Stick Together With One Voice

Maryville, Tennessee dairy producer Mac Pate has been a dairy farmer for 61 years and has seen a lot of change in the dairy industry in that time as well as in the beef check off which has been around for about 25 of those years.

Speaking in this week’s “Beef Board Update,” Pate had some advice for fellow dairy producers; “Stick together and have one voice.” He said he believes some kind of supply management program is needed to control the milk supply. The supply/demand equation is a factor in beef as well though “it seems easier to control the supply in beef and doesn’t vary quite as fast as in the milk business.”

Pate said he has always believed in advertising and promoting and “is one of the main things we can do to increase sales of beef.” He praised the Beef checkoff and views it as a good investment for dairy producers. He said he worked hard, as a dairy producer to try to get beef promotion started and has always felt that “it is a good instrument to increase sales for beef.”