Wednesday, April 26, 2023
7:00 AM
Trade Show Open - Coffee, Donuts & Breakfast Burritos
8:00 AM
Welcome, Prayer, & Pledge of Allegiance
8:15 AM
Donnell Brown of the RA Brown Ranch, Moderator
8:30 AM
“The Business of Beef: Your Finance Partner”
Travis Thorne, Capital Farm Credit
9:00 AM
Q & A
9:15 AM
Trade Show Open & Break
9:45 AM
“What’s the Future for the Cow Business from the Prospective
Of the Nation’s Leading Cow Harvesting Company”
Trevor Caviness, Caviness Beef
10:15 AM
Q & A
10:30 AM
Trade Show Open & Break
11:00 AM
“Range Soil Health Using Grazing Practices
& New Technology”
Adam Isaacs
11:30 AM
“The War is On To Kill Cedars & Junipers”
Jason Abraham
12:00
“Producer Owned Beef”
Monte Cluck
12:30 PM
Lunch & Trade Show
1:30 PM
Beef It's What’s for Dinner
Dr. Ty Lawrence & Dr. Dan Hale
3:00 PM
Grand Prize Drawing & Break
4:00 PM
Adjourn
Travis Thorne,
Capital Farm Credit
Travis Thorne is Market President for Capital Farm Credit’s Plains Region. Travis was born and raised in New Mexico, and after graduating high school he attended Texas Tech University where he obtained a Bachelors of Science in Agriculture and Applied Economics and a Bachelors in Business Administration. While at Texas Tech, Travis was a member of the 1998 Meats Judging Team and served as the Texas Tech Masked Rider from 1999-
2000. After graduating from Texas Tech in 2002, Travis began his 20+ year career in the Farm Credit System, working for several associations in New Mexico and Texas. During this time, Travis has served on many different committees and boards supporting agriculture, youth development and his community. Such involvement includes Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers, State Fair of Texas, Rodeo Austin, Bryson School Board and Bryson United Methodist Church. Travis resides in Bryson, Texas with his wife Lori and 2 children, daughter Braydee and son, Bryce.
Trevor Caviness,
Caviness Beef
Born and raised in Hereford and Amarillo, TX. Trevor received a BBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University in 1997 and then completed the Ranch Management Program at Texas Christian University in 1998. He began his fulltime career in the family business, Caviness Beef Packers, in 1998 and has been president of the company since 2011. Caviness Beef’s
processing facilities are located in Hereford (Harvest/Fab/Hides/Rendering) and Amarillo, TX (ground beef).
In conjunction with partner JR Simplot Company, Caviness opened its 2 nd beef harvest/processing/ground beef, CS Beef Packers, in Kuna, Idaho in May of 2017.
Caviness/CS Beef are currently ranked #6 on the US Beef Packer list by volume.
Trevor’s primary job functions are overseeing Operations, Marketing, Food Safety and Business Development. Trevor is active in the protein industry as a Board Member of the North American Meat Institute. He also stays active in community initiatives and has served on numerous area boards. Married to Sarah, they have three children and reside in Amarillo, Texas.
Adam Isaacs
Adam is a native to Hemphill County who currently leases his family’s ranch with his wife, Aubrie Isaacs. The ranch has been owned and operated by his family since the 1890’s. He received a Ranch Management degree from Texas Tech University and is using innovative technologies and management practices that featured him in the New York Times.
Jason Abraham
Rancher, Helicopter Pilot, Inventor
Jason Abraham is a fourth generation resident of Hemphill County. Jason and his wife of 31 years, Bonnie, raised their two children on the Mendota Ranch southwest of Canadian. Jason is a graduate of Canadian High School and attained an Associates Degree in Ranch and Feedlot Operations from Clarendon College. During his last year at Clarendon, he and his brothers along with their grandfather started Abraham Investments. This company was set up to buy, improve, and resell ranch land. More
Dr. Ty Lawrence
Ty E. Lawrence is a professor of animal science at West Texas A&M University. He was reared on a cow-calf operation near Dalhart, Texas before pursuing formal education at West Texas A&M University (B.S., M.S.) and Kansas State University (Ph.D.). Dr. Lawrence spent 2 years with Smithfield in the position of research manager for pork harvest and processing facilities on the eastern seaboard before entering his academic career. In his current position at West Texas A&M University, he has taught over 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students in 14 different animal, food and meat science courses. He has advised 5 Ph.D. and 37 M.S. students. In addition, Dr. Lawrence is the Director of the WTAMU – Beef Carcass Research Center,
Monte Cluck
Monte Cluck is a fourth-generation native of Gruver, Texas who has spent his entire life as a cow-calf producer, stocker operator and cattle feeder. His father Dean was one of the pioneer cattle feeders in the area, building his first feedyard in 1961.
As the CEO of Dean Cluck Feedyard and general partner of Dean Cluck Cattle Company, Monte and his team have expanded grazing and farming operations by tens of thousands of acres and increased the one-time cattle feeding capacity to 105,000 head. To further diversify and expand, Monte has added order buying, trucking and commodity brokerage
businesses to the company portfolio. Despite a hectic business schedule, Monte makes time to give back to several organizations. He has served on numerous committees and the boards and executive committees of Texas Cattle Feeders Association and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, serving as TCFA Chairman in 2009. Governor Rick Perry appointed him to serve on the Texas Water Development Board, he has served on the Amarillo Area Foundation Board and has been a member of the PRCA since 1977.
In recognition of his many contributions to the nation’s cattle industry, Monte was awarded the National Golden Spur Award in 2020 by the National Ranching Heritage Center.
Monte and his wife Katsy reside in Boerne and are the proud parents of four children and grandparents of four grandchildren.
which annually evaluates 200,000+ cattle for a variety of research projects. His research activities focus on improving the yield, quality, and safety of red meat products and have resulted in the publication of more than 98 peer-reviewed scientific journal manuscripts. Dr. Lawrence has received the AMSA Distinguished Achievement Award and the Distinguished Extension- Industry Award, was a recipient of the inaugural 40 under 40 awards in Agriculture from the Vance Publishing Group, and holds the Caviness Davis Distinguished Chair in Meat Science.
Daniel S. Hale
Professor & Associate Director of
Texas A&M AgriLife Ext.
for Agriculture & Natural Resources
Since his career with Extension began in 1985 Dr. Hale has interpreted and extends information on diet/health, animal welfare, food safety, livestock growth and meat science to consumers, youth, health professionals, retailers, food service managers, packers,
Hale also performs industry applied meat science research. Since 1990 Hale
has served as a co-principle investigator for the National Beef Quality Audit. Also, Hale has worked with the National Consumer Retail Beef Study, the National Market Basket Survey and the Beef Tenderness Survey, which examined supplies of beef, offered at the retail meat case and determined what consumers want in meat products.
He has conducted training in nutritional sciences and meat in the diet science
since the release of the USDA Handbook 8 nutrient data in the 1980’s. Data
collected in part through work conducted by Texas A&M University under USDA supervision. Hale has taught consumers and dietitians about the inclusion of meat in a healthy diet. He has also worked with livestock producers, retailers and food service operators to produce and offer leaner beef options to consumers.
Hale served as the President of the American Meat Science Association in
2007 and became a Fellow of that organization in 2013. In 2014, Hale received the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Service Award – Extension and Service and earlier received the Vice Chancellor Distinguished Service Award (2003) and Extension Superior Service Award (2007) for Extension Specialist. His most recent award was the Bluebonnet Award with the Texas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics in 2020. Hale received his Ph.D. in 1985 from Oklahoma State University in Food, Nutrition, and Institutional Sciences within the Department of Animal Science.
processors, and livestock producers. Hale is the co-director of the Path to the Plate Program which helps Texans better their lives through education on the important connection between agriculture and health.
importantly, it was an opportunity for Malouf Abraham, Sr. to teach the three how to make a deal.
In 1994, the family moved to the Mendota Ranch southwest of Canadian. That same year, he began helicopter flight school. He obtained his private helicopter rating and later commercial along with CFI with now 29 years of flying.
Abraham Equine, Inc was formed in 1998 and began with standing a single stallion. This company grew to stand multiple stallions and run a herd of 2500 recipient mares which were used for embryo transfer, ICSI and later cloning. Abraham Equine sold the recipient mare herd to partner Dr. Gregg Veneklasen after 25 years in the business.
In 2019/2020 Rotor Recoil was started to serve military and government entities on aerial platform shooting. Civilians can also take part in the training course of 50 miles long with over 100 targets.
The idea for Brush Bullet came about trying to find a more efficient way to eradicate unwanted/invasive trees. Over the next year, we had multiple failures and some successes that led to the invention of the Brush Bullet. We started with getting multiple patents, working on EPA labeling and consulting with several chemical companies.