November 26, 2024

Data and Decisions, Speer and Taylor on Using Information to Make Quicker Improvement and More Profit

44 minutes

Industry consultant Nevil Speer helps illustrate the story of the transformation of the nation’s cowherd during the last decade or so, and Oklahoma producer Jimmy Taylor shares his personal example. Rising to meet consumer expectations has been a self-fulfilling prophecy, where better beef begets more demand, but there are other considerations.

Can you have the carcass and the cow? How have novel genetic tools allowed for a much faster pace of progress? What’s on the horizon? Answers to all that and more, in this episode that offers a peek at the priorities of the commercial Angus bull buyer.

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Troy Marshall, American Angus Association director of commercial industry relations

GUESTS: Jimmy Taylor and Nevil Speer

Jimmy Taylor, an Elk City, Okla., commercial Angus producer, manages around 600 females on 12,000 acres alongside his wife, Tracy. In 2011 they were named the Certified Angus Beef Commitment to Excellence Award winners and in 2013 the Oklahoma Angus Association Commercial Breeder of the Year. Taylor has served on various local boards and recently served on the executive committee for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. He is a strong proponent of using all the tools available to produce the highest quality beef possible.

Nevil Speer, Bowling Green, Ky., started his industry consulting business after a career in academia and private industry. He earned a doctorate in animal science from Colorado State University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Western Kentucky University, where he taught for several decades. He says he’s forever a student of the business and uses his combination of on-farm experience, academic training, and start-up know-how as he consults, writes and speaks across the country.