Angus breeders elect delegates to 140th annual meeting
Delegates and alternates have been elected to the 140th American Angus Association Convention of Delegates, scheduled for Nov. 6 in Orlando, Fla. These Angus breeders have been elected by fellow members in their respective state to serve as representatives at the annual meeting. The delegates will participate in the business meeting and elect new officers and five directors to the American Angus Association Board.

The list of delegates and alternates is on the Association’s website and can be accessed at www.angus.org/General/Delegate.

The annual meeting will be a part of the 2023 Angus Convention Nov. 3-6 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando. Registration is open at www.angusconvention.com.

Andrews hired to serve Association’s Region 11
In mid-September, Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah will welcome Landon Andrews of Spanish Fork City, Utah, as regional manager for the American Angus Association. Andrews brings industry experience to the position as the co-owner and manager of Shandar Angus Ranch.

“There is no other cattle breed with stronger genetics, valuable seedstock and marketability like the Angus breed,” Andrews says, adding he looks forward to working as a resource to support members throughout the four-state region.

“I have deep family roots in the Western cattle industry,” Andrews says. “I hope to educate members and commercial breeders of the great programs our association offers.”

“Landon brings a wealth of knowledge to the Association regarding the beef industry,” says Levi Landers, director of field services. “His longtime ties to the breed will serve him well in his new role, and he is undeniably committed to the beef industry and the Angus breed.”

Until Andrews officially starts Sept. 18, members in the Western Region should contact Landers at llanders@angus.org or the Association’s Member Services Department at 816-383-5100. Producers outside of the Western Region can find contact information for their local regional manager at www.angus.org/assoc/RM. Anyone needing assistance is encouraged to contact regional managers.

Smith presented BIF Ambassador Award; others honored
The Beef Improvement Federation (BIF) presented Troy Smith, Sargent, Neb., the BIF Ambassador Award July 4 during the group’s annual symposium in Calgary, Alta., Canada. The award is presented annually by BIF to a team or member of the media for their efforts in spreading the BIF message and its principles to a larger audience.

Smith has an enthusiastic passion for the beef industry and has dedicated his career to fostering beef improvement through his role as a freelance writer. Since 1989, you could find his byline in numerous publications, including the Angus Journal^®, Angus Beef Bulletin, Hereford World, Western Horseman, Working Ranch, Draft Horse Journal, Gulf Coast Cattleman, Cattle Business Weekly, Tri-State Livestock News, Record Stockman, Western Livestock Reporter and Western Livestock Journal^®. He has also served as a contract writer for the Nebraska Beef Council and Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition.

He attended his first BIF Symposium in Dickinson, N.D., in 1997. When the Angus team started the BIF Conference website and providing real-time coverage of the symposium, Smith was part of the first team who attended and covered the event in 2002. He has helped cover each symposium hosted since then, either in person or remotely.

“As a cattleman himself, Troy has an innate sense of what our readers need to know and the working knowledge to ask the right questions,” explains Shauna Hermel, Angus Beef Bulletin editor. “From the technical to the basic, he delivers a fresh perspective in cowboy lingo.”

Others honored at this year’s event include:

• PIONEER AWARD:
  1. David Bolduc, Stavely, Alta., Canada
     
  2. Stewart Bauck, Lincoln, Neb.
     
  3. Warren Snelling, Lawrence, Neb.


• CONTINUING SERVICE AWARD:
  1. Sean McGrath, Vermilion, Alta., Canada
  2. Bruce Holmquist, Kinistino, Sask., Canada
  3. Jennifer Bormann, Manhattan, Kan.


• COMMERCIAL PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
  1. Douglas Lake Cattle Co., Douglas Lake, B.C., Canada


• SEEDSTOCK PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
  1. 44 Farms, Cameron, Texas


• ROY A. WALLACE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
  1. Undergraduate: Logan Elliott, Asbury, Mo.
  2. Graduate: Lane Giess, Fort Collins, Colo.


• FRANK BAKER/LARRY CUNDIFF BEEF IMPROVEMENT ESSAY CONTEST:
  1. Elizabeth Dressler, Berryton, Kan.

More than 300 beef producers, academia and industry representatives attended the organization’s 55th Annual Research Symposium and Convention in Calgary. For more information about this year’s symposium, visit www.bifsymposium.com.

Saddle & Sirloin honors Jarold Callahan
What do purple banners, board room gavels and steno pads have in common? They’re all items that epitomize Jarold Callahan’s significant influence on the beef industry. The Edmond, Okla., cattleman has been chosen as 2023 inductee into the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery.

Considered one of the highest honors in the livestock industry, the Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery was established in 1903 and recognizes one individual each year for their lifetime of exceptional service to the livestock business, both nationally and internationally.

Callahan grew up near Welch, Okla., on a diversified family farm and cattle operation where he developed his passion for farming and ranching. He continued on to be a member of the Northeast Oklahoma (NEO) A&M Livestock Judging team and the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Livestock Judging team, for which he was second-high individual overall at both Fort Worth and Houston, as well as third-high individual overall at Chicago.

Callahan coached successful judging teams at both NEO and OSU. He earned National Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Coach of the Year honors four times while at OSU.

Apart from his time as a judging coach, Callahan helped to secure a substantial donation of equipment and Angus cattle to OSU, which included the famed DF Empress 6079, a cow that would produce more than $1,000,000 of progeny at OSU.

“Many have benefited from Jarold Callahan’s willingness to share his time, expertise and leadership skills,” says Mark Johnson, chairman of Callahan’s nominating committee. “His collective accomplishments as a teacher, coach, administrator, lobbyist, businessman, cattle breeder and industry leader are unparalleled.”

For more than a quarter of a century, Callahan served as president of Express Ranches, a diversified purebred operation headquartered in Yukon, Okla. Under Callahan’s leadership, Express Ranches contributed a larger volume of genomic test results or large contemporary group phenotypic weights and measures to the American Angus Association and American Hereford Association databases than any other purebred breeding establishment during the past decade.

Callahan’s involvement in the cattle industry is vast, encompassing commercial cow-calf production, stocker grazing and cattle finishing in addition to his internationally recognized success in the purebred sector of multiple breeds. Jarold and his wife, Jennifer, have personally owned and fed as many as 20,000 head of cattle per year for much of their married life, and they are as invested in all aspects of the beef production chain as any family in the beef industry.

Jarold served as a member of the American Angus Association Board of Directors from 2004 through 2012, serving as president and chairman of the Board in 2012. During his tenure, Jarold was an influential driver in the formation of Angus Genetics Inc. (AGI), which allowed the Association to become the purebred industry leader in the development and application of genomic-enhanced expected progeny difference (GE-EPD) predictions and bioeconomic indexes.

The Saddle & Sirloin Club will honor Callahan and his many industry contributions during a portrait presentation and banquet on Nov. 12 in conjunction with the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) at the Kentucky State Fair and Exposition Center in Louisville, Ky.

The Saddle & Sirloin Club has set the goal of raising $150,000 to fund the expenses of the portrait and presentation, and to establish the Callahan Endowment Fund to ensure that future livestock industry leaders have access to the educational opportunities offered by the OSU Purebred Beef Center.

If you would like to reserve banquet tickets or donate to the fund, visit www.callahansaddleandsirloin.com for more information.

Yon Family Farms to donate 2024 Angus Foundation Heifer Package
The 2024 Angus Foundation Heifer Package will be donated by Yon Family Farms of Ridge Spring, S.C. The heifer, Yon Sarah K1233 (AAA *20450734), is a maternal sister to both Yon Top Cut G730 (AAA +*19476453) and Yon Saluda (AAA +*20336998). Yon Sarah K1233 is safe in calf to Yon Toccoa F1054 (AAA +*19306162), with an anticipated due date of March 21, 2024.

The heifer, offered for sale in January at the 2024 Cattlemen’s Congress, will support the Angus Foundation’s mission of furthering Angus education, youth and research efforts.

“It was very humbling for our family to even be asked to donate the heifer package to the Angus Foundation,” says Kevin Yon. “The Sarah cow family is one of those families here at Yon Family Farms that has done extremely well.”

Yon Family Farms is a first-generation seedstock operation whose focus is to provide high-quality, value-added cattle to satisfied customers. They aim for their customers to believe that honesty, quality, service and value are synonymous with their name.

Kevin and Lydia Yon started the operation in 1996, and now work alongside their three children, Sally, Drake and Corbin, who each returned to the farm after attending college. The Yons host both a spring and fall production sale, selling around 425 registered Angus bulls and 200 females annually.

The sale of the heifer package benefits the Angus Fund, which provides unrestricted funding for a variety of programs supported by the Angus Foundation. Beef Leaders Institute, Leaders Engaged in Angus Development (LEAD) conference, Angus University and several ongoing research projects are among the numerous efforts funded by the Angus Foundation.

The Angus Foundation Heifer Package will sell Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, prior to the start of the 85th National Angus Bull Sale during Cattlemen’s Congress. The sale will start at 2 p.m. at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City, Okla.

For more information about the 2024 Angus Foundation Heifer Package, contact Boester at jboester@angus.org or visit www.angus.org/foundation.

BIF selects new board, officers
BIF announced new directors and officers July 5 during the group’s annual symposium in Calgary. Kevin Schultz, Haviland, Kan., was introduced as the 2023-24 BIF president. Gordon Jones, Lafayette, Tenn., is the new vice president.

Directors reelected to serve on the BIF board were breed association representatives Kelli Retallick-Riley, American Angus Association, and Shane Bedwell, American Hereford Association. John Irvine, Manhattan, Kan., was reelected to the board as a Central Region director. Craig Hays, Pierce, Colo., and Johnny Rogers, Roxboro, N.C., were elected to their first term as producer representatives.

For more information about this year’s symposium, including award winners and video archives of the symposium, visit beefimprovement.org/2023-symposium/. The 2024 BIF Convention and Research Symposium will be June 10-13, 2024, in Knoxville, Tenn.

Editor’s note: This column compiled with news releases written by American Angus Association communications specialists Julie Isbell, Sarah Kocher and Peyton Schmitt, as well as the Beef Improvement Federation.