Annual Meeting

Bryan Blinson and his wife, Beth, operate Blinson Hereford Farm, a small seedstock operation split between Buies Creek, N.C., and Lenoir, N.C. Calving about 20 cows annually, the farm’s focus is selling a few select bulls each year as well as offering females private treaty and through the North Carolina Hereford Association (NCHA) sale. They work hard to manage their pastures, improve soil health and breed cattle that can efficiently perform in their environment — through those practices the Blinsons provide more adapted and efficient seedstock to their customers.

Bryan and Beth live on the farm near Buies Creek, and his parents help manage the cattle on the farm in Lenoir. Breeding, marketing, pasture management and other decisions are a family effort. The couple’s daughters, Rossie and Mason, both served on the National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) board, and Beth served on the National Hereford Women board. The Blinsons have always tried to be involved in the Associations that supported their family.

Bryan was named distinguished alumni by North Carolina State University (NCSU) and has a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the university, in addition to graduating from the Forrest School of Auctioneering and Mendenhall Auction School. He finds his greatest educational opportunities working alongside and advocating for farmers and ranchers, having served as the executive director of the North Carolina Cattlemen’s Association and Beef Council for 24 years.

 He helped organize and served as president of the Feed the Dialogue Foundation (a multi-organization advocacy group). Bryan also served as secretary of the NCSU Agricultural Foundation for two decades, along with serving on numerous NCSU advisory boards. He was named president of the Auctioneers Association of North Carolina and the Harnett Area Board of Realtors.

From serving as chairman of the National Junior Polled Hereford Council to holding various leadership positions on the NCHA board and auctioneering the NCHA sale, Bryan has been involved in all levels of the Hereford industry.

Bryan hopes to serve producers large and small and use his experiences to unify all segments of the Hereford breed and make each breeder stronger.

919-422-9108, bkblinson@gmail.com

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Joe Ellis, Chrisman, Ill., operates Ellis Farms Beef Genetics, a three-generation family business, which raises row crops and cattle to support four family households. Hereford cattle have always been the operation’s primary focus. Today, the family runs 200 momma cows.

The Ellis family has raised registered Herefords for 143 years. The first registered stock were brought into the family operation as a wedding gift in 1883: two cows and the imported sire, Beekjay Hero.

The EFBeef program provides seedstock genetics to the commercial cow-calf producer and purebred sector. EFBeef genetics have been utilized on four continents and nearly all 50 states. They strive to produce a low-cost female with high fertility, which will thrive on fescue grass pastures, while also making a steer of the highest value that garners carcass weight and yield and quality grade incentives. The operation emphasizes producing a pound of beef more efficiently than prior generations through feed intake testing. EFBeef invests significant time and resources gathering genetic information each year. They’re committed to providing commercial cow-calf producers with additional data to help make decisions when marketing offspring sired by EFBeef bulls.

EFBeef is a two-time winner of the Beef Improvement Federation Seedstock Producer Honor Roll of Excellence. Joe’s parents, Phil and Joyce, previous directors of the AHA, were recently inducted into the Hereford Hall of Fame. EFBeef has been named the Illinois Hereford Breeder of the Year multiple times, along with being the winner of the Illinois Beef Seedstock Breeder of the Year and winning multiple grand championships at the national show in the ’70s and ’90s. EFBeef has received multiple honors and designations from the AHA and American Polled Hereford Association (APHA) for Sires of Distinction (SOD), CHB SOD, Gold Seal Sire and Gold Trophy Sire.

Joe has served on the nominating committee for AHA Board candidates and the committee for genetic evaluation updates. He was a member of the 2005 Young Cattlemen’s Conference and was active in the APHA youth program during the 1980s.

Joe is retired from a career in the material handling industry. He currently serves as treasurer and is a past president of The Vermillion RISE, a 7,000-acre redevelopment of a former World War II Army base. He’s served on the County Area Plan Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals and is serving his 18th year as treasurer of the Hopewell Friends Meeting.  

Joe and his wife, Lauri, have three daughters: Audrey, Hannah and Lauren. 

765-366-5390, efbeef1@aol.com

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Joe Dan Ledbetter owns and operates Ledbetter Cattle Co., Wheeler, Texas, a progressive herd consisting of around 50 cows — 35 Hereford females and 15 commercial recip cows. As a smaller breeder, Joe Dan threads the needle each year by producing bulls that perform with limited input while maintaining functionality, eye appeal, fleshing ability and style that will impress any cattleman and be problem-free. Ledbetter Cattle Co. markets these bulls through the Indian Mound Ranch Annual Production Sale every October.

When it comes to females, udders and disposition are at the top of the operation’s selection criteria, along with a mother cow that’s earned her keep. Some females are marketed as show heifers to local and regional customers; everything else is sent to wheat pasture. Once they come home, anything that won’t be a Ledbetter replacement is bred to an Angus bull and marketed as a commercial bred heifer.

Ledbetter Cattle Co. is a family operation. Joe Dan and his wife, Hope, their sons and their wives, Ceaton and Erin, Grant and Lauren, and Grady and Lindley; two grandchildren, Knox and Tandi Jo; and daughter, Caton, all chip in on the ranch from time to time.

Joe Dan was born and raised in Wheeler. He attended West Texas A&M University and graduated with a degree in animal science in 1997. He’s been a member of the Texas Hereford Association for 30 years, serving as director for more than 15 of them. He’s currently serving his second term on the executive committee. Joe Dan is a past member of the Texas Association of Sports Officials and was a high school football official for almost 20 years before retiring due to injury in 2021.

Ledbetter Cattle Co. is an AHA-recognized Gold Total Performance Records (TPR™) Breeder, and they regularly go the extra mile to collect and report data at all levels of production in a timely manner.

806-236-0958, joedanledbetter@yahoo.com

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Lauren Wingler, Christiana, Tenn., is the 18-year-old daughter of Russ and Sally Wingler. She is a freshman at the University of Tennessee at Martin, studying agricultural business. Lauren is an active member of the university’s Cattlemen’s and Farm Bureau Associations and has been heavily involved in Tennessee 4-H. She also serves as a Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association youth ambassador. Currently, Lauren is president of her state junior Hereford association, and she has attended the Faces of Leadership conference and participated in various leadership opportunities and contests at JNHE.

“Serving as National Hereford Queen would allow me to give back to the industry that has shaped me, share the values and traditions of the Hereford breed and ensure a bright, sustainable future for agriculture and for the generations that follow,” Lauren says.