CALF_News_October_November_2021

31 CALF News • October | November 2021 • www.calfnews.net stories, the great things that we’re doing? Or are we starting to branch out and starting to tell the greater public the things that we’re doing as an industry, and also alongside the industry at Five Rivers?” Clearly, singing to the choir doesn’t get the message where it needs to go. “I think one thing as livestock producers, we’re all very humble, and we’re all gener- ally very quiet in what we do,” Levi said. “We’re extremely active in our com- munities. We’re active and we donate large to our places of worship. We donate large to the places that we care about. But we do it very quietly and we’re very humble,” he said. “That’s part of what’s gotten us into this mess, is that we’re ladies and we’re gentlemen. We don’t fight, and we do our job, and we feed the people, and we try to provide them a high-quality product at the cheapest price possible.” To that end, he said Five Rivers is trying to be louder in its outreach to consumers. That’s part of the reason Five Rivers co-founded Beef Sticks for Backpacks (see story on page 42), along with other beef industry organizations. “It is ag producers doing what they do very well, which is feeding people, and we’re feeding the most vulnerable, which are children, throughout the state of Colorado,” he said. However, being loud about what they do is not easy for many beef producers, he said. “But it’s about being louder and inviting people to come into our opera- tions to see them.” What does Five Rivers tell consum- ers about what they do? The same story you can tell. “I think the first and most Continued on page 43  RIGHT: A Colorado ranch supports the March 20, 2021, Freedom Day. Photo courtesy Ark Valley Voice .