What if ranchers could move cattle without moving physical fences? Virtual fencing is the answer, as it allows producers to set grazing boundaries using GPS technology, giving them the ability to manage livestock in real time — without posts, wires, or gates.
The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.
Katie Roberti sat down for a conversation that reflects both her roots and her mission. As Director of Communications for the California Cattlemen’s Association (CCA), Roberti spends her days translating the realities of ranching into language policymakers, media, and the public can understand. But her connection to agriculture is far more personal than professional.
Dr. Kristina Horback, an associate professor in the Department of Animal Science at University of California, Davis, has always been fascinated by the lives, and more specifically the minds of cattle. Growing up in the Bay Area, she would travel past ranches, captivated by the sight of cattle grazing on distant hills, and often wondered how these animals navigated the expansive rangelands.
“I was always curious about why the cows were up there on the hill or why they were down the hill,” said Dr. Horback.
Every year, ranchers, researchers, policy makers, and industry leaders gather for the most anticipated event of the year: CattleCon. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is the organizer of the annual conference and trade show, which is the largest cattle industry event in the country.
As the climate crisis intensifies, reducing global greenhouse gas emissions has become an urgent priority that requires immediate and sustained action.Methane, one of the greenhouse gases, is particularly of concern with its strong ability to trap heat in the atmosphere.
Cattle are special animals that consume foods such as grasses and hays that humans can’t digest, taking those pieces of energy and turning them into milk and meat that nourish people. In the process, part of the energy cows eat results in the production of methane that is belched out the front end of the animal. That’s a conundrum.
Billing their show as “ag like you’ve never seen or heard it before” and the place “where food news and pop culture collide,” millennials and farmers Natalie Kovarik and Tara Vander Dussen are in cyberspace each week with provocative, enlightening and entertaining convos that shed light on the what, the where and the how of our food supply.
