In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays spoke with Missouri cattle producer Glen Klippenstein, recipient of the Beef Checkoff Visionary Award, about his early days in the cattle business, his decision to raise Herefords and his involvement in establishing the Beef Checkoff.

Why Klippenstein Chose Hereford Cattle

Klippenstein said Herefords were the cattle his family had raised, and he quickly developed an appreciation for the breed. “Well, at that time, Herefords were the king of the hill, and my parents had had Herefords, and I liked their disposition. I just liked the Hereford cattle.”

Klippenstein said he also became interested in carcass value and eventually experimented with breeding Herefords to Holstein cattle. “I’m kind of always been kind of a carcass freak, and I found out one time I had dairy cattle as well, and I mated my Herefords with my Holsteins, and I fed those cattle out and I sold them to people with freezers.”

He said that experience showed him the potential of the cross. “I found out then that I got more retail yield edible product from that mating than I did out of the straight Herefords or the straight Angus.”

Klippenstein said his appreciation for Herefords went beyond the cattle themselves. “I just love those Hereford cattle. I always have.”

He also praised the people involved in the Hereford industry. “The people in the Hereford business—they are amazing, amazing people.”

Making a Living With Beef on Dairy

Klippenstein’s early experience with beef-on-dairy also provided a practical way to make a living while working with limited resources. “Well, I didn’t know it was cool. I knew I had to make a living and I didn’t have much money to do it with. So that was a good transitional step.”

Bringing Seedstock Producers Into the Beef Checkoff Effort

As the Beef Checkoff was being developed, Klippenstein recognized that seedstock producers represented an important part of the cattle industry that needed to be involved.

Klippenstein was serving as chairman of the National Cattlemen’s Association membership committee when he said he realized there was an opportunity to bring more seedstock producers into the organization. “Hey, we’re missing a big segment of our industry, and some of the best leadership in our industry are seed stock producers, and we’ve not paid any attention to them.”

He said he made an effort to recruit those producers into the National Cattlemen’s Association. “So I went after them, and of course, you know so many of them knew me, and I don’t know how many, several 1000 breeders I’m sure came into the National Cattlemen’s Association, and it helped propel things.”

Klippenstein said the effort also helped create more balance among different segments of the cattle industry. “It helped even things up from a cow-calf producer standpoint compared to probably the feedlot industry, the background industry had mostly control at that time, but now it’s kind of evened out.”

Taking the Bull by the Horns

Looking back at the 1980s, Klippenstein said cattle producers were facing a difficult period and recognized the industry needed a stronger way to communicate with consumers. “Those of us that had been in the cattle business knew that wasn’t easy, and it was really getting more difficult. Our industry, believe it or not, it was going down like a rock.”

He said producers believed they had a good story to tell but lacked the resources and organization to effectively communicate that story. “We had as good a good a story to tell as anybody could tell, and we kept telling each other that. But we didn’t have any money. We didn’t have any organization.”

Klippenstein said the industry also needed to develop a stronger message about beef’s safety and its connection to the environment. “Hey, our product is safe. We eat it too with our families.”

He said cattle producers also needed to explain the role cattle can play in the land and environment. “That cow, that cow that we love so much in our ranches, she rejuvenates the soil, the earth. She allows all the flora, everything else to have more and more life.”

Klippenstein said that message was important because it countered what consumers were hearing at the time. “Every mouthful of beef that you guys eat is is a help for the environment, and that was exactly the message that they needed to hear because it was the opposite of what they were hearing.”

He said the cattle industry ultimately realized producers had to take responsibility for telling that story themselves. “And so we took the bull by the horns and said, ‘Man, nobody’s going to take care of us unless we do.’”

The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.

The post Glen Klippenstein Reflects on Herefords, Beef Checkoff and the Early Days of the Industry first appeared on Oklahoma Farm Report.