Promoting Beef One Story At A Time
March Ag Literacy Month has just concluded, and wow, it has been a busy one! As a children’s book author, nothing excites me more than seeing my accurate agricultural stories reach kids all across the country!
Today, I would like to highlight a special way these books are connecting with families to teach them about beef and the hard-working farmers and ranchers who tend to the land and livestock to make our steaks and burgers possible.
When I was ten years old, my grandmother, Carol Wienk, encouraged me to enter the South Dakota Beef Ambassador speaking contest run by the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Auxiliary.
Winning that contest opened up a lot of doors for me at a young age. I was able to spend time and be mentored by some incredible beef industry leaders — iconic cattle women including familiar names, Delina Nagel and Sue Sibson, who taught me how to promote beef, to teach consumers about beef cuts, preparation, best recipes, by-products, and doing it in a positive way while debunking the endless myths and misconceptions about how cattle are raised.
As a kid, I loved the chance to connect the dots from the cattle we raised on our cow-calf operation at home, all the way to the feedlot, packer, and grocery store. I continued with the program until age 18, when I competed and won the National Beef Ambassador competition. That earned me a year of coast-to-coast travel, promoting beef on a national stage — everywhere from cooking contests with celebrity chefs and politicians, to serving beef stew to athletes at the Boston Marathon, to promoting beef at the World Ag Expo in California, and everywhere in between.
I didn’t realize this would launch my career for me, and to this day, I still lean on the lessons I learned through that program in my role as an agricultural speaker, children’s book author, and entrepreneur in the beef cattle business that I love.
Fast forward to the present, and it all comes full circle for me. My two oldest kids, Scarlett and Thorne, are now members of the South Dakota Beef Ambassador Team. The program has evolved from a speaking contest where just a few are selected to participate each year, to an ongoing effort of 35 kids (and more to come) who take part in promotions throughout the year.
Even better, I’ve had the chance to work closely with the South Dakota Beef Industry Council in producing three children’s books, which are used by the South Dakota Beef Ambassadors in classrooms across the state.
These titles include — “Beef Strong,” “Roll, Spread, Sprinkle, Bake,” and “The Journal of Rowdy the Cow Kid.”
The first book out of the gate, “Beef Strong,” focuses on sports nutrition and highlights beef as a premier protein for healthy, active lifestyles.
“Roll, Spread, Sprinkle, Bake,” encourages kids to get in the kitchen and become more confident about cooking with beef.
And finally, “The Journal of Rowdy the Cow Kid,” takes readers on a 12-month adventure on a cattle ranch, where they get to learn about calving and weaning, planting and harvest, the summer grazing season and winter feeding, and even a trip to the county fair.
Written by myself, illustrated by Michelle Weber, and produced by our publishing house, Ag Storytellers, it has been phenomenal to see the reach of these stories, not only in our home state of South Dakota, but across the country.
And the best part is — these books can be used again and again, year after year, reaching not only young readers, but their parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, and others who sit down with a child to read them a story.
It probably seems almost too simple — but a fun and engaging story can go a long ways towards building relationships, debunking myths, bridging the gap, and creating long-lasting connections between producers and consumers, and I would encourage you to join in the effort to teach kids about where their food comes from, one story at a time.
I am forever grateful for the cattlemen and women who poured into me as a young person so many years ago as I looked for my place in this cattle industry I love. And I would like to thank the South Dakota Beef Industry Council for the opportunity to work collaboratively on these three books. Finally, I would like to congratulate our young beef ambassadors on their efforts and willingness to tell the beef story with consumers, one story at a time!
My sincere hope is they will continue to be an effective resource and tool to promote agricultural literacy and education with our young people. To learn more about these stories or to purchase your own copies, visit www.amandaradke.com.