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South Carolina Angus News
January 28, 2005
By Windy Bartee
March is known as the month of big winds and the Carolina Angus Futurity. A big wind blew in 1971 when the Carolina Futurity began. This year, 2005, the March winds will still be big and so will the 34th Carolina Futurity.
At noon on March 19th, South Carolina Angus Association is having the 34th Annual Carolina Angus Futurity at the Clemson Cattle Barn next to the T. Ed Garrison Arena. The Friday night, preceding, the SC Angus Association will have their annual meeting and banquet at 7:00 on March 18th at the Clemson Madren Conference Center. The social hour begins at 6:00. The James Martin Inn (tel: 864-654-9020) has offered rooms for the SCAA at $89 per night, if any are left. Gene Pruitt is president of the SCAA. (Tel: 864-446-2816 or 864-366-5400). Walter Shealy (Tel: 803-276-9385) is vice president and in charge of the sale. Tom Burke and the American Angus Hall of Fame are the sale managers. (Tel: 816-532-0811).
The SCAA annual meeting will include nomination of officers and directors for the next year. We also plan to print a new directory this year. Pages for ads will be auctioned off at the banquet.
The SC juniors will meet after dinner to plan their activities. Stephanie Clark (864-243-2214) plans to help the juniors and their parents with another silent auction. Please call her to offer your help. Juniors and their parents should be getting items for the silent auction now.
If you are a member of the SC Angus Association, our Web page, www.scangus.org, is available to advertise your farm and Angus. The Angus Journal charges a set-up fee and the SCAA charges a fee of $50 per month for the Web page ad.
Who were the leaders that got the Carolina Futurity sailing thirty-four years ago when the Carolina Futurity began? Mrs. Evelyn Edmunds has maintained her personal SC Angus archives for many years. From her archives the 1971 SCAA Directory pictures Ned Stevenson from Allendale, SC, as the president. Zack Livingston served as the SCAA treasurer. Zack reports that Ned is retired from ASCS office in Allendale County. Ernie Craig, who lived at Mauldin, was the sale manager and was instrumental in getting the Futurity started. Jimmy Ironsides was a director and had a big hand in getting the Futurity fire fanned. Bill Terry was the American Angus fieldman who helped with the planning.
When the Futurity first started, Doris Blackmon said, “It was a show and then a sale. You had to have the heifers halter-broken and show them first.” She remembered that Scott Wilson was the auctioneer from Georgia. Doris and her sister Shirley Brown have been involved in Angus in SC from those early days. Shirley is listed as a member of the SCAA in 1971.
Some of the SC Junior members listed in the 1971 directory that are still involved in our SCAA are Neil Boyd, who is presently a director; Neil McPhail, who is a past director; Ray Petty, whose son, John, is showing as a junior now. Bob Hall was a junior member then. Now his children are showing with the juniors. Mrs. Evelyn Edmunds was the advisor for the juniors. Her children were all involved then. Her grandchildren continue the tradition when she can get them off the ball field.
The Carolina Futurity has been the place where many juniors have gotten a show calf. Mr. Troy Wimberly was not at the first Carolina Futurity but he remembers the one in 1976. He bought Barry Wimberly’s first show calf at that Futurity and paid $1400. Mr. John Crouch, the AAA field rep, helped him pick it out. Barry Wimberly showed Angus until he aged out at twenty-one years. As any junior can tell you, when you show sometimes you place at the bottom of the class. Mr. Troy said, “It’s lonesome on the bottom end.”
One way to rise up off the bottom is with good breeding using the newest techniques to advance your cattle. The American Angus Association developed the Bull Listing Service (BLS) to assist Angus breeders with merchandising their Angus bulls. This BLS service provides Angus breeders the opportunity to market their registered Angus bulls over the Internet. All listings are posted for 90 days and include EPDs, breeding, ranch, and sale information. Logon to www.angus.org to view the information on the bulls available for sale. You may go online to list your bulls at www.angus.org. Click with your mouse on commercial programs, then follow the link to the Bull Listing Service. The fee schedule is 1-10 head $7/head, 11-99 head $5/head, 100+ head $4/head.
In addition to shopping on the Internet for bulls, South Carolina had a series of bull sales every week in February. This year there has been plenty of opportunity to make a good bull selection for your herd.
Another tool that the AAA offers to improve our cattle is also available over the Internet. The American Angus Association’s (AAA) $Value indexes provide commercial cattlemen with a tool to select for several traits at once. The latest $Value, Weaned Calf Value ($W) expressed in dollars-per-head, includes the impact of both revenue and cost differences in the preweaning phase. The Spring 2005 Angus Sire Evaluation Report may be viewed and sorted online at www.angussiresearch.com. For more information contact Sara Moyer at 816-383-5100 or smoyer@angus.org.
The winds that have blown over the Angus herds in South Carolina have been mostly favorable. Our Angus herds have grown and improved in genetics with the advances in technology and the help of the Angus Association. We appreciate our leaders who went before us to begin the traditions we have now. May we continue to grow and improve our Angus breed and our South Carolina Angus Association.
Do you want to go?
34th Carolina
Futurity Banquet
Friday, March 18
6:00 Social Hour
7:00 Banquet and
SCAA Annual Meeting
Clemson’s Madren
Conference Center
100 Madren Center Drive
Clemson, SC
Tel: 888/654-9020
or 864/654-9020
Cost: $20/person
Rooms at James Martin Inn
@$89 if available.
Carolina Futurity Sale
Saturday, March 19, 2005
at 12 noon
Cattle Barn Complex at
T. Ed Garrison Arena
Clemson, SC
Call the American Angus Hall of Fame for a catalog
816/532-0811 or
Walter Shealy 803/276-9385
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If you have news for the SC Angus Association news article,
please contact Windy Bartee at
803-222-7533 or tumblet@earthlink.net. |
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