Herfluvr got me thinking?

From the Herfluvr's post about the question the judge asked "What can you do to promote the cattle industry and get new people involved in it?" What could the industry do to bring in new blood, the biggest hurdle to me are Money and Land, I think there are allot of ambitious kids out there that want to go into the industry but are hamstrung by the cost of both land and developing a herd.

How would you promote the industry and get new people involved?

I think internships, sponsorships, and cow loaning programs might be a way to get kids involved who do not come from a livestock background.
Land will always be a problem, heck the water district here has 20 acres of fenced flat land they do nothing with but they will not lease it out for livestock because of their environmental concerns.
They mow it down every year and that is about it.

You bring up a good point..Sometimes it good for the industry to have new people making decisions

This is what we're doing, I guess...

Back in 2006, we held our first Open House at the Farm to celebrate 35 years in the Simmental business. In conjunction with that event, we held a private treaty silent auction of cattle, and we came up with this idea to give away a heifer to a young person who wanted to get started in the Simmental business. We sold enough cattle that it took us three years to be able to have another sale, but we've had one every year since 2009, and we've continued this program to give away a heifer.

This year, we've changed the name of the program to the Kenneth Ambrose Memorial Heifer Scholarship in honor of my 4-H agent who passed away in 1992. He was a great mentor and a good friend, and a strong advocate for all the kids in our area who were interested in any type of livestock. We've invited our two guest consignors to our open house to donate a heifer as well, so we'll be awarding three $1,200 scholarships that will be used to purchase a heifer calf.

The website should be up today...I know yesterday EDJE was still working on making it live. You'll be able to download the scholarship application there and read all the details about how this works. You can also email me at [email protected] and I can send you the application. The deadline is September 15, so it's coming soon!

MartinFarmsOpenHouse.com is the site. The online sale catalog should be there as well, and you can see all the heifers that are available to purchase. The scholarship winners will be able to buy at the opening bid price before the auction begins, so they can also opt to put money with their scholarship money and purchase a heifer priced at more than $1,200, but every open heifer in the sale qualifies.

I think 4H is an excellent group to get people involved in the livestock industry that come from "city" backgrounds.  I know in our club their were several people that ended up showing cattle, sheep that were able to arrange to keep the animals at another person's farm and then go out there to feed and work them.

As a fella who is living this problem I have a few things to add. IMO it is almost impossible to start a farm from scratch these days. Especially. Beef. Price of land around me makes it very hard to start let alone make money. If I wanted to raise goats for certain ethnic groups I could get help.  Not beef tho. I failed miserably the first go round. Wrong genetics, wrong marketing decisions. I got to big to quick and it really came back to bite me. As we start over and rebuild the herd I have one golden rule. If I ain't got the cash, I ain't buying it. Cale, equipment. Whatever. To make it long term you have to start small and take baby steps for awhile. Study genetics and management styles that you like and can replicate. The better your pastures the better your cattle do. The more cash in your pocket. Being nice to fellow breeders and helping out new people can lead to life long relationships.

I agree with all the above statements and have a few things to add.

#1: Breed Associations can do their part to promote new families getting into the cattle business. The Canadian Junior Hereford Association has a program much like what leanbeef was talking about and it's called the Heifer Lottery. Every Junior member is entered into a draw for money to use towards purchasing a purebred Hereford Female. Farms pay $100 to be on the list of farms that the junior may choose from. The money raised by the farms entered is then given out as draws. Not every junior's name goes in the same hat, the organizers divide the provinces so that there are (about) equal juniors in each draw. Ie, Alberta may be in it's own hat because we have quite a few members. BC, the Maritmes and Quebec may all be in the same hat to equal a number close to Alberta's group. At our Junior Show Awards Banquet the draws are done. Depending on how many farms contributed that's how much money is given out. For example there may be a draw for $800 for each group and then all the people who didn't win would be put into a draw of $1200. I'm not 100% sure how it work but it's something like that.  This program is a win-win situation because breeders get cheap advertising and juniors get free money to better/expand their herds.

#2: Another way the CJHA helps juniors better their herds it through the Semen Donation Program. Breeders are asked to donate semen which is then put in a draw for juniors who want to enter. It is not uncommon for a breeder to enter 2-6 straws of semen from one of their best bulls or 8-unlimited straws on one of their less popular bulls. A list of all the donated semen is complied and mailed out to juniors. Juniors pay $10 or $15 (can't quite remember) to nominate 3 of their females to win semen for. They can pay $10 more for each additional female they nominate. Juniors rank the bulls 1-6 and then send in the application. Members names are drawn and they win 2 straws of semen on the bull they want until all the semen has been claimed. This program has improved my herd tremendously throughout the years that I've used it. In a typical year I'll win $100- $200 in semen and semen certificates. It also create friendships with juniors and breeders. For example in 2011 I won Champion Semen Donation Animal at the Canadian Junior Hereford Bonanza. The family who had donated my cow's sire's semen was ecstatic! They were cheering in the stands like crazy and came and gave me huge hugs when I got out of the ring. It's an awesome feeling to have not only your family and friends backing you, but also a family that you may not have known before. Without this program my herd would be no where near the quality it is today.

I'm not sure if other breed associations do programs like the above but I think it is definitely a great way to help juniors get started and improve the breed.

#3 Breeders can get involved in promoting juniors to show cattle. When I was nine years old I showed a bit of interest in cattle when I would go to my neigbors' farm. They took me under their wings, taught me how to feed, offerred me high quality cattle for prices I could afford and hauled me around to shows. I bought my first 4-H steer from them and because they knew I didn't have the $900 to pay for him they let me wait until after my 4-H sale to pay for him.  They also offered to calve out any females I owned since I come from a non farming family and didn't have enough experience to do it on my own. This farm makes my feed and would come to my place the second I called and said I needed help. Now that I am older and more experienced the help they gave me is paying back big time. I break, train, clip, fit and show all their show cattle. I look after the farm when they are gone. We work at shows together so neither of us needs to hire help for the show. I give my opinion on their cattle and they give their opinion on mine. We share bulls and always offer each other first dibs if one of us is selling an animal. It's been a huge win-win situation for both parties and neither could operate without the other. I think if other breeders take kids under their wings and show them the ropes a lot more juniors would be showing cattle.