Moon, new council chairman, is beef producer
By Heather Thorstensen
hthorstensen@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 07/22/2010 9:09 AM
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MONTEVIDEO, Minn. — Minnesota Beef Council's new chairman, John Moon, grew up on a farm near Tracy. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1966 with a double major in ag business administration and economics.
Today he runs Moon Creek Ranch, two miles west of Montevideo. Most of his land borders the Minnesota River.
It's a cow-calf operation with predominately black Angus. Until last year, his cow herd had up to 250 head. This year, the herd was reduced to 70 cows.
"I'm not getting any younger," Moon said. "It takes a little longer to do things."
Half of the calves are bound for the sales barn while the other half enter into the farm's feedlot, where they are finished. Their meat is sold direct to consumers, mostly to people who live within 50 miles.
"We have sold beef from California to Nebraska to Hawaii," he said.
Moon also has pasture and farms 750 acres, mostly in corn, soybeans and alfalfa.
Help on the ranch comes from Moon's partner of 20 years, Patty Hahn, plus a hired high school student.
He expects his farming and sales experience will help him lead the beef council. For more than two decades, he worked as a farm equipment dealer, first for International Harvester and then as an International Harvester franchise owner in Montevideo.
"I have a real good sales background and I think I work with people well and I think one of the main things that I would bring would be that I'm reasonable. I think I have a reasonable outlook, you might say, as far as problem solving," he said.
He also served on the steering committee and original board for Minnesota Valley Alfalfa Producers, a co-op in Priam that markets alfalfa feed products and is pursuing biomass energy projects.
Moon has four children and 10 grandchildren. One of his daughters lives in St. Louis, another daughter lives near his farm and two sons are ranchers in South Dakota. At branding time, he enjoys going out to help them.
In the past, he enjoyed showing horses, hunting and watching his sons compete in high school rodeo competitions.
Summer these days is partly spent behind a meat smoker. He caters at corporate events and weddings.
"We have an old hickory smoker that can hold 500 pounds of meat. It's a state-of-the-art convection smoker," he said.
Moon is also active on the Minnesota State Cattlemen's Association, is involved in local cattlemen groups and is a member the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.