Beef producer panel discusses future of industry
By Carol Stender
cstender@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 03/01/2010 2:13 PM
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STAPLES, Minn. — The Minnesota Beef Cow/Calf Days presentations at Staples featured more than production information from the University of Minnesota Beef Team.
The team was also interested in comments from producers on beef industry issues.
They asked how to keep the younger generation in the beef business.
Featured on the panel were Mike Stine, a direct market beef producer from Long Prairie; third generation beef producer Miles Kuschel of Sebeka; Dan Larson, a beef cattle nutritionist who works full-time for Great Plains Livestock Consulting and hasf cows in his family's Clearbrook operation; and Rick Dorn who is a beef production specialist with Land O'Lakes-Purina and is in partnership with his father in the beef business.
The group was first asked how they were motivated to get started in the beef business.
Stine left the farm to teach for several years before getting back into agriculture. His return to farming was with aquaculture in Montana. He raised rainbow trout. It prompted him to do ag research and, around 2004, go back to farming.
Stine has a crossbred herd of South Devon and Angus. The meat is sold direct to customers and markets in the Twin Cities.
Kuschel has been in the beef business for a decade, although farming wasn't his first dream. He wanted to be a fighter pilot.
His hopes were dashed by a military recruiter. That caused Kuschel to take a hard look at himself.
"I spent the next few months deciding what to do and I looked at the legacy of my grandfather and father on the farm and I looked at what they had done," he said. "They had led noble lives. I value the family time they had with us. And I hope to instill that same quality on this generation."
Rick Dorn has been in partnership with his father in a Red Angus-Gelbvieh operation for the past 15 years.
Dorn said he kept bothering his father to get a beef herd started. His father eventually relented.
"I love the industry," he said.
The panel agreed that record keeping and sound genetics have been important management strategies.
"You can't improve unless you write stuff down," Dorn said. "It was something I learned in my job. When you take 15 to 20 years of records, you can see what has worked and what hasn't."
Kuschel agreed. Without knowing the numbers and working with them, you can go broke, he said.
He added that a challenge for young producers is the availability of resources including capital and mentoring.
"I don't think beginning farmers and ranchers can compete with developers and hunters when it comes to getting land," he said.
Pairing young people with veterans who are retiring allows the younger generation to tap into the knowledge base of the experienced cattlemen.
"You know what worked and what didn't work for them," he said.
The Sustainable Farming Association does have mentoring programs, Stine said. Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls will offer a sustainable farming program this fall. The campus has 200 acres and is developing a program that will look at a wide range of sustainable ag practices.
Encouraging young people and promoting the industry are ways to motivate the younger generation in, several panelists said.