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Minnesota CattleWomen mark 50 years
Registration is open for the July 30 special celebration in Nevis, Minn.
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LEARNING AND CELEBRATING: The Minnesota CattleWomen will mark 50 years of beef networking, education and promotion with a July 30 celebration in Nevis, Minn. Along with consumer education and promotion, the CattleWomen also hold special events for members. Last summer, the organization sponsored an educational program near Tenstrike, Minn. Kerri Steinbrecher, Milaca, Minn., took her turn at sorting and moving cattle during the hands-on learning portion. Paula Mohr
Minnesota CattleWomen will be celebrating its 50th anniversary July 30 in Nevis, Minn.
Originally known as the Minnesota CowBelles, the organization was formed to help with beef promotion and education — as a complement to the Minnesota State Cattlemen’s Association, which focuses on policy issues at local, state and federal levels that impact beef producers.
Irene Wishard (left) served as the Minnesota CattleWomen’s first president. She was recently visited by the organization’s 25th president, Michelle Mouser.
The anniversary celebration will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 30 at the FireFly Event Barn, 25275 State Route 34, Nevis, Minn. The event is open to all, yet limited to the first 100 registrants. The registration deadline is July 20.
Before the checkoff
Fifty years ago, eight cattlewomen women met in Walker to form the Minnesota CowBelles — forerunners in beef promotion and education before the checkoff and council existed, according to information from the organization’s archives. No one was promoting beef at the time. The founding members filled that gap, illustrating and printing a “Birth to Beef” book to take into schools. They designed and built games and teaching displays.
“Everything they did, they did by themselves for one purpose: To promote beef, the product they raised, to the public,” notes Michelle Mouser, president of MCW, who operates a registered Hereford cow-calf operation with her family near Tenstrike, Minn.
Some history highlights, edited from a compilation provided by past President Pat Grogan in 1997:
The Minnesota CowBelles held their first organizational meeting in July 1972 in Walker, Minn., which was named the official headquarters. Minnesota was the 38th state to form a CowBelles unit. Irene Wishard of Trail, Minn., served as the first president for the first four years.
By 1987, membership had dropped from more than 125 members to 76, due to farms going out of business and farms sold. A new name was adopted: Minnesota CattleWomen. The education committee began work on a video “Growing in the Country,” that follows the seasons of ranching as seen through the eyes of two children, and the video was distributed to every school in the state.
After the $1 Beef Checkoff began in 1987, cattlewomen increased their promotion efforts with consumers. One 1988 project, a Beef Certificate Promotion on KSTP-AM radio in Minneapolis, was one of the station’s largest promotions it had ever done. Other programs include the current beef education, “From Birth to Beef,” that began in 1973; Minnesota Beef Queen (Patricia Broden of Fertile, Minn., was the first Beef Queen in 1974, and Britta Engen of Lamberton, Minn., in 2008, the last one to be crowned); the State Beef Cook-off (1976-2007); Beef for Father’s Day (1978-2001); and the State Beef Ambassador program (1991-current).
Through the 1990s, the CattleWomen visited schools and shared information about beef with more than 9,400 children.
More than 50 women attended WIRED — Women in Ranching, Education and Development — an American National CattleWomen’s sanctioned program, last July at Michelle Mouser’s Hereford farm near Tenstrike, Minn. The event offered hands-on learning as well as educational sessions.
Mouser says she is honored to serve as president and that she’s in awe of the organization’s legacy. She recently met with Wishard and learned more about the organization’s history.
“Meeting with Irene and wading through notes of history has only deepened my passion for cattlewomen across Minnesota,” she adds.
To register for the 50th celebration and to learn more about Minnesota CattleWomen, visit mncattlewomen.org
Learn about the WIRED — Women in Ranching, Education and Development — event held in summer 2021 by visiting Minnesota CattleWomen get WIRED.
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