I'm Back!

After a long two months of thesis writing, thesis defending, and job hunting; I am back on the front lines of Ag Blogging and Tweeting!

After successfully defending my thesis entitled "Educational and informational delivery method preferences of Mississippi beef cattle producers" I now hold a Master of Science degree in Agricultural and Extension Education.

I had been on the job hunting trail for several months and had the opportunity to interview for several positions, but on August 9th--two days before my graduation, I got a phone call from Clemson University.  The Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department had gotten some emergency funding to hire a temporary lecturer.  The next day (Aug. 10th) I had a phone interview and later that day I was offered the job!

I graduated the next day and moved to Clemson on Aug. 21 for classes that started on the 22nd.  It was  whirlwind move, but I have enjoyed every second of it.

For those of you who know me, you know that working at a University has been a dream of mine since I started school at Mississippi State.  I knew that I wasn't ready to go directly into a Ph.D. program after I finished my Masters so I was willing to accept the fact that getting my dream job wasn't something that was going to happen this soon in my life.  Little did I know that God had other plans.

I truly love Clemson and I have great students.  I am teaching two courses this semester: Intro to Animal Science Lab and Meats Processing.  With the help of the great teaching faculty in the department I am learning my way around and making my classes my own.

While the position is only temporary, I am hopeful of the possibility for them to make it more long-term.

I still have plans for a Ph.D....maybe in Animal Science, maybe in Ag. Communications...either way I am excited to have the opportunity to have my dream job this early in life!

Be prepared for stories from the field and the classroom.  This is going to be an amazing journey of learning for me and I invite you to join me!

Making Tracks 2012

Since I have been SWAMPED with editing and defending (I  PASSED!!!) my Master's Thesis, I have neglected my readers a good bit, so as I finish things up and get ready to move on to the next stage in my life, I bring you this video from "Making Tracks" the Youth leadership camp for Mississippi Jr. Cattlemen.  I didn't participate in the camp this year and didn't have any part it creating this video, but I attended the camp many times as a Jr. Cattlemen.  This video make me proud to call this MY STATE, MY UNIVERSITY, and MY INDUSTRY!

Cattlemen's Evolution

We covered the process of artificial insemination in our last post, so here in part two we are going to talk about why we utilize artificial insemination in the beef cattle industry today.

Champion Steer of the 1950's

Champion Steer of the 1980's

 Evolution is occurring around us at all times.  It's difficult for us to see, but we are evolving, animals are evolving, insects are evolving and even bacteria and viruses are evolving.  Those who believe that evolution doesn't occur are ignorantly blinding themselves to the truth.  For example, the cattle industry has evolved from dumpy, fat, early maturing cattle of the 1950's, to tall, lanky, late maturing cattle of the 1980's, to the moderately framed, economical cattle of today.



These drastic changes in the cattle industry over the past 62 years have come about due to genetic selection.  Beef cattle producers have selected stock that they feel fit the bill for what the industry and the consumer wants.  As the years progressed, artificial insemination made these changes more easily accessible to every beef cattle producer.  It also allowed for these changes to be made more quickly.  Say, a rancher in another part of the country, or even the world has a type of stock that you want, if you go about it the right way, you can acquire those genetics and can thus change your herd more quickly.

Champion Steer of Today

The beef cattle producers of today are producing more pounds of beef with less cattle and using less resources such as feed, water, land, etc. because of genetic selection and artificial insemination.  Not only does artificial insemination increase the accessibility of great genetics to both large and small producers, it also decreases the cost of maintaining a bull on your premises for smaller beef cattle operations.  While a clean-up bull (a clean-up bull is one that is turned out to breed the cows that didn't conceive through Artificial Insemination) would be beneficial for a small operation, they are not necessarily needed.   Moreover, artificial insemination allows us to decrease exposure of bulls and cows to many different herds, thus maintaining better bio-security on our operations.  While implementing artificial insemination into a beef cattle operation can seem like a labor-some and daunting task, in my opinion, the advantages of using A.I. far outweigh the added work that goes into it. 

Cattlemen have used genetic selection to evolve beef cattle with the evolving beef industry since the beginning of the domestication of cattle.  Our goal is to bring you a safe, healthy, and economically produced product.  We do this through feeding, breeding, and genetic selection.  This is just another way that we're "Bridging the Gap"!

You put your hand WHERE!?!?!

“Why would you put your hand up a cows butt!?!”—this is a question I got a lot as a kid.   Raising registered Limousin Cattle, I grew up around artificial insemination (A.I.).  It was something I was taught about at a young age and watched and helped my father do many times.  I even went to A.I. school my Junior year of high school and started A.I.-ing the cattle at our farm.  Trying to make my friends understand exactly what it was that we did was almost as hard as explaining why we did it.  So I’m going to make this a two-part blog post.  I’ll explain what artificial insemination is in this post and then why we use it as well as its’ importance in the cattle industry in the second post.

A semen listing in a catalog

Artificial Insemination in cattle works a lot like it does in most species including humans.  The farmer or rancher makes his decisions on what bull he wants to breed his heifers or cows to and purchases the semen from one of many semen companies or from a breeder.  While not everyone has their own, it’s always a great idea to have your own semen tank to store you semen in when it arrives until you need to use it.  Semen is stored in a tank filled with liquid nitrogen at -321 degrees F.

Semen Tank

Now, A.I. isn’t something that just anyone can do.   You for sure need some training before you go and waste  that expensive semen by not knowing what you’re doing.  Semen handling is important too, you can watch a funny video below about semen handling that some students at Mississippi State University made for their Physiology of Reproduction lab and they will explain the process of getting the semen ready to use.

Now once you get ready to actually perform the task, you are going to need some supplies.  A shoulder-lenght glove, an A.I. gun loaded with the semen, lubricant, and a lack of fear of getting poop on you!

With the glove on your non-dominant hand, you put that lubricated hand into the cows’ rectum.  This allows you to feel through the rectal lining to feel the reproductive tract of the female.  Here, you feel to find the cervix of the female; I would liken it to the feel of a turkey neck.  You insert the semen gun into the vagina of the female with your dominant hand.  Your goal is to get the gun through the cervix and deposit the semen at the base of the uterine horns.  While this sounds fairly easy to describe, it’s a whole other story to try to do it.  I would show you a video, but you can’t really see anything because it all takes place inside.  The picture below may give you a better idea about what you are feeling for and what's going on.

Illustration of A.I.

This was a rough and dirty description of A.I.  but maybe the links I gave can give you some more visuals to help you better understand.   It’s really one of those things that you have to see and/or do to really understand it, but I hope this gives you a little idea about what beef cattle producers do to help bring you that beef on your plate.

Now watch for part two of this post where I talk about WHY we use Artificial Insemination.

The Momma Cow

Photo Courtesy of Lautner Farms

The Momma Cow...the unsung hero of the beef industry.  She doesn't get all the publicity that the famous A.I. sires get, yet in my opinion she is expected to do a much more difficult task.  In honor of mother's day, we're gonna pay homage to the Momma Cow!

At two years of age she is expected to deliver her first calf, while still growing herself she takes on the great responsibility of raising a calf that will one day become a source of protein to many.  Then, as she is nursing her current calf she is expected to re-breed and have another calf exactly one year later. She consumes a mostly, if not exclusively forage-based diet and expected to maintain a body condition score of 5.  The Momma Cow has a very difficult job to do, but one that is respected by the rancher.

Photo Courtesy of UGA CAES

The Momma Cow is a lot like many human mothers.  She works very hard year round with very little recognition, and NO breaks.  The job of the Momma Cow is straightforward, yet grueling.  She does it with the help of the rancher insuring that she has adequate feed and water as well as vaccinations and any needed medications.  The Momma Cow doesn't get very much credit for the work she does, but we appreciate it and I hope we think about her and the work she dose for us every time we eat beef.  The Momma Cow is truly the backbone and the unsung hero of the beef industry.

Feedlot Facts

My Meats Quiz Bowl Team and our Coach

Today's post is going to be pretty short as I have been on the road home to visit my mom for Mother's day and to be here for my sister's graduation form Junior College.

Most consumers don't understand feedlots.  Their picture of a feedlot is a giant, mud and feces-filled pen where cattle are crowded together and force-fed corn with no room to lay down comfortably or exercise. 

I had the opportunity to visit some feedlots in west Texas a couple of summers ago when I was attending the Reciprocal Meats Conference at Texas Tech University.  This was my first time to ever actually see a feedlot, and even though I had read and learned a lot about them, I was still in awe of the shear size of these operations.  And even I, an Animal Scientist was surprised at how much room these cattle had to exercise, lay down, and socialize.  A feedlot is an amazing, economical, well thought-out machine.  These operations find new and innovative ways to supply the US and a lot of the world with a safe, healthy, and flavorful red-meat protein source.

The Feedlot Finishing fact sheet published by The National Cattlemen's Beef Association which you can find HERE is a GREAT quick and dirty reference to help you, or others understand about what a feedlot is and what it does.  I hope that you check the fact sheet out and find it useful in helping you BRIDGE THE GAP!

Being "The Cow Friend"

My sister and I at a Jr. Limousin Show

Growing up, I was always "The Cow Friend"....Even-though I grew up in a very rural town in Mississippi, involvement in anything agriculture was pretty much left up to everyone's grandfather and maybe their dad.  But my sister and I  proudly carried the banner as "The Cow Friends". Now in high school I wouldn't have considered myself at Agvocate, I loved livestock and agriculture, but as far as educating others goes about the importance of agriculture, I considered that my dad's job.

Little International Beef Show for Block and Bridle

After graduating from high school I went to Community College first.  Here I was heavily involved in the Ag. Science club and the Livestock Judging Team.  The majority of my friend group were those in my major, on my judging team, or in the Ag. Science club.  No longer was I "The Cow Friend" I was constantly surrounded by other "cow friends".

Once I moved to Starkville to attend Mississippi State, I again found myself surrounded once again by others involved in and majoring in various fields of Agriculture.  I immediate got involved with the Block and Bridle club and the Collegiate Cattleman's Association...again I found myself as a "cow friend" among "cow friends".  It wasn't until the spring of my Junior year that I decided to join my fraternity.

I LOVE being around others involved in agriculture, however I found that I needed another outlet, one that allowed me to be myself, but where agriculture wasn't our defining reason for being friends.  By joining Sigma Nu I once again became "The Cow Friend".  Many of these guys had no knowledge of agriculture and they weren't afraid to ask questions and of course I wasn't afraid to answer their questions!  They asked me to take them to the South farm to show them the cattle.  They wanted to see the canulated steers, and they even wanted to come watch me T.A. my Physiology of Reproduction lab...they found it crazy that I would stick my arm up a cows butt!  But they were willing to learn about artificial insemination, and had  I not been "The Cow Friend" they would have never been exposed to these things.

Meats Judging at University of Florida

Soon after joining Sigma Nu, I got involved in the Meats judging team and the meats quiz bowl team...so then I became not only "The Cow Friend" but also "The Meat Friend".  I would actually get phone calls and picture messages from them as they were trying to buy steaks asking me which one they should get.  They learned that I'm not a fan of the Certified Angus Beef program--and they also learned why.  They learned about growth promoting hormones and then when it made national news they learned what "Pink Slime" actually is.

Often times we like to surround ourselves with like-minded people because our ideals and beliefs are accepted by those people, but we must ask ourselves "Who are we really reaching?".  As Agvocates, we have to remember that it takes stepping out of our comfortable friend zones to educate others about our industry.  So, get out there and be "The Cow Friend" or "The Chicken Friend" or "The Meat Friend"...whoever you are, get out there and be a friend of agriculture and BRIDGE THE GAP between your friends and our industry!