CALF_News_June_July_2018

#CATTLETALES Y ou’ve likely seen that hashtag in social media or print. It’s everywhere. Immersed in all forms of social media, CattleTales enables anyone and everyone in the beef and dairy industry to share their personal stories about their farms, ranches, feedyards and dairies. #CattleTales was officially kicked off at this year’s NCBA Trade Show in Phoenix. It stood out with unconventional, eye-catching splashes of bright turquoise, orange, purple and other colors. “It’s a communications cam- paign with the goal of increas- ing the awareness of how beef and dairy go from farm to fridge and how their byproducts impact daily lives,” says Shannon Wilson, a long-time, all-things-beef advocate and independent consultant for Micro Tech- nologies and Elanco Animal Health. “Our CattleTales mission is to improve perceptions of beef and dairy production with trust, transparency, open conversations and answering questions. The public is curious about agriculture. CattleTales enables you to share your story with someone. If you don’t tell your story, someone else will tell it for you.” NCBA and the American National CattleWomen have been pushing social media for several years. Their goal is to reach those who depend on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram to deter- mine what’s for dinner. Those numbers are astounding. And of course, a majority of those consumers are Millennials. Wilson notes that, according to a 2017 Pew Research report, 80 percent of con- sumers consult their phones about pur- chases before buying, 40 percent of consumers learn about food online, 59 percent of Millenni- als are price conscious, 46 percent are brand loyal and 22 percent of moms are Millennials. Unfortunately, there are some Millen- nial numbers that need to be changed – 48 percent of Millennials believe genetically modified foods are worse for health, 61 percent believe organic is better for health, 12 percent try vegan, vegetarian diets each year. And worse yet, 75 percent of Millennials consider food grown on large-scale farms or feed- lots to be a health risk of contamination by bacteria or germs. Ouch! Wilson and her corral of CattleTales are determined to change those percep- tions. She has been deep into the fed- cattle industry since she attended Texas A&MUniversity. She grew up inWaller, Texas, between Houston and College Sta- tion and got hooked on showing animals through 4-H. She first attended Casper (Wyo.) College, then transferred to A&M. That’s when she began working with the late John McNeill, an animal science practitioner and visionary who opened many eyes to the value-added-calf concept of providing detailed animal health records for calves.“I was a student worker and got to work with John McNeill in the Ranch to Rail program,” Wilson remembers.“I had the privilege to work with all of the university beef cattle specialists and helped coordinate the Beef Cattle Short Course. “While livestock judging for A&M, I won a few awards at Louisville (North American International Livestock Expo- sition),” she says.“Before I got home, Dr. Dennis White of Elanco called Dr. McNeill and asked about me. Within a few days, I flew to Indianapolis for an interview with Elanco.” She hired on in 1998 and worked with producers and feeders in the Dakotas and Iowa before moving to the Texas Panhandle to work with large feeding M A R K E T I N G BEEF NEWS CALF By Larry Stalcup Contributing Editor # CattleTales You Have Them, So Why Not Share Them Shannon Wilson 6 CALF News • June | July 2018 • www.calfnews.net