The Southwest Missouri Beef Cattle Improvement Association honored Ted Koontz of Sparta and Gerald Eggerman of South Greenfield with "Producer of the Year" recognition during the association's annual meeting in Springfield.

Koontz operates TEKO Angus Farm and received the "Seedstock Producer of the Year" plaque. His herd size is small, but has shown improvement since his first bull sale consignment in the October 2006 sale. Since that humble beginning, artificial insemination and improved development practices have helped his yearling weight and EPD numbers improve markedly.

HONORED:The 2012 recipients of the Southwest Missouri Beef Cattle Improvement Association's Producer of the Year awards are at left Gerald Eggerman, South Greenfield and Ted Koontz, Sparta. Presentations were given at the association's annual meeting in Springfield on November 14.

"His growth EPDs have gone from the bottom 25 percentile ranking in the Angus breed to the top 25 percentile level on his last four bulls consigned to the sale," said Eldon Cole, a livestock specialist with University of Missouri Extension.

Eggerman runs a cow herd in Dade County and received the "Commercial Producer" award for progress in beef cattle improvement. Eggerman's mixed-breed herd has excelled in performance at the Missouri Steer Feedout. He has participated in that program since 2005. Eggerman has entered 60 head of steers and each group's daily gain has always been average or above. Sixty-nine percent of the steers have graded Choice with 57% being 1 and 2 yield grades.

"His overall profitability per head has been above the average of the feedout steers except one year when he had a steer die during the feedout," said Cole. "Gerald is also a buyer of bulls at the SW MO BCIA sales having bought 7 head, mostly Angus over the years."

The association has given this recognition to seedstock and commercial beef cattle producers for 37 years. The recipient list is a who's who of performance-minded operators in the southwest corner of Missouri. The geographical boundary for the association goes from Nevada to Lebanon and south to Arkansas.

Source: University of Missouri Extension