Well, Alex, thank you. July is beef month in Tennessee,
and the state Department of Agriculture says beef cattle is
one of the state's top agricultural commodities.
Here to tell us more about it are Melissa Shelton
and Gracie Schultz joining us here today.
So Gracie, tell us about your experience with beef cattle
farming.
Well, I live on a cattle on a farm of
about 50 cattle head.
We our farm is called Flag Pond Charleys.
We raise a Charlotte farm
and we have cows that we sell and we also
get meat from our sears.
We also show cattle and I've been showing cattle for
about two years now.
We've had a successful show
cattle business. We've done pretty well with them.
My show heifer this year is Opal and we have
one reserve Supreme,
one year with one show with her and she's done
quite well.
So you know, they told us that we were going
to have a cattle farmer on the show and I
had no idea she would be this young,
but I am so impressed because she knows far more
about beef than me.
She's given me all the information.
Tell me a little bit about your accomplishments with 4H
and cattle showing.
Well, I also do livestock judging,
which is where they give you a class of animals
and you rank them best to worst.
That I'm pretty good at that.
I won fourth overall in reasons last year
and went in cattle, as I previously said,
I got reserved Supreme, which is best,
basically second best animal out of around 200 animals
and in showmanship, which is basically how well your animal
performs,
like how calm they are.
I have won grand champion in that multiple times,
so I do pretty good in that one too.
I have very nice heifers that I normally show,
so I enjoy them. That is awesome.
Congratulations on that. Good work.
And Melissa, you know, it doesn't matter where you go
in the tri-cities area really.
You're going to see some cow pastures
along the side of the road.
How how big is the cattle industry here in Northeast
Tennessee?
In Northeast Tennessee, we do have a heavy cattle presence.
In Unicoi County alone, we have nearly 1000 head of
cattle.
Cattle in Unicoi County is the well,
one of the biggest agriculture commodities in the county.
Well, I had no idea there were this many cuts
of beef.
I mean this pamphlet just goes front and back.
Gracie gave this to me.
Tell me a little bit about how people in the
community can participate in Beef Month.
Well, just appreciation and recognition to the farmers is so
much.
Just a little donation even to your local AG agents
or your farmers can be so much.
If you buy meat directly from the farmers,
it'll be a little cheaper and sometimes even a little
better steak.
So, you know, just the little things can help buy
it local.
You know, I assume you're out of school working on
the farm right now.
What's the challenge of working on the farm when it's
this hot outside with those cows?
Well, it's mainly just trying to get out there in
the morning when there's no bugs around,
that they don't bother you all day,
and also when it's not blistering hot,
because that can get really exhausting.
So I have to wake up around 7:00 every morning
to go in.
Oh, wow, You're working hard out there.
Well, Melissa, I know you guys always have resources on
the Extension website.
What can people do on your website to kind of
find resources when it comes to local beef farms,
especially in the county? As far as finding local beef,
beef farms, reaching out to your Extension office,
regardless of what county you're in,
because Extension is in all 95 counties across the state
of Tennessee.
So if you could just Google in UT Extension,
it'll pop up. How to get in contact with your
local Extension agent,
how to get in contact with your local AG agent,
and they all have contacts on referring you to local
beef farmers and producers.
All right, well, thank you so much.
We have all that information going up on our website
soon.
We'll also have a link to Gracie's farm so you
can see the work that she has been doing.
And I'm going to have to just brush up on
all my meat knowledge here.
That's what I'm going to do.
We're going to be cooking for sure.
We'll be right back after the break with a look
at everything that's happening this weekend besides John and I
on the grill.