This national award is presented annually to a producer to recognize his or her dedication to improving the beef industry at the seedstock level.

The Charles Hunt family operation began in the 1960s after Charlie attended the University of Nebraska. Currently, the 6,500-acre diversified operation consists of dryland and irrigated corn, soybeans, alfalfa, wheat and grassland supporting 300 cows, private-treaty bulls and replacement females.

The goals at Hunt Limousin Ranch are to “conserve the land for the future generations, keep current and knowledgeable on the leading cattle issues, provide high-quality cattle for a fair price and treat people with honesty and integrity.”

Collecting and utilizing performance records form the backbone of the business. When they started in the purebred Limousin business, the family developed the “Hunt Herd Manager” computer program to track breeding data, calf data, cow and sire data, mailing lists, customer purchases and files where they can enter and track expected progeny differences (EPDs). The Hunt family believes strongly in total herd reporting and do this through the North American Limousin Foundation’s Limousin Inventory Management System (LIMS) program.

Through the years, the Hunt family has implemented programs to stay on the cutting-edge of seedstock production. In 1995, they started a customer buy-back program. In 2000, when their son Daniel graduated from the University of Nebraska and returned home to the ranch, they expanded their heifer development program, bull sales, embryo transfer work and row-crop farming ventures.

Hunt genetics have been used all over the globe, including Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Bulls have been on display at the National Western Stock Show for the past 32 years.

Charlie and his wife, Nancy, have four children – David, Susan, Sally and Daniel – and nine grandchildren.

More than 350 beef producers, academia and industry representatives were in attendance at the BIF’s 49th annual convention. The organization’s mission is to help improve the industry by promoting greater acceptance of beef cattle performance evaluation.

For more information about this year’s symposium, including additional award winners and coverage of meeting and tours, visit the BIF conference website.  

—From Beef Improvement Federation news release