cows walking

Our third blog-iversary (and the hits of 2013)

It’s been just shy of three years since the Black Ink blog launched, and naturally we can’t help but feel a little nostalgic. Our humble little blog that tells the tale of quality beef production from all sides of the industry had more than 20,000 page views this year — not too shabby for something we wondered if anyone would ever read.

In keeping with our blog-iversary tradition of the first two years, we thought we’d pull up the most-read posts of the year and (re)share them with you. Here they are:

Arizona rancher Chuck Backus

10. History, data and hard work: Gary rehashes a visit with Oklahoma commercial rancher Joe Mayer.

9. Adding Angus by scientific method: Meet Chuck Backus, one of Steve’s heroes. This Arizona rancher is a PhD nuclear engineer who began in the 1960s working with Westinghouse on NASA’s manned mission to Mars.

8. The Relevance of Marbling to the Beef Industry: CAB President John Stika’s Meatingplace.com response to the fact that beef quality grades and marbling don’t get the street credit they deserve.

Kansas ranchers Barb Downey and Joe Carpenter

7. Prepping for no rain: Wonder how a commercial and registered Angus producer deals with drought? Here’s Barb Downey’s perspective.

6. Marketing trend begs better cattle: Will the idea of cash cattle one say seem as old-fashioned as bartering? Miranda explains.

5. Wildcat Wednesday: The Cattlewomen: K-State guest blogger Heather Oentrich tells us a little about the university’s Collegiate Cattlewomen, a group we’re proud to call friends.

4. Bull buying made simple: Mark’s top tips for one of your biggest investments.

3. The little things are big: In another Wildcat Wednesday post, K-State guest blogger Tamar Adcock talks about the importance of appreciating what you do have, instead of focusing on what you don’t.

Branding at the T-T Ranch near Eastend, Sask.

2. Branding traditions and values: Summer intern and native Canadian Rosie Templeton gives us an inside look at brandings in her part of the world.

…and the No. 1 blog post of 2013:

Expensive bulls aren’t that expensive: After traveling to bull sale after bull sale this spring, Mark got to thinking…and shared what was on his mind.

Thanks for joining us on our journey through the blogosphere. We hope you’ve enjoyed the ride so far.

 

 

 

 

 

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