CALF_News_December_2018_January_2019

52 CALF News • December 2018 | January 2019 • www.calfnews.net R ecollections BY BETTY JO GIGOT PUBLISHER KNOWN AS THE PEOPLE MAGAZINE OF THE CATTLE COMMUNITY, CALF News has always been focused on you, the ones who make it function. Beginning with CALF ’s founder, Champ Gross, you have been able to open your new issue and see your friends and neighbors and, perhaps, yourself going about your busi- ness, feeding the world. Looking back, after my 30 years with CALF , I see the faces of so many of you who have made for a rich and eventful life and given me the chance to record the flavor of a successful and flourishing industry. I have had the chance to inter- view many of the men and women who were at the very beginning of the cattle feeding industry and tell their stories in their own words. Thinking back, W.D. Farr was the catalyst that began my journey. How lucky I was to spend hours and days in his company. In his later years, after he had almost totally lost his eye sight, he would welcome me to his office and ask me what was going on in the industry. Respectfully, he would listen to my often naive analysis of the situation and then recite back to me what I had said from the insightful experience of a man who totally understood how the world went around. At the seat of the master. Though the years, I got to look at cattle with Eugene Schwertner of Capi- tol Land and Livestock, one of the most successful cattle procurement companies in the country, and write books about Leo Timmerman, Jack Reeve and Carl Stevenson (just being finished). Leo actually barged cattle up the Missouri River, and Jack started a massive family enterprise from auction barn culls, and Carl, at 101, is still feeding cattle and helping son, Dave, run Red Rock Feed- ing Company. I traveled to California and inter- viewed Bill Foxley, one of the newest inductees into the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame, and Texas to meet with James Herring of Friona Industies, the other inductee this year. Spending time with Bob Gottsch and viewing his art col- lection in Nebraska comes to mind, and many hours of discussion with Bob Josserand added to my knowledge. Both are in the Hall of Fame as are Paul Engler, one of cattle feeding pioneers who interned under Louie Dinklage, another Hall of Famer. Talking to Kenny Monfort was always a hoot, and I still chuckle when I think of my visit with Ladd Hitch. Ladd “bought” me a free lunch at Beef Empire Days for many years, and I was so lone- some when we lost him. I lived for years looking at the Eat Beef, Stay Slim sign on the Brookover silo outside of Garden City, Kan., but Big Earl had died before I moved there. I did get to spend a great deal of time with son, E.C., and Bryan Price through the years. That is where I met Tom Jones, manager over at Hy- Plains in Montezuma, who is making history with the new education and research center at the there. One of my very favorite interviewees was Fred Johnson of Ohio. Fred is one of the primary reasons Certified Angus Beef® became one of the most successful marketing programs going. I won’t ever forget my four days wandering across Ohio and staying at the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton. Veteran ranch ladies Minnie Lou Bradley and Linda Davis have been champions in their own right, along with Pat Adrian. Past National Cattlemen’s Beef Association presidents Joan Smith and Jan Lyons served as astute leaders on the national level. The Kansas gentlemen, Loren Doll and Paul Brown, were both honored in the Hall of Fame for their long-term dedication to the cattle feeding industry. California’s Bill Brandt and Dave Wood have kept the reputation of feeding alive in the state where it all started. Working for Dr. Bob Hummel at Lextron and interviewing Willard Wall of Walco gave me an opportunity to also see how entrepenures have flourished in the exclusive cattle industry. I can’t forget our favorite spokesman, JimWhitt, and king of the cowboy poets, Baxter Black. Through the years, all of those and thou- sands of others have graced the pages of CALF News , and we will always remember and treasure each and every one. 