Joe Meyer
Farm Operation, Employment or Business Details: Badger Holsteins & Badger Genetics. We milk cows and have a little cow-calf operation on the side. Nothing big, but it keeps me out of trouble.How did you become involved in the industry? I was born into it. I was raised on my family’s dairy farm in Clark County. I grew up like most farm kids in my area by getting involved in 4H and FFA. It was really my involvement in showing and judging cattle where my passion for genetics and the feeding of livestock really developed. I continued my educational development at UW-River Falls where I received my BS in Dairy Science. After that, I went on to graduate school for degrees in Animal Science at the University of Missouri. It was in Missouri where I discovered and developed an interest and understanding of the Cow-Calf operation.
What does the WBC mission mean to you – ‘To Build Demand for Beef that is Sustainable for Future Generations’? To me this means that the industry must continue to produce a clean, humane, nutritious, economically feasible, and environmentally safe product that today’s and tomorrow’s consumers want and can afford.
What WBC program area do you feel is important to growing demand for beef and why? Consumer education on how to prepare beef for consumption is key. My wife was born and raised in the suburbs of Milwaukee. She knew very little about how to prepare beef meals until she met me. As an industry, we must focus on making the future mothers of this country less afraid of the task of making kitchen meals containing beef products.
If you could tell your friends one key thing about the Beef Checkoff, what would it be? I would tell them about the consumer education programs.
Favorite thing about the agricultural industry: The ability to work alongside family members for a common future goal is very rewarding.
Favorite piece of advice you’ve ever received: Success is rewarded to those who don’t quit.