Loseke attends and learns from California Beef Council tour

The Nebraska Beef Council recently took part in helping to fund the annual “Pasture to Plate Tour,” held annually in California and hosted by the California Beef Council. The tour is a three-day immersive experience, where beef industry and nutrition professionals among others get to visit cattle ranches, a dairy, feedlot, stockyard, a processing facility and speak with experts in the industry as well. 

Nebraska Beef Council Board Member, June Loseke, attended the event and represented Nebraska. Loseke has been a host of the Nebraska Beef Council Industry Influencer tours at her family’s feedyard near Columbus in past years, and says it was a welcome experience to be a guest in California. 

“I looked forward to seeing how California’s tour compared,” said Loseke. “Since Nebraska is one of the top cattle producing states and California has the highest population, it is important to help fund beef promotion and education projects with the California Beef Council. It’s also important for me to tell our stakeholders in Nebraska how their dollars are working firsthand.” 

Featured speakers during the tour offered their own insight into how beef is produced sustainably and responsibly. Loseke said that the knowledge she gained from others on the tour is something that can help her in the future back home. 

“Meeting the attendees and listening to their concerns and questions regarding cattle production was helpful in knowing how best to address people who tour our own feedyard,” said Loseke. 

Loseke also noted some of the differences between Nebraska and California agriculture, but found one common thread that ties everyone together, rain, or lack of it. 

“There will always be regional differences in feed stuff availability for ration composition, being able to background cattle on grass from weaning in November to April at the Buchenau Ranch was amazing,” said Loseke. “Drought takes its toll on all agricultural segments and just hearing the relief in the cattle producers’ stories of how grateful they were for the recent rainfall somehow lessened the differences.”

There were also K-12 school food service professionals in attendance. Kori Dover, Registered Dietician for the California Beef Council, a position in part funded by the Nebraska Beef Council, explained that including these professionals was attributed to promoting beef as a nutritious and sustainable food option for school meals.  

"By inviting these individuals, the tour intended to provide them with firsthand knowledge about beef production and its benefits, enabling them to make informed decisions regarding incorporating beef into school menus and promoting lean beef as part of a healthy diet," said Dover.