An acronym standing for California Arizona Livestock Feeder, CALF News was established in the early 1960s by Champ Gross. “He was a funny little guy from Belgium,” CALF News Editor and Publisher Betty Jo Gigot explains. “He wore tweed coats that had leather on the sleeves; he loved martinis and cigars, and is fondly remembered.” Gross had some friends in the feedyard businesses, and he decided that it’d be kind of nice to do a little pamphlet, which he called CALF News – and that’s how it started out in California.

CALF News’ circulation is concentrated in the cattle feeding and producing sectors of the largest cattle feeding and producing states:
• 72% of readers are in the top cattle-producing states of Nebraska, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Iowa
• 93% of our cow-calf readers have more than 500 head of cattle
• 95% of our feedlot readers feed more than 1,000 head of cattle
• 16% of CALF News readers are industry “influencers” or advisers to producers
• CALF News’ circulation is evenly divided between cattle producers and stockers (40%) and feeders (44%)

Why CALF News is The Face of the Cattle Industry:
One of the goals of everybody who’s worked with CALF News is to show the people. “If you pick up the magazine, I bet you’ll find two or three people you know or you’ll read about some people you wish you knew, and it tells the story of the industry,” Betty Jo Gigot, CALF News Editor and Publisher, says. “And so the history of the magazine is a very, very, very proud part of what we do today.”

CALF News works in partnership with farm radio KFRM 550 AM, “The Voice of the Plains.” KFRM reaches an average of 8,900 farm listeners each quarter hour of the day and covers 120,000 square miles in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The cattle industry drives much of the agriculture in the listening area, including cow-calf, stockers and feedyards. Thirty- and 60-second radio ads, sponsorship opportunities, interviews and banner ads are available by contacting Jess Ebert at (785) 477-1941.

One of the regular columns in CALF News today is called Recollections. “It’s the stories of Australia or the stories of when I got to go visit with W.D. Farr and wrote his story,” CALF News Editor and Publisher Betty Jo Gigot describes. “I try to take you with me when I go, and that’s what the writers try to do, too. We want you to be a part of the industry and to feel like you went on that trip with us.”

Price Point Podcast is the CALF News weekly podcast hosted by longtime industry analyst and communicator Wes Ishmael. Price Point places special focus on markets, industry issues, genetics and the stocker sector. Find Price Point at https://calfnews.net/price-point-podcast/.

In the beginning of CALF News, Champ Gross would go into a feedyard and take a picture of a lady for a column he called (in those days) “The Filet Mignon” that was featured in the back of the magazine. And it’s still there today. The name has changed several times and has been called The Top Cut and Cameo, but is currently CALF’s Featured Lady.