CALF_News_December_2021_January_2022

5 CALF News • December 2021 | January 2022 • 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 Blaine Davis Contributing Editor Lance Geiger Contributing Editor Carolynn Howk Contributing Editor David MacKenzie Contributing Editor Chris McClure Contributing Editor Burt Rutherford Contributing Editor Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor Will Verboven Contributing Editor Megan Webb, Ph.D. Contributing Editor Jim Whitt Contributing Editor Patti Wilson CALF News (ISSN 00077798) is published bimonthly for $40 per year by B.J. Publishing, 115 Wilcox Street, #1604 Castle Rock, CO 80104; (620) 272-6862 e-mail: bjgigot@calfnews.net Postmaster/Change of Address Send address changes to: BluePrint Media 2935 Little Salt Road Seward, Neb. 68434 (308) 440-8179 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. Please print legibly. Copyright 2021. B.J. Publishing CALF NEWS The Face of the Cattle Industry December 2021 | January 2022 Vol. 60 Issue 6 Published bimonthly by B.J. Publishing Gypsy Wagon From the Publisher ON THE COVER: The Wagyu beef served at Brush Creek Ranch's four restaurants comes from cattle grown on the ranch. Wagyu beef is tender, flavorful and more highly marbled than other beef, meaning cuts from nearly all of the carcass can be served. Photo courtesy Brush Creek Ranch L ooking back on 2021, I’m not sure where it went. Definitely the high point was seeing so many of you at the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville after a year-and-a-half COVID pause. (And my NASCAR driver placed second and I saw Blake Shelton in con- cert, but that’s for another day). Our October/November 2021 CALF News was the largest issue we’ve published in years, thanks to our loyal advertisers. This year, we added two well-respected media headliners in Burt Rutherford as a feature writer and Wes Ishmael, who produces his weekly Price Point podcast on Calfnews.net . For you, our readers, this past year has been a challenge to say the least. The CattleFax projections at the recent Texas Cattle Feeders Association Convention (see page 28) are positive and that will be good news to those of us who produce the best beef in the world. Looking back, I cannot believe how many good friends and industry leaders we lost this year. Two who come to mind were members of the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame (CFHOF) – Carl Stevenson and Bob Josserand. Both were instrumental in the devel- opment of our industry and served as prime examples of innovation and dedication. As you know from reading CALF News , the 2021 inductees to the CFHOF were Johnny Trotter of Bar-G Feedyards and Steve Gable from Magnum Feedyard. The Leadership Award went to Gary Smith, Ph.D., and the Armendariz Award went to George Eckert of Green Plains Cattle and Gasper Martinez of Harris Beef. The new slate of CFHOF inductees was just announced – Tom Jones from Hy- Plains Feedyard LLC and Norman Timmerman of NA Timmerman. The leadership award goes to Bill Pullen from Bill’s Volume Sales in Nebraska, and the Arturo Arm- endariz Service Award goes to Dave Mesti from the Timmerman organization. CALF News congratulates all of the winners and looks forward to shaking their hands at the Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show in Houston in Febru- ary. Hopefully we will see all of you at the banquet. Looking forward, that meeting in Houston is very important. I can’t think of a time that there were more important issues up in the air and in need of decisions by those of you who understand the necessity of working together to come up with reasonable answers to really difficult issues. Come on down and be sure to have a say in what hap- pens when it comes to who represents the industry in Washington, D.C. As I think about it, I don’t even know what to list as top-of-mind concerns. Inflation, which affects us all and makes me cringe every time they show the price of a pound of hamburger on TV, is up there. How to handle price discovery never seems to get solved in a way that fits so many segments, and transportation affects us as much as all those cargo ships idling off the U.S. coast. We have cattle to move, beef to ship and truck driv- ers to respect. Speaking of shipping beef, because of COVID and the demand for space on UPS and FedEx vehicles, I am behind one Christmas present to my staff. For years and years, Continued on page 21 