The Iowa Cattlemen’s Association presents outstanding cattlemen and women with several different awards at the end of each year. The awards for 2018 were presented to cattle producers from Garner, Centerville and DeWitt at the Iowa Cattle Industry Leadership Summit.

Outstanding Commercial Producer. The 2018 Outstanding Commercial Producer, Curtis Claeys, is a first-generation farmer. The Claeys farm is a pasture-to-plate operation that raises high-quality black Angus cattle for Iowa Premium Beef and Aurora. The operation near DeWitt includes row crops, custom cropping, 250 cows and a 650-head finishing operation.

The Claeys farm has hosted an open house with the Coalition to Support Iowa’s Farmers and recently launched a locker beef program to sell beef directly to consumers. The multigenerational farm has transitioned over the years from swine production to dairy steer calves, and then dairy heifer replacements before beginning beef production.

Taking care of the environment is a top priority. Cows graze stalks on all highly erodible crop ground, allowing no-till and cover crop planting. Claeys added a slatted confinement barn in 2014, and rotational grazing is also used in pastures. The operation keeps detailed performance records, using them to make decisions for culling and sire selection. In six years, the Claeys farm has achieved a 95-pound increase in yearling weight, while decreasing instances of calving difficulty to zero. Most of the bulls used come from the ICA’s bull test.

Curt Claeys has a strong record of leadership as a member of his county’s fair board and continues that record on the Iowa State Fair board. His son, Kendall, is a graduate of the Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Program and a board member for his county cattlemen’s association. The addition of another generation working on the farm full time has been a vital component in the beef enterprise.

Environmental Stewardship Award. The 2018 Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Environmental Stewardship Award winner has always valued the land and animals, both livestock and wildlife, who depend on it. Randy Eddy has been on the forefront of conservation measures his whole life. Eddy and his wife, Denise, operate the Appanoose County farm Eddy’s parents established 60 years ago. Most of the farm is used as hay or pasture ground for the cow-calf operation.

Row-crop production is the principal use of land in Iowa, and Appanoose County is no exception. Approximately 21% of Iowa’s pastureland was converted to cropland from 2007 to 2012. During that same time frame, Eddy converted between 250 and 300 acres of former row-crop land into pasture, which decreases nitrogen loss by about 85% and phosphorus loss by 59%.

Fields susceptible to erosion were initially seeded down with alfalfa and slowly transitioned to pasture when the alfalfa stand thinned and Eddy added other varieties of grasses and legumes.

STEWARDSHIP: Denise and Randy Eddy (left), ICA 2018 Environmental Stewardship winner, is shown with past winner and award presenter Bill Couser.

The Eddys’ land once had sand strip mines, which left a wasteland in their wake. Eddy and his father rehabilitated that land. With the hillsides stabilized, they used cows to help improve the soil over the years. Rolling out hay bales strategically on the fragile land helps deposit cattle manure where needed, improving soil health while minimizing outside inputs. Over time, the Eddys were able to fill in the pits left by the mines and convert the landscape to pasture.

Eddy and his dad also began planting switchgrass to diversify their pasture, provide wildlife habitat and improve soil health. In addition to haying and grazing switchgrass, the Eddys harvested the seed and sold stover to the state of Iowa to use in mulching roadside plantings. The decision to plant and use switchgrass would prove to have broader impacts far beyond the Eddy farm, however. In the mid-1990s, Eddy took part in an innovative research project to lay the groundwork for commercial biomass energy production. The switchgrass on his land was used as a replacement for coal in a local electricity plant.

It is this dedication to the land, livestock and wildlife that led the ICA’s Environmental Stewardship Award committee to select Randy and Denise Eddy as the 2018 winner.

Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Hall of Fame. The 2018 Hall of Fame inductee, Ed Greiman, has a long list of accomplishments. From operating a cow-calf and feedlot operation with his family to leading national conversation on important cattle topics, Greiman has helped shape the cattle industry. Throughout his career, he has worked in various sectors and held positions in some of the most influential organizations and companies in Iowa’s beef industry. His reputation for knowledge and leadership is recognized nationally.

Greiman’s work over the years has had an impact on the cattle industry. From 1998 to 2002, he worked for ICA. While on staff, Greiman filled a variety of roles such as membership field director for northeast Iowa, beef-quality assurance director and membership services director. As beef quality assurance director for Iowa, he provided resources and oversight for source- and age-verifying cattle and feedlots for value-based markets with all packers. He also developed an electronic ID and source-verified program with Cargill, to educate producers on the value of their cattle and allow them access to carcass data.

After leaving the ICA staff, Greiman served as vice president of Iowa Quality Beef Co-Op Packing Plant until 2005. As vice president of the packing plant, he represented the interests of approximately 900 cattlemen who owned the Iowa Quality Beef plant and helped integrate fed cattle from Iowa into the McDonalds source verified program.

HALL OF FAME: Ed Greiman (left), 2018 Iowa Cattlemen’s Hall of Fame honoree, is shown with ICA past president, Mike Cline.

At NCBA, Greiman has served as chair of the cattle marketing and international trade committee, the working group on price discovery, and the CME cattle futures volatility and contract design working group. He has consistently advocated on behalf of Iowa’s independent feedlot operators.

Greiman’s involvement in the Iowa and National Cattlemen’s Associations is commendable. He’s served as northwest Iowa regional vice president for ICA, as well as president-elect and president. During his time in ICA leadership, he chaired the Iowa state beef checkoff exploratory group, which led to the successful referendum vote to reinstate the state checkoff in 2016. He also worked with various partners to help develop the Iowa DNR workplan agreement for feedlots.

Greiman continues to serve on ICA’s feedlot council, NCBA working groups and ISU’s animal science department advisory board. He’s also the manager of Upper Iowa Beef.

Source: Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, which is solely responsible for information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries aren’t responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.