CALF_News_April_May_2019

6 CALF News • April | May 2019 • www.calfnews.net Editor & Publisher Betty Jo Gigot | (620) 272-6862 National Account Manager Jessica Ebert | (785) 477-1941 Art Direction & Administration Kathie Bedolli, Lisa Bard Leslie McKibben | BluePrint Media Copy Editor Larisa Willrett | BluePrint Media Contributing Editor Lisa Bard Contributing Editor Robin Cox Contributing Editor Blaine Davis Contributing Editor Kathleen Hennessy Contributing Editor Rachel Lewis Contributing Editor MacKenzie Moldenhauer Contributing Editor Chris McClure Contributing Editor Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor Will Verboven Contributing Editor Jim Whitt Contributing Editor Olivia Willrett Contributing Editor Patti Wilson CALF News (ISSN 00077798) is published bimonthly for $40 per year by B.J. Publishing, 4303 East Cactus Road, #309 Phoenix, AZ 85032; (620) 272-6862 e-mail: bjgigot@calfnews.net Postmaster: Send address changes to BluePrint Media P.O. Box 292 Lodi, WI 53555 (970) 556-9296 Change of Address: Please notify us of your change of address at least six weeks before the change. Include the address label from your latest issue. Give both your old and new full addresses. See box at left. Please print legibly. Copyright 2019. B.J. Publishing CALF NEWS The Face of the Cattle Industry April | May 2019 Vol. 58 Issue 2 Published bimonthly by B.J. Publishing Gypsy Wagon From the Publisher ON THE COVER: Let's Geaux to NOLA! The recent Cattle Industry Convention enjoyed some Southern hospitality. Continued on page 12  A s you can tell from this issue of CALF News , New Orleans was where it was happen- ing for the cattle commu- nity recently at the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show. If you were at home dealing with the elements, CALF will get you caught up on the happenings. If you were there, we hope we had a chance to say hello. You’re sure to find someone you know as you read this issue. New Orleans hasn’t changed through the years, with its funky and elegant places to eat and an amazing mix of culture, but there are still scars on its infrastructure from Katrina. And every cabbie in town is depressed with the several thousand Uber drivers taking their business away. The CALF News group arrived early for the Cattle Feeder’s Hall of Fame banquet on Tuesday night, and were entertained with the elegance, and good food and drink. The pre- sentations were made to a full house where the irrepressible Bill Foxley and indomitable James Herring were inducted into the Feeder’s Hall of Fame. I had the honor of introduc- ing Jim Odle of Superior Auction fame, who received the Industry Leadership award. Brian Price presented Jessie Ramirez with the Arturo Armendariz award, spotlighting his 36 years of service to Brookover Feedyard (see story on page 18) . Be sure to vote for next year’s nominees and plan to attend the annual event in San Antonio next year. Over 8,000 beef producers and allied industry attended the event where leaders were elected, business was conducted and vendors displayed their wares at a trade show spread over six acres. Among the awards presented at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Best of Beef Breakfast were Linda Davis, who received the Swan Leader- ship Award, and Temple Grandin, Ph.D., who received the BQA Educator Award. Olivia Willrett, daughter of CALF editor Larisa Willrett and husband, Jamie, was the overall winner of the CME Group Beef Industry Scholarship (see her winning essay on page 35). Much to my surprise and amazement, I was presented with the NCBA Lifetime Achievement Award, which was truly an honor. On a personal level, as an almost “little old lady,” I have always known my feet would go first. I certainly wasn’t the only one who took extra shoes or boots to weather three days on concrete floors. On the third day, as I was talking to my brother, Fred, on the phone, wishing him a belated birthday, I retrieved my extra black flats from my suit- case. Turns out I had a pair of “Kenny’s” shoes – two left ones. Fast forward to Friday morning and the Best of Beef Breakfast. Donning my Liz Clayborn outfit, I gave up the fashion vs. comfort fight and wore my Arizona bright blue (and very comfortable) moc- casins. Who was going to look at me anyway? So, when I look closely at the pictures taken of me receiving my achievement award, all I can focus on are my blue feet! Meanwhile back on the ranch, I know it has been a winter for the ages for many of you who have been fighting ice, snow and mud. As we go to print, word of the floods across our cattle country is horrific. Damage to millions of acres of farmland and infrastructure in addition to losses of livestock, homes and businesses will, in the words of a Nebraska friend,“be an economic disaster, not just for us but for the whole state of Nebraska.” He had just driven 150 miles one way to get to his property, found five bridges across the Elkhorn down and was looking for ways to get feed to his animals.