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You read it here 

We’ve covered a lot of ground this year, from California to Florida, from Arizona to Montana. We’ve been “Following the calves” and we’ve checked on “Footsteps worth following.”

We’ve told your stories, and you’ve tagged along for the ride. So, thank you, for reading, for enjoying, for interacting and most importantly, raising the best darn beef on the planet.

As we head toward 2017, take a trip down recent memory lane with snippets from our seven most-read blog posts of the year:

 

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Shawn and Jen Christensen, Hot Springs, Mont.

7. When dreams grow up. “We are raisers of beef, but you still have to raise cattle that can calve out on the range,” Shawn Christensen says. His bride let me in on a secret: you won’t find Shawn reading the latest best seller. Instead, free time is devoted to the research for perfecting matings. He starts looking at them in the fall, but the cattleman might make a change or two right up until breeding day.

 

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Terry and Betty Harris, Boston, Ga.

6.  Just call Terry Harris. Two sons and eight moves later, followed by Terry’s retirement and open-heart surgery (his first words waking up were “Will I still be allowed to AI my cows, Doc?”), Angus cattle now take up one of the largest chapters of their lives – that is until the grandkids pull down the dirt road.

 

 

Robbi Pritchard, South Dakota State University

 5. You can think that, but you’d be wrong. The longer you feed cattle, the more inefficient they get. Maybe once upon a time, but, “Energetic inefficiency is not what it used to be,” Robbi Pritchard, South Dakota State University animal scientist, told Feeding Quality Forum attendees. Genetics and technology have changed, so feeding cattle longer to improve carcass quality and get more saleable weight per head makes economic sense, regardless of what corn price is doing.

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Reiss and Heather Bruning, Bruning, Neb.

4. The evolution of a lead, Bruning-style This is what coming back to the farm is supposed to look like. A mom and dad (and grandpa and grandma, too) supporting the next generation. Giving them guidance and advice and the reins to run an enterprise as they see fit.

I have full confidence that even when they’re officially Mr. and Mrs. [they are now!], when the remodeling dust has settled and the novelty of a sale have worn off, Reiss and Heather will still be using their individual strengths, working toward a common goal:

“Consistent quality,” Reiss starts, as Heather finishes, “narrowing the playing field for a uniform, product for essentially everyone.”

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Matt Kotuba, and his father Steve, Giant Eagle

3. Footsteps worth following: More than just a job

Matt Kotuba can still remember the smell of meat on his father’s hands when he’d come home from work every night.

“It wasn’t a bad smell,” he says, fondly. “I love that smell.”

All grown up now, his father Steve still comes home sporting the familiar aroma — but now Matt does, too. After growing up the son of a meat cutter, Matt now has a store he calls his own.

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Herman Laramore, Marianna, Fla.

2. Setting precedent, part 1

“I always liked the cattle, but when you’re starting out and wanting to grow, you have to have a subsidized livelihood. I knew if I was ever going to have anything, I was going to have to work to get it. I wasn’t going to inherit it.”

So he went to law school. And for years he purchased neighbor’s land and later his own cattle. Throughout it all, he worked.

And the most read post of 2016? Well, it had to do with a tiny house and lots of love.

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Titus and Erika Jaeger and family, Ingalls, Kan.

1. Tiny house, big dreams 

“Both of our parents were farm kids, and that’s something that I always looked for, was a farm girl,” Titus says of Erika as she wrangles the toddler and baby, preparing for a trip out to the pasture.

We have talked in the tiny house’s tinier parlor, hearing and seeing many examples of how the family lives out the mission statement printed on the back of their business cards.

Serving God. Loving and teaching our children. Honoring our heritage. Caring for the land, livestock and wildlife. Contributing to the community.

The last line in that post, sums up what we love about so many of you we get to cover…your respect for the job in front of you:

When you want high-quality beef, that includes taking great care of your cattle and great care of the land that we’re on,” Erika says.

From the Black Ink team to your part of the world, we wish you a Merry Christmas and all the best in 2017!

May your bottom line be filled with black ink,

Miranda

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