A Life Worth Living: Mitchell’s Jody Lamp co-authors a history book about Nebraska agriculture

A Life Worth Living:

Mitchell’s Jody Lamp co-authors a history book about Nebraska agriculture

By Voice Staff - March 9, 2017


MITCHELL – Earlier this month, Jody Lamp of Mitchell and her American Doorstep Project partner Melody Dobson of Billings, Mont. announced the title of their new Nebraska book, “A History of Nebraska Agriculture: A Life Worth Living.”

The timing of the release on March 1 coincided with Nebraska’s 150th Sesquicentennial Statehood day celebrations.

“As we celebrate Nebraska’s statehood for years to come, we honor all who contributed to Nebraska’s agriculture advancement,” Lamp and Dobson said in a press release. “This Nebraska agricultural history book is not all-inclusive of farming, ranching or the significant role Nebraskans have played in the success of technological and biological advancements in the past 150 years. But it is with utmost integrity and desire that we bring attention and recognition to what we refer to as the “SPICE” (spaces, places, inventions, commodities, events) and the people of the Cornhusker State who helped us to narrow and identify the stories that were selected.”

Lamp, who grew up in Scotts Bluff County and graduated from Minatare High School, signed a multiple-book publishing agreement with The History Press in 2016 to produce a series of agriculture history books, beginning with “A History of Nebraska Agriculture: A Life Worth Living," which debuts in retail outlets, book stores, museums and similar venues throughout Nebraska in early June.

She met Dobson while she and her husband Mike and their children Mark and Jessie lived in Billings, Mont., from 1997 to early 2015. They began working together in 2012.

The Lamps moved to Mitchell in 2015, but she has continued to work closely with Dobson through the American Doorstep Project. She and Dobson will do similar books on agriculture history in Montana and North Dakota in 2018 and 2019.

Lamp has a journalism degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and when she is not busy working as an independent consultant and national project director for the books, she owns Lamp Public Relations and Marketing, LLC.

The cover art and illustrations on Lamp and Dobson’s new book was done by nationally-renowned Nebraska artist, Gene Roncka.

The book’s front cover image, Sunset on the Sandahl Home Place; was a commissioned piece Roncka painted for the Dean Sandahl family farm near Wakefield, northeast of Norfolk. The back cover image, River Bottom, tells a story of several generations that have lived and continue to live in a typical Midwestern farm house.

Both prints and other examples of Roncka’s work are featured at Willow Point Gallery/Museum at 1431 Silver Street, in Ashland, the town where Roncka and his wife, Mary, live.

“We are honored and humbled to have the opportunity to work with Gene and Mary Roncka and to feature someone of Gene’s stature in the art world in our first book,” Lamp and Dodson said. “We’ve been fans of his work since we stumbled upon the Willow Point Gallery and believe the Ronckas’ to be as much a treasure to the community of Ashland and the state of Nebraska, as Gene’s beautiful illustrations.”

Promoting Pure Gold by Julie Koerber

http://www.yellowstonevalleywoman.com/promoting-pure-gold/

Promoting Pure Gold

by Julie Koerber —5 June 2015

Billings area women help shine the light on The Great American Wheat Harvest

Every year at about this time, you see the stalks sprout and start to manifest into a golden carpet over sections of the Montana landscape. Nearly six million acres of wheat is harvested each year in our state bringing in a cash value of more than $1 billion. The sight is so common that you might not even pay much attention to it as you travel down the state’s back roads. You might not even give it a second thought when you go to buy your weekly loaves of bread. One Maryland film maker, however, was determined to change that and enlisted the help of two well-connected Billings women and agriculture advocates to shine the spotlight on The Great American Wheat Harvest. It’s been center stage at viewings in nearly every state in the nation and come 2016, the footage will be shown in classrooms all across the nation.

 

 

The result of Conrad Weaver’s exhaustive research and filming is an hour-long documentary that chronicles the wheat harvest through the eyes of custom harvesters. Starting right about now, in early June, these men and women pack up their crews, their families and their combines and hop scotch across the country, traveling as far south as Texas and straight north to the Canadian border to cut the wheat that helps to feed the world.

“So many people around the country have no idea what goes into producing the food that we eat every day,” documentary maker Conrad Weaver of Conjo Studios will tell you. “I wanted to tell the real story of real people who are taking incredible financial risks so that the rest of the world can eat.” He wanted people to have a better understanding of what it truly takes to get a loaf of bread on our dinner tables.

Weaver’s connection to Montana came in a rather odd way, thanks to social media. Jody Lamp, a public relations and agricultural marketing guru, was sitting in on Ag Chat Foundation’s Tuesday evening event on Twitter. This live chat draws in voices from coast to coast to talk about various topics within the industry. During one such chat, Conrad Weaver chimed in asking for help with press releases for his brand new documentary project on the wheat harvest. Jody not only answered the tweet, she enlisted her friend Melody Dobson’s help as well. Dobson was well versed in P.R. after serving as the Coordinator for Montana’s part in the National Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. “I told Jody, I think he needs a lot more than someone to write a few press releases,” Melody says with a chuckle today. Turns out, she was right. The pair went on to not only help raise funds to get the documentary produced, they provided a vital link to get this film shown in cities and towns in all corners of the nation.

“To say that Jody Lamp and Melody Dobson played a vital role in raising funding for the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary would be an understatement. Without them, this important film would not have been made.” Weaver went on to say this duo was not only driven but persistent. He says, “I remember Melody telling me one day that when a company says, ‘No’, (to a sponsorship opportunity) it just means ‘Not yet’.”

 

 

Over the course of two years Weaver says Jody and Melody have driven countless miles, made hundreds of phone calls, and sent thousands of emails all in the effort of trying to convince people this story of the Great American Wheat Harvest was one that was worth telling.
“The harvest intrigues everyone,” Jody says as she reflects on the last two years she’s spent promoting this project. She laughs when she says, “If you ask people, ‘What do you think is the sexiest crop?’ I think it is wheat. How many people do you see photographed standing out in a wheat field? It’s that wide open space. It’s our daily bread.”

For Melody, the project was nostalgic. Her father spent a few decades working as a custom harvester. She smiles and says, “I graduated from high school on June 9, 1978 and the very next day I left driving a truck headed south to Elk City, Oklahoma.” This fourth generation Montanan says, “I can relate to everything in the documentary. I can relate to the stress of my dad when something would break down. I can relate to the changes in the weather. I know what it is like when a crop gets hail damage.” She remembers vividly lining up individual slices of bread just to make sandwiches in an assembly line fashion for the entire harvesting crew. While she helped with the day to day operations of getting laundry done and food prepared, many times Melody would be sitting in the combine itself, serving as one of the chiefs of the harvest. “A lot of the farmers liked women drivers because they were a little more particular. Farm kids, you just did everything.” It’s the very reason why, when Billings hosted a viewing, Melody wanted her dad in one of the seats. Melody says, “My dad just smiled through the whole documentary.”


In the opening scenes, you hear the voices of the men and women who work all season long to harvest the wheat that turns into our cereal, our breads and the pastas we bring to a boil for our dinner. Huge combines can be seen kicking up dust as they cut and gather up each precious kernel of wheat. The documentary chronicles a handful of harvesters and shares their stories through the weather woes, the mechanical breakdowns and worker shortages. It’s not a lifestyle for those who don’t like to roll with the punches. These families hit the road in May and are lucky to be home by Thanksgiving.

“One of the older harvesters that watched the documentary said, ‘I have waited all my life for someone to tell this story,’” Jody says. Melody adds, “You can take the DVD and show it in the most important theater in the United States, your living room. It is our friends. It’s our neighbors who might have no idea how bread is made.”

The DVD isn’t the end of the story for The Great American Wheat Harvest. After all the video was put into the hour-long video, what was left was 83 hours of unused footage.  Jody and Melody knew that to leave this on the cutting room floor would be a tragedy. Where it needed to be is in the classroom, to make sure our youngest generation won’t become even further removed from the industry that feeds them. Thanks to this duo, the footage will be delivered to classrooms nationwide as a part of the National Ag in the Classroom curriculum. Jody says it is lessons like these that are critical to the future of agriculture. “Farmers have always been such hardworking people. Now, we’ve had to teach them in agribusiness to talk about what they are doing and to be transparent. That’s what we expect from farmers. It is critical in a sense that we have so many generations not growing up on a farm and getting dirt under their nails,” she shares. The documentary team secured funding from New Holland Agriculture and the U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. to develop the educational phase of the project. In the end, there will be seven lessons that will meet national curriculum standards and will focus on wheat production, harvest, career opportunities and labor issues within the industry. The video lessons should be ready to launch sometime in 2016.
It’s a lesson that Jody and Melody know is an important one.

With each viewing, it means one more person has a little deeper understanding of the men and women that fuel our existence. Jody sums it up by saying, “It’s absolutely critical. We as a country are not hungry enough. We truly take our food for granted.”

 

THE GREAT AMERICAN WHEAT HARVEST

To get your copy of this telling documentary, visit greatamericanwheatharvest.com.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Montana exports about 80% of its total wheat production overseas, heading for the most part to Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea.
• Montana, in the past ten years, has produced an average of 150 million bushels of wheat each year. One bushel can provide the flour to bake up roughly 45 loaves of bread.

All American Pharmaceutical Selects Lamp Public Relations & Marketing of Billings as Local Firm

January 13, 2015

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Jeff Golini, Executive Formulator

Email: scientist@allamph.com

Phone: office 406-245-5793

 

NEWS RELEASE

2376 Main Street – Billings, MT 59105

All American Pharmaceutical Selects Lamp Public Relations & Marketing of Billings as Local Firm

 

Billings, MT - All American Pharmaceutical announces Lamp Public Relations and Marketing of Billings as its local public relations and public affairs team to increase its commitment and intentional involvement with communities and professional networks throughout Billings and the state of Montana.

 

From its 150,000 square foot research and manufacturing facility at its Billings headquarters, All American Pharmaceutical manufactures high quality nutritional products, and is best known for its innovative raw materials, such as Kre-Alkalyn® Creatine and Karbolyn® carbohydrate powder. Recognized globally as a leading Sports Nutrition company, All American Pharmaceutical boasts a portfolio of premier brands, including EFX Sports™, which recently joined forces with the Billings Wolves Indoor Professional Football organization as the team’s official sponsor.

 

“We’re excited to work with Jody Lamp and her team as we further develop our strategies to engage and create goodwill in Montana,” says. Dr. Jeff Golini, Executive Formulator for All American Pharmaceutical/EFX Sports. “Lamp Public Relations & Marketing will support our continued commitment to build strategic partnerships and collaborations through research, education, issues and advocacy management.”

 

To learn more about All American Pharmaceutical and its line of nutritional supplements, listen to Dr. Golini as a new co-host and scientific advisor at Super Human Radio (www.superhumanradio.com), an internet-based broadcast hosted by Carl Lanore. Golini provides content, research updates, and insights on nutrition training and supplementation.

 

“Representing and working with All American Pharmaceutical allows the opportunity to bring even greater recognition and awareness to a successful global company making a significant economic impact to our state’s commerce,” says Jody Lamp, owner of Lamp Public Relations and Marketing.

 

For more information, call 406-245-5793 or email: scientist@allamph.com.

 

*www.allamericanpharmaceutical.com*                                                                                                         

Agricultural Education ~ We'll Reap What We Sow

As we settle into the new school year and the concept of having a child old enough to attend junior high, my husband and I have been asked several times why we chose to send our son to the smaller "country" school in nearby Shepherd, rather than within our own "city" Billings Public School District #2.

Well....there are several reasons, but none of which had anything to do with convenience. First, the city school district bus comes directly to our driveway. Unfortunately, the Shepherd district bus does not, so one of us must either drive our son the 10 miles to and from the school everyday; or one mile to the nearest Shepherd bus stop drop one hour before school and one hour after school; or simply make other arrangements until he's old enough to drive himself. So far, we seem to be adjusting to this new transportation juggling.


So, nix the convenience factor and our decision basically has everything to do with more educational and organizational choices. "What??!!" you say? The smaller country school offers MORE, or at the very least, different educational choices than the largest city school district in the state of Montana?? Yes! Specifically, vocational agricultural classes and an organization chapter affiliated with a little, okay let's say, BIG national organization that boasts nearly 560,000 members and 7,500 state chapters called, the Future Farmers of America....or a.k.a...FFA! Yes...the smaller school offers these choices!

"There are two things that make goose bumps go up and down my back: one is Old Glory flying over the nation's capitol when I walk by it at night, and the other is when I see FFA members in their blue jackets. I get an emotional feeling because FFA lifted me out of the depths of poverty and personal problems to the halls of Congress."  Wes Watkins, former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma and former president of the Oklahoma FFA Association.

Agriculture ~ Montana's Largest Industry

 With the average size farm or ranch at 2,068 acres, Montana currently ranks 5th in the U.S. for lamb production and 6th for wool production and leads the U.S. in organic production for dry peas, durum wheat, and spring wheat.
Statistics and photo  from the Montana Dept. of Agriculture.

When I think about agricultural education being offered in our Montana public schools, I have to wonder why the Billings Public Schools, which serves about 16,000 students in grades K-12 in 30 different schools located across the city, don't offer these courses. After all, the latest statistics from the Montana Dept. of Agriculture website indicates that agriculture continues to be Montana's largest industry with nearly $3 billion in income generated on more than 29,000 farm and ranches.

Wheat and beef account for about three-fourths of the state’s agricultural receipts, but pulse crops such as peas and lentils are gaining ground. Other crops include barley (#3 in U.S.), honey (#5 in U.S.), and oilseeds such as safflower and canola. Montana also is known for its hay, sweet cherries, sugar beets, and seed potatoes.

I'm certain that Billings Public School District #2 officials would inform me that my children could still get "agriculture" education options by sending them to the Career Center. However, course work there is only available to sophomores, juniors and seniors. And, even at that, I can't say I'm too impressed with the "urban agricultural" classes offered there, including:

Botany

Course Description: This course is designed for the student that has a genuine interest in the “Green Industry” with an emphasis on plants and environmental factors that affect them. Learning will take place through a combination of indoor/outdoor laboratory activities.

Environmental Studies

Course Description: A one or two-semester course in which students examine the complex ecological, sociological and political problems created by human interaction with the Earth’s environment.

Luckily, for parents like us who live on the west or east outskirts, we can apply to have our children go out of district to either Laurel or Shepherd. Here's what the Shepherd offers:

Agricultural Education: A sequential set of course offerings for students 7-12. The programs is designed to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience in and about agriculture. Ag Ed prepares students for further eduction, self-employment, entry-level jobs and consumer awareness in the agriculture industry. Courses currently offered: Agriculture Education 1, 2, 3 &4; Ag Construction, Horticulture and Jr. High Wood Shop.

Thank you President Lincoln!

Vocational Agricultural, as it was formerly called, started in Montana in 1917 with the passing of the Smith-Hughes Vocation Education Act of 1917. But even before that,  I can't help but think of and thank Abraham Lincoln for his contribution to agriculture education. The Morrill Act, which would provide a federal grant of 30,000 acres of public land for each senator and representative in Congress to establish land-grant colleges, was first proposed in 1857 by Congressman Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont, and was passed by Congress in 1859. However, it was vetoed by President James Buchanan.

Meanwhile in 1858, Abraham Lincoln, a "prairie lawyer" in Springfield, Ill., was using the  Farmers' Almanac 's for one his most notable criminal trials. He defended William "Duff" Armstrong, who was on trial for the murder of James Preston Metzker. According to Wikipedia, the case is famous for Lincoln's use of a fact established by judicial notice to challenge the credibility of an eyewitness. After an opposing witness testified seeing the crime in the moonlight, Lincoln produced the Farmers' Almanac to show that  the moon was at a low angle, drastically reducing visibility. Based on this evidence, Armstrong was acquitted.
  
In 1859, Milton W. Reynolds, editor of the Nebraska City News, had this to say about establishing a colleges of agriculture and studying the act of "farming":

"One of the most visionary, impractical, unnecessary and useless schemes for the political self-aggrandizement that was ever thought of, is this of building agricultural colleges all over the country. They are a sinecure, perfectly useless, absolutely detrimental. We want the sturdy bone and sinew, the strong arms and and stout beard, to cultivate our soil, not gentleman farmers, kid-gloved, cologne-scented and pampered gentry, with a smattering of science -- with a strong compounded laziness. Agricultural colleges have been tried and have resulted in miserable....failures."

Milton W. Reynolds (1823-1890) - Writer, politician and newspaper publisher, 

Reynolds was editor of the Nebraska City News until 1861.

 

Thankfully, Abraham Lincoln didn't feel the same at Milton Reynolds. Nearly a year before he was elected the 16th President of the United States, Lincoln addressed the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society:

"This leads to the further reflection, that no other human 
occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and 
agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought, 
as agriculture. I know of nothing so pleasant to the mind, 
as the discovery of anything which is at once new and 
valuable -- nothing which so lightens and sweetens toil, 
as the hopeful pursuit of such discovery. And how vast, 
and how varied a field is agriculture, for such discovery. 
The mind, already trained to thought, in the country 
school, or higher school, cannot fail to find there 
an exhaustless source of profitable enjoyment."
Abraham Lincoln

In 1861, Morrill resubmitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institutions would teach military tactics, along with engineering and agriculture. Aided by the secession of many states that did not support the plans, this reconfigured Morrill Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on July 2, 1862.

Sow the Seed, Reap the Harvest
This past week at Harvest Church, we wrapped up a lesson series called, "7 Laws of the Harvest". Our pastor gave examples of what we understand from the natural world and how it translates and puts into perspective our personal spiritual walk. He reminded us that we can't put seed in the ground one day, and expect to harvest it the very next day. It takes time, patience, cultivating, nurturing and some weed pulling. And sometimes....when we've done everything right, we will reap more than we sow. So, here's the lesson...be careful what you sow. Sow little...reap little. Sow lots....reap lots. Sow bad....reap bad. Sow good...reap good.

Continue to take agricultural education out of our school curriculum....we're left with a bunch a kids who grow up to be adults that think their food comes from the grocery store. Worse yet...we have people with no agricultural background making policies and regulations telling those who do know how to farm and ranch how they should be operating their businesses.

I admit that our "sports-broadcasting" fanatic 7th grader may never take after his mother's love and enthusiasm for agriculture or pursue a vocation specific to agriculture. And that's okay with me. But what my husband and I hope to do by sending him to a school that offers elective agricultural courses, is to instill in him the knowledge, appreciation and understanding of this industry and the hard work and energy it takes to make our nation's food. Here's praying we are never hungry enough to take food for granted. I hope when our son is out in the "real world", our little "Lamp" may be a beacon of light for another child or adult who can come to know and understand what generations of America's farmers and ranchers and those associated with agricultural have done to produce and maintain an abundant, safe and affortable food supply in our country.

It sad to me that the largest city and the largest school district in our state does not offer agricultural education and FFA to the extent that its smaller, neighboring schools do. I'm grateful for the school options and food choices we enjoy today. All we know how to do and to keep doing is "planting the seeds" of agricultural education where it needs to grow.

"Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up," Galations 6:9

Montana FFA was chartered in 1930 as the 38th state to join the National FFA Organization.

Proud to be a parent of a junior high FFA member and  NEW Shepherd FFA Alumni Member!

News and Updates from the Producer/Director of the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film

 

 We're in the middle of wheat harvest season across the country and our film crew has been traveling and capturing footage and interviews with harvesters, farmers, and others involved in the wheat industry. Check out our Facebook page to see photos and updates from our journeys! We've been to the following places: Vernon, TX; Guymon, OK; Canadian, TX; Shattuck, OK; Garden City, KS; Leoti, KS; Colby, KS; Goodland, KS; & Limon, CO. Check out the map of our path on the right.

 

Here's our upcoming schedule and tentative locations:

July 22-24: Imperial and Scottsbluff, NE
July 25-27: Wall, SD and surrounding area
July 28-30: Billings, MT and surrounding area

 

 

T-Shirts are Available! We've put together an awesome design for a T-shirt promoting the Great American Wheat Harvest film. Orders are coming in quickly from all over the world! It's amazing to see how many people around the world are interested in our film! Be sure to order your T-shirt here.

Sponsorships Available We've recently announced that A Total Manufacturing Company has joined us as a Silver Sponsor! With its roots deep in the agriculture industry, TMCO and National Manufacturing work with wheat breeders, food research laboratories, universities and companies worldwide that all have direct links to the food supply chain. We're so grateful for their support!   NOW is a great time for your company to join us as a sponsor! We're looking for Producer's Club level sponsors and we're looking for someone to step up an become our first GOLD Level sponsor.   For more information about all of our sponsorship opportunities, please contact me, National Executive Co-Coordinators, Jody L. Lamp at 406-698-9675 or send an email to: jody@greatamericanwheatharvest.com   To make a contribution now, click here:  Thank you and hope to see you as we travel North with the harvest crews!

 

So, I Smell Like a Sale Barn! You Bet I Do!

When it comes to social media sophistication, you might qualify my husband, Mr. Lamp, a.k.a. "Lampy" and the surname behind my  Lamp Public Relations and Marketing business, as a casual Facebook-friendly bench warmer. Sure, he has a page. Sure, he has few family and friends and has accepted requests by association. But is he out there posting his thoughts daily? Uploading pictures, albums or videos? Or tagging his friends or "checking-in"? Yeah, not so much.

And that's okay! He's willing to learn and that's more the point. Lampy works for Axiom International as a national sales representative. The company has been a Billings-based, family-owned importer of general merchandise since 1983 and Lampy has worked there since 2000. Axiom offers its retail customers a variety of products ranging from party goods, pet toys, to sun and eye glasses. Lampy knows the new "cold call" has become connecting through a social media outlet. And, he's working to embrace that concept.

So, that's where I, with all my social media expertise (I have more than two Twitter followers ~ which makes me qualified since he doesn't even have an account or knows what's so "Pinteresting" about Pinterest) swoops in to coach my team captain! Actually, since I started my trek down the social media yellow brick road of networking communication, he looks at me as the family "Oz" expert. Plus, I have been asked on several occasions to speak, train, track, promote and utilize social media for my clients.

"Sniff, Sniff" Do You Smell That??

When the opportunity came this week to invite Lampy as my guest to the  Billings Advertising and Marketing Club luncheon to attend his first social media marketing training, I suggested he pick me up from my office at Billings Livestock Sales Commission.

Upon arriving and anticipating the introductions and start of the program, Lampy leans over, and what I thought would be an expression of affection from the man I've been happily married to for nearly 16 years, and says, 

"Honey!"

"Yes," I whisper back.

"You kind of smell like the sale barn!"

Well, I'm certain that some women might take that verbal observation of their husband's olfactory system and translate it (as we often do) to the following:

"Hey Honey! You STINK!" 

Well, let me tell you why I REVERE, "Honey, you kind of smell like the sale barn!", as ONE OF THE BEST compliments he or anyone could have ever given me!

Billings LiveStock Commission (BLS) ~ Montana’s Pioneer Market

In 2009, I started Lamp Public Relations & Marketing to serve as resource/partner with existing agencies; and/or to add value to businesses that have in-house marketing departments. As a public relations and marketing professional, in addition to more than 20 years of agricultural experience as a daily newspaper reporter & photographer; PR agency senior writer to account executive; public speaker; business owner and marketing executive; I have developed a deep appreciation for our American farmers and ranchers. 

Social media certainly is not a fad, so adding the “Bright Ideas! Brighter Future!” as a tagline and now as a blog for my freelancing business was an attempt to help shed a positive light on promoting business and share stories that would help empower others.

Here are the reasons I choose to have my office at BLS ~  a "sale barn" ~ One of the Oldest, Continuous Livestock Auctions In America:

1. THE HISTORY ~ "Back in 1934, the Wolff Brothers left Denver, Colorado and landed in Billings, Mont., striking up a partnership with the late Arthur “Art” Langman.  Originally, they created a horse and mule auction and later added cows and bulls. Located on First Avenue North, they leased facilities from the Northern Pacific Railroad and set up shop.

 

Billings LiveStock Commission was the hub market as the Wolff-Langman Partnership developed markets also in Great Falls and Miles City, MT.  Along with auctioneer, Norman G Warsinske and cattle buyer, Lyle Devine, they created a livestock merchandising endeavor that has never been equaled.

 

In later years Art’s son, the late A.J. “Jerry” Langman and Ralph Cunningham, along with a fieldman by the name of Conrad Burns, now Montana’s US Senator, continued the BLS tradition.  During the late 1970’s Scott Langman, Jerry’s son, became the third generation operator and moved the Billings Live Stock Commission to its present location (home of Lamp Public Relations & Marketing) on the North Frontage Road east of Billings.

 

In 1984 Scott sold the business to Patrick K. Goggins, who operated it for some years.  Pat sold it to Jack McGuinness, who operated it for sixteen years.  BLS was  purchased in 2003 by Goggins, who totally rebuilt the stockyards, revamping it from head to tail.

 

BLS sells cattle every week on Thursdays for all classes.  The 4^th weekend of each month, BLS becomes the “Horse Selling Capital of Western America”.  500 to 1100 head sell on any given weekend. The Northern Livestock Video Auction base operation is also located at BLS.  Several video sales a year are staged to an international market.

2. THE PEOPLE ~ At the risk of sounding like a name dropper, let's just say I have the opportunity to be around the Best of the Best in the cattle and horse industries any given day of the week. From World Champion Auctioneers, Saddle Bronc Riders, Team Ropers, Reiners, Cattle & Horse Breeders, to any and everyone associated with the livestock industry. Consignors and buyers have traveled to BLS for nearly 80 years from every state of the union (except for Hawaii I'm told) for the tradition of livestock selling through an auction. I have met people from New York, Florida, California, Washington and every state in between at BLS. The current BLS Horse Sale Managers, Jann & Bill Parker, are the best in the business promoting the horse sale market. The February 2012 BLS Horse went down in the books as the best Feb. horse sale since 2007. 

"No where in the United State can they (buyers) find the numbers or the quality they are able to see each and every month in Billings." ~ Bill Parker

3. THE MARKETPLACE MAGIC ~ I was on the auction block during a weekly cattle sale in May 2010, when I heard 2009 World Champion Livestock Marketing Association Auctioneer Ty Thompson, lean back from his microphone, after selling 500 lbs feeder steers for $1.35 (cwt), and say, 

"Holy $#^t! I can't believe that just happened!" 

"MARKETPLACE MAGIC" had just happened on the auction block AGAIN at BLS and I was personally there to witness the cattle market prices swing upwards that day! History as it happened!! Thompson reports that he has seen the cattle market explode since that magical day at BLS. This past fall in 2011, he sold 200-300 lbs feeders for $2.20-$2.30 (cwt). 

"That's the highest we've ever seen it," he says. "We have never seen it that high since, but that day was pretty shocking too."

I've personally seen pedigreed stud horses sell in the $40,000 to $60,000 range. And with that said, I've also seen well-trained ponies sell for as high as $14,000.

I don't know where else in the United States you can see this plethora of livestock ~ both cattle and horse ~ and bring this amount of consignors, buyers, prices in one place. If you know, please tell me!! I doubt I will move my office there. But in the meantime, if you want to find me in the Lamp Public Relations & Marketing office, just come to Billings Livestock Commission ~ the most successful combined cattle and horse sale barn in the United States.

And when you leave....you might just smell like a "sale barn" too!!

 I sure hope you don't mind the smell of success!!