come in contact with the beef industry outside of the meat counter at the market. This is something that we truly enjoy. As I stated in my blog, “A Blessed Paradigm”, we have to remove ourselves from who we are and see the world through that particular individual’s point of view. This is something that will never grow old for me. Like reading a great book, I get to forget about what exactly is going on in my life, and honestly see another view of the world. While it may seem like I am glorifying our job, I am an honest believer that what we do makes a difference, and that we are so incredibly lucky to be doing this for an entire year. The reason that we do it is not for the title or the scholarships (they are amazing, I’m not complaining!!), but really it is because this is what we desire to do, whether it is within an organization like National Cattlemen’s Beef Association or American National Cattlewomen, or whether we are talking to someone at the store from an honest producer stand point. I am a beef advocate, like so many of the people who I have come in contact with through the organization. We are all “Riding for the Brand”. So the real answer is how could I NOT be doing this, there is not an option of do or do not, there is only the option of how well I can function as an advocate for this industry. This wonderful industry and beef community is what I love the most. Through this, I have had experiences that I wouldn’t trade for the world, and my time is not even halfway though yet. I have had the chance to bond not only with the people that I have met promoting beef at various events, but also with my team. This time last year, I would not have believed that I could have developed such close friends so quickly, those friends being my lovely teammates from Texas, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. While the travel and people are great, I cannot forget to mention how much I love working with honestly curious individuals. Whether it is sharing with people how I grew up, or answering questions on beef quality and safety, I love what I do. Now this blog was a bit of a rant on why I love what I get to do, but this program cannot be praised enough. I know how incredibly fortunate I am, and I love sharing that with others. So thank you so much for helping make this possible for all of us Beef Ambassadors, past, present, and future; just by reading this, you are supporting what I absolutely love about my job. I hope that I helped clarify any questions on what we do, and if you have any more, you know how to get ahold of me. Thanks and goodnight!

– Always Ridin’ for the Brand!
Kim

Beef lovers, industry leaders, and advocates,
I would like to continue on the idea of John’s blog “Always Improving”. I don’t think that we can honestly take too much time to commend American ranchers for all of the work that they put in to their operations. While many industries are super controlled by the government to become more efficient, ranchers are some of the few who volunteer to make their industry a better one. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are plenty of regulations that help keep our industry running in line, but ranchers are constantly pushing to be more efficient and better at what they do. One of my favorite classes this semester is Food Animal 101, an overview of food animal production as a whole, so naturally a large part of our time is spent discussing the beef sector. Seeing the actual numbers that US ranchers put up really helps solidify just how well we are doing. The United States raises 7% of the world’s cattle, but produces 20% of the world’s beef and veal. That is a pretty impressive sign that we are quite efficient. One instance where ranchers are pushing to be better is in the area of breeds, specifically developing new ones. The Beefmaster, Limflex, Brangus, and Stabilizer are all examples of breeds developed by taking the great characteristics of multiple breeds and creating a better breed. Another way that ranchers are improving is using a bull that has feed efficiency numbers to it’s name. These are bulls that have been monitored on how much feed they consume, utilize, and waste. Using a bull that is “feed efficient” will produce calves that gain more weight on less feed. This is not only an efficient use of resources, but time and money as well. No one has asked ranchers to be more efficient, they are doing all of this without being told to by a rule book or a law. Someone can always argue taht this is simply a way for the rancher to make more money, and let’s be honest, it is, but it isn’t the sole purpose. Any rancher’s goals are to 1) Keep their business afloat, 2) To maintain the health and well being of their livestock, and 3) To make sure that this is a business that has a future. There is no future in wasting resources, and there is a future in constantly improving. Whether it be in quality of cattle or feed efficiency, ranchers are using less and less resources and yet are still constantly increasing the quality of beef that they “bring to the table”.

Night Everyone
– Kim

Beef lovers, industry leaders, and advocates,
As ranchers and agriculturalists, we have learned the amazing power of “buzzwords”. These are words that we use in the media and when talking to consumers to help clarify and support what ever topic we are discussing. One of these words that has been used extensively is “sustainability”. “Sustainability” is a word that helps let the consumer know that what we do is good for the environment, our business, and the future of agriculture. The funny thing about this word in particular is that to a rancher it means “exactly what I do and have been doing for as long as I can remember”. Our use of this word sometimes leads consumers to believe that not all farming and ranching practices are sustainable, when in reality, sustainable business equals good business. For example, yesterday in my Farm Animal Science class, we had a large agriculture employer come in and make a presentation about their company. They covered the extent of the internships that they offered and the large amount of acreage and cattle that they own. When they opened the floor for questions, one young lady asked “Do you offer internships in sustainable ranching practices?” The look on the presenter’s face was priceless. He took a long pause with a confused look on his face, then replied “Uh……no. Everything that we do is sustainable. If it were not, we would not still be running the same ranches that we started so many years ago. So no, we do not offer internships in sustainability, but if you intern with us, you will learn how to work on a “sustainable” operation.” I could have hugged him, because isn’t that the truth? While the idea of sustainability is no doubt important for consumers to understand, they need to realize that it is not limited to the few that call their operation “sustainable”. Ranchers have to work with conservation groups to manage the wildlife and with Public Land Management to keep track of species of animals and plants. Not only that, but they also have to manage their land themselves to make sure that it will be functional for the future of their family and their business. They rotate pastures, irrigate, feed hay, and manage water systems to be sure that their ranch will be productive for a long time ot come. Every rancher knows this, whether they chose to use this buzzword or not, and its time that every consumer knows it as well.

Good Night,
— Kim

Beef lovers, industry leaders, and advocates,
I must apologize for my absence from here for the past few weeks. Life as an involved double major pre vet college student, Beef Ambassador, Colorado State University Ag Ambassador, and cattle owner have kept me very busy. Over the past few weeks, the team has been spending time researching what colleges across the country would benefit from an education in beef and the nutritional benefits of it. While researching, some of the information that we came across scared us, to be frank. Looking at schools in my home state, California, I found that UCLA was ranked by PETA to be the number one vegan-friendly school in the nation. Arika’s research showed that NYU was ranked by PETA to be the number two most vegan friendly school in the nation. Even an ag school like the University of Florida has the strongest animal rights and on campus vegan group according to PETA and they host a “Veg Fest” every year. It is so easy for students to start living a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle while in college. From my personal experience, I’ve noticed how active animal rights groups are. Even on a campus like CSU that was founded around agriculture (and was previously Colorado A&M), there are group meetings promoting vegetarian diets and watching movies such as Food Inc. As college students, we are at an extremely impressionable stage in our lives, and the most active promotion group wins. We need help educating people on the nutritional benefits of beef, we need to be more capable of mobilizing the youth than PETA and HSUS, we need to truly be beef advocates. The beef industry needs to be sure that it has a future in the upcoming generation. So over the next year, the Beef Ambassador Team will be out doing our best to educate the public and be the bigger promotion group on campus.

I’ll be giving updates on our final campus decisions and how our education efforts are going over the next few months.

Night everyone
– Kim

I spent a good portion of last week driving half-way across the country. With that much time on your hands, there is a lot of time to think. One thing that always comes to mind is current events and how people react to what is going on in the world. I often find myself at the question, “How could someone possibly think that?” This is a question I am sure that producers and ag advocates alike often find themselves thinking.

A very "Blessed Paradigm"

One of the greatest things that I learned from the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is the idea of paradigms, or the way that one sees the world. As members of the agriculture industry, we are so blessed in the paradigm that we live in. When someone approaches us with a question or a view point, we must realize that their paradigm is entirely different than ours. While this idea seems so obvious, it is also so easy to forget. Sometimes we have to step out of our favorite pair of broken-in work boots and take a walk in that businessman’s dress shoes or that fashionista’s designer heels. They haven’t had the opportunities that a member of the agriculture field has. Their horizon may be a city skyline instead of rolling hills. Their biggest commitment after school may be their XBox, not their livestock.  So while playing the biggest role that agriculture has, educating the public, (aside from…you know…feeding, clothing, and employing the world), keep in mind that their questions are not unintelligent, but simply come from a different paradigm.

Loving the Ag Paradigm

– Kim

After reading the “good bye” blogs of this past years team it is so hard to get in a mindset of writing something serious and factual! However, this holiday season

A screen shot of the Beef Market Central off of my iPhone

I started thinking about the New Year, and with a new year comes change. Change in perspective, change in our day to day lives, but most of all, the kind of change called progress. I really wanted to comment on progress, particularly technology. Its hard to wrap my head around how much technology influences our lives. We’ve all heard thousands of times how great technology is and how much it can do, but seeing the possibilities with your own eyes changes how you hear those lines. This year my brother, one of the most technologically challenged people that I know, got an iPhone. I personally thought that it was a relationship that would end soon, but he became attached quite quickly and started figuring out all of the features. Within 15 minutes of owning the phone, he had found and downloaded an app called “Beef Market Central”. I personally had never heard of it, but the features on this app are pretty cool! He learned that you can follow the markets of beef in the auction ring, price of beef per pound (broken down by cut), and also you can follow links to articles on critical issues for the beef industry. I was blown away. Someone as opposed to technology as my brother had found such a stockpile of information so quickly. Seeing that really did open my eyes to the endless possibilities of technology and how it can enhance agriculture, particularly my favorite sector, the beef industry. I then started running through what amazing technology is out RIGHT NOW. We’ve all seen a huge surge in technology already with video sales, ultrasound inspections in beef processing plants, and electronics available for the average rancher. For example, a company makes an electronic ear tag for cattle that can store information such as birth date, what vaccinations it received and when, and health history. These tags can be read as a group from a distance with a small scanner, saving time and labor. Feed companies use similar tags as well as videos to monitor the health of their animals constantly, keeping a better eye on them than solely hand checking every yard. This tags can also be used as a personal access key for cattle too, their particular ear tag matches up to a certain feed bunker that opens for them. This allows the feed company to gather more accurate calculations for measuring conversion ratios of cattle and the efficiency of their product. These are only a shallow surface to the amount of technology that the beef industry has at its finger tips. I have always considered myself a really traditional kind of person, and tradition means a lot to me, as I’m sure it does for most ranchers like me. I know that this much technology can seem overwhelming, or like it is taking over the jobs of the average rancher, but being able to feed an ever growing world population is our goal. I just want to send out a line for farmers and ranchers to keep their minds open to the technologies that present themselves. Not all change is bad change.

– Kim Rounds

Hi there beef industry members, lovers, and followers. My name is Kim Rounds and I am so excited to be a member of the 2012 National Beef Ambassador team. I hail from a small town in Northern California. I am currently attending Colorado State University at Fort Collins, and I am pursuing a major in both Animal and Equine Science. Both of these subjects are strong passions of mine that stem from a life growing up raising cattle and horses.

My beef experience began around the time that I was seven. My dad grew up working on his uncle’s ranch and wanted his children to have the same opportunity, and I couldn’t imagine where my life would be if he hadn’t purchased those four ornery Chi Angus heifers. My weekends were spent feeding, walking fence lines, fixing corrals, and cleaning the barn. As our operation expanded to more acreage and more cattle, my love for the industry grew with it. As I slowly submerged myself into the industry outside of just what my father had started, a whole new world opened up for me. I started showing steers for the county fair, and then purchased my own show heifers. My addiction to the cattle industry, every aspect of it, is what brings me here today. I have always had a passion for promoting agriculture, particularly beef, and that is what prompted me to pursue the position of County Beef Ambassador. After proceeding through the county and state levels of competition, I was honored with the position as a member of the 2012 National Beef Ambassador Team.

I am so excited to see what this year brings, meet the wonderful people who make this country’s beef industry run, and most importantly, to spread the word of delicious, nutritious beef! As the year goes on, I hope to be able to convey to everyone how amazing this program is. I want to share my adventures, the information that I learn, but most importantly, I want to promote and give back to the industry that has given me so many opportunities. Always feel free to approach me via social media or any other mode of communication that this new technological age has come up with!

You’ll be hearing from me soon!

- Kim