The year 2013 is a significant milestone in the history of BEEF magazine. It holds the fifth anniversary of the launching of BEEF Daily (September), the 10th anniversary of the launching of BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly (July), and September begins the magazine’s 50th year of publication.
The 50th anniversary is a testament to the wisdom and foresight of founding editor Paul Andre, who crafted the magazine’s editorial focus a half-century ago. In an era when other publications’ names tended to focus on production sectors, his vision was to stress to readers each month the value of the end product. Hence, the nameplate BEEF.
Andre realized that all money into the industry, and thus producers’ pockets, flowed from just one source – consumers. He knew that keeping that end user satisfied was an all-important component to consider in management decisions made at all production levels.
That outlook has endured since Andre left the magazine 20 years ago. In fact, end-product quality is an integral part of the BEEF mission statement, which is “to provide practical production and industry information that will allow producers to more efficiently, cost-effectively and profitably manage their businesses on a sustainable basis, while keeping an eye toward evolving industry changes and consumer concerns for quality.”
Of course, we utilize a few more tools these days than when BEEF was launched almost a half-century ago. In addition to the monthly print product, the franchise today consists of a huge Internet (beefmagazine.com) and digital presence via several newsletters that include BEEF Daily, BEEF Cow-Calf Weekly, BEEF Stocker Trends and BEEF Cattle Market Weekly. Our latest print and online launch is BEEF Vet, a quarterly publication for large-animal veterinarians that was launched last year.
As a kickoff to our 50th year of publication, BEEF editors want to recognize the important contributors to the beef industry’s success of the past half-century. Thus, we plan to present our BEEF 50, a September issue commemoration of 50 top beef industry contributors. Beginning in February, nominations for recognition are being solicited from readers; the final selections will be made by an independent panel of beef industry experts.
Eligible are individuals, or teams of individuals, living or deceased, who made significant contributions to the U.S. beef industry. This could include members of any production segment, academia, association staff, and allied industry and animal health professionals.
Nominations will be accepted until May 31, and all the information and forms for nomination are posted at beefmagazine.com.
I hope you’ll join us in celebrating a milestone anniversary for BEEF magazine, and honor our industry heroes at the same time.
