Waching daily Nov 5 2018

We visit Oak Hollow Farm: the largest Angus breeder in Kentucky.

Kroger meat leaders get the scoop on Beef Solutions.

KCA Convention Countdown: What you need to know!

You're watching Kentucky Cattle News.

I'm your host, Kiah Twisselman.

Our producer spotlight this month is Joe and Kenneth Lowe of Warren County, KY.

Joe and Kenneth are 7th and 8th generation beef cattle farmers.

Together, they operate Oak Hollow Farm as the largest Angus breeder in the state.

To the Lowes, beef cattle farming is a way of life, and will be for generations to come.

I'm Joe Lowe and this is my father Kenneth Lowe and we raise registered Angus cattle

in Smith's Grove, KY, just 10 miles from Bowling Green.

I bought this farm in 1977.

I was 23 years old and started a cattle operation.

My father has farmed right next door and he would love me to be partners with him,

but I knew that I had to do everything my way.

When my family moved here just out by the Barren River in 1799,

George Washington was living; Lewis and Clark had not been west.

Kentucky was the western frontier.

Including a long history of row crop farming, the Lowes have finished cattle for more than

100 years and have raised commercial cattle for over 50 years.

And with Kenneth, have produced purebred Angus cattle for the last 40 years.

Kenneth says his family has farmed, full time, in the same community for over 200 years.

Basically I said, if you're going to spend a lifetime breeding cows,

I want the best cows I can have.

Every bull that I've brought in for 40 years has been in an attempt

to improve maternal traits to have the most efficient cattle possible.

I want to bring in traits of economic importance.

This is to produce seedstock for the commercial cattle industry.

We'll breed about 400 cows a year.

We'll calve about 300 and market those other 100 as commercial females.

We'll sell close to 100 bulls a year.

And as far as using all the technology that's come along in the last 200 years,

we genomic test, we ultrasound.

We do absolutely everything we can so we have the most accurate data when it comes to producing

the seedstock for the commercial cattlemen.

I don't do a lot of advertising on a national basis, because there are more cows within

50 miles of me than I can produce bulls to breed.

So, most of our bulls stay close to home and with customers that are our neighbors.

Our bulls will produce about 10,000 calves a year in Kentucky.

The Lowes are also proud suppliers to the Kentucky Cattlemen's Ground Beef Program.

So when you go to your local Kroger store and you see that package in there, not every

time will you be eating something we produced but a few times you will.

And there's a pretty good chance if we didn't produce it, we bred the bull who did.

I think Kentucky Cattlemen's Ground Beef is the best way for the consumer to know they're

getting a safe, wholesome Kentucky product and get it direct from the grocery store they're going to anyway.

Kenneth admits cattle farming can be hard work, but it's exactly what he wants to do.

I say I can't retire because I do just what I want to about 80 hours a week.

I'm not changing a thing.

So, I'm very proud to be producing cattle in Kentucky.

Family's been doing it for 8 generations and I put my name on it.

To learn more about Joe and Kenneth's operation, visit www.OakHollowAngus.com.

On October 12, Kroger meat leaders visited the farm of Charles & Judy Miller in Jessamine

County to learn about Kentucky Cattlemen's Ground Beef and innovate strategies before

the holidays to sell more product in stores across the state.

On a tour of the farm, the meat leaders learned about key features of the product and got

to see a group of cows heading into the program.

We usually have a meat department leader meeting once a year.

It's kind of the holiday kickoff.

But with Kentucky Cattlemen's being new or fairly new, they wanted to bring us out here

and show us from the ground up what the program involves.

Today, we're going to try figure out how we can increase the sales.

So, once I get back to my store, I'm going to try to set up a demo.

That way see if I can push more product.

Instead of 8 cases a week, I'm going to see if I can get up to 20 cases a week.

If they're looking for a quality ground beef, of course I always recommend the Kentucky

Cattlemen's because it's a good product. It tastes good.

It's a uniform product and it's always the same.

You don't have to worry about quality issues with any of it.

Greg Osborn, meat merchandiser with Kroger, says their partnership with Beef Solutions

has been highly successful.

Our partnership with Beef Solutions is a business partnership.

The conversations over the last 17 or 18 years has led us to the launch of the

Kentucky Cattlemen's Ground Beef, last spring.

It's been highly successful in our stores.

We're doing very well with it.

Our meat leadership and their teams are becoming more and more aware of how important that

is for the Kentucky beef industry.

Having Beef Solutions as a partner to grab all the things around them; from the staging

to the processing, the planning; is very, very important to us.

Our customers are finding this product.

They are understanding more on how important that is to support our local communities and

the farm communities out there.

The meat leaders were also given a report on the latest Beef Checkoff initiatives to

implement at their stores, including Beef It's Whats For Dinner's

newest person, or "robot", on the team.

Chuck Knows Beef is your guide to all things beef, including recipes,

cooking tips, cut information and more.

Powered by Google Artificial Intelligence, Chuck can help source customized responses

from the content available on BeefItsWhatsforDinner.com.

Chuck is currently accessible through the BeefItsWhatsforDinner website,

on both mobile and desktop.

Simply click the banner on the home page, or go directly to ChuckKnowsBeef.com to get

your beef knowledge on!

Chuck can also be enabled with your Amazon Alexa or Google Home Assistant.

Just like beef, Chuck gets better with age.

He's always learning and adapting to better answer your questions.

But Chuck isn't all business.

He has a fun personality, his own favorite song and enjoys a good dad joke from time to thyme.

Go online and get to know Chuck!

Registration will soon be open for the 2019 Kentucky Cattlemen's Convention and Ag Industry Trade Show.

The Convention will be held at the Owensboro Convention Center on January 17th and 18th.

You can look forward to a great lineup of events, speakers and plenty of giveaways.

This is a premier event for the Kentucky cattle industry and one you don't want to miss.

You can attend evnets including the 2019 Beef Effeciency Conference, where you'll hear from

industry experts on successful heifer development and utilizing crop residues for the beef herd.

At the Forages conference, you'll get a report on the latest research and innovations for

managing Kentucky forages on the farm.

Be sure to get your tickets for the Closing Banquet, where we'll recognize the beef industry's best,

honor our Hall of Fame inductees, and hold the Foundation Auction.

It is highly suggested you reserve your hotels now, as spots fill up quickly.

Several hotels in the area are offering special rates for Convention attendees.

You can find hotel and registration info on the

Convention page at kycattle.org under the Events tab.

You can find a mail in registration in the latest issue of Cow Country News.

We'll see you there.

It was a cool day on October 13, but that didn't stop more than 100 cattlemen and women across

the state from attending the Open House at Eden Shale Farm in Owen County.

Loaded up up on 3 hay trailers, attendees were given a highlight tour of the farm.

The stops included renovations at the Bull Barn, the Fenceline Feeding System, the new

Large Bale Feeder, and a look at the cow herd.

Several cattlemen in attendance have already implemented Eden Shale practices on their

farm, or plan to in the future.

We are actually implementing some of those practices on our farm and our operation.

Specifically, the Fenceline Feeders.

We have a couple that are going into operation this winter.

Also, we've installed a tire waterer in one of the locations on our farm at this point.

It's just a lot of information that's good and would recommend anyone to come and visit

anytime they get a chance and see the new innovations and the ways to go about it.

Dan Miller also gave a live, aerial tour of the farm that you can watch

on the Eden Shale Farm Youtube page.

Thank you to all who attended for making this year's Open House a success!

Watch the blog for more updates.

Book your farm visit today by calling the KCA office.

Be sure to mark these dates on your calendar:

November 21, 4H Cattle Market Day at Bluegrass Stockyards in Lexington, KY

November 29, Educator Open House at The YARDS in Lexington, KY

January 17 - 18, 2019, KCA Convention and Ag Industry Trade Show in Owensboro, KY

January 30 - February 1, Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in New Orleans, LA

Follow the KCA Facebook page and subscribe to our

Youtube channel for more clips and extended content.

To download a copy of this segment, visit kycattle.org

and tune into our next segment in December.

Thanks for watching Kentucky Cattle News where we're always thankful

for farm families, healthy herds and tasty traditions.