Buckley Named NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club Agriculturalist of the Year

Feb 04, 2022

Jackie Buckley of Mandan, N.D., will be honored as the Agriculturalist of the Year at this year’s North Dakota State University (NDSU) Little International Showmanship Contest.

The 96th Little International will be held Feb. 11-12 at Shepperd Arena on the NDSU campus. Little ‘I’ is organized by more than 300 members of the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club and led by manager Ashlyn Dilley.

Buckley will be honored at the Agriculturalist of the Year banquet on Friday, Feb. 11, at the Sanctuary Events Center in Fargo.

Buckley, a retired NDSU Extension agent of 37 years, has served the citizens of North Dakota through her numerous leadership positions. She has been a member of the Morton County Weed Board, Bismarck/Mandan Agriculture Chamber Committee, Morton County Crop Improvement Association, North Dakota Living Agriculture in the Classroom Committee, and coached the Morton County 4-H and Mandan FFA livestock judging teams.

Buckley, a 1979 NDSU graduate, majored in animal science and minored in food nutrition and agriculture communication. While at NDSU, she was involved in the Saddle and Sirloin Club, actively holding officer positions, showing animals in Little ‘I’, advocating for agriculture as a Little ‘I’ princess and receiving the honor of the club’s outstanding senior award.

Buckley currently serves as a Morton County commissioner and teaches Animal Science 114 Lab at Bismarck State College to stay connected with agriculture and people.

Source : ndsu.edu

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.