TCA Talk From The Tennessee Cattlemen's Association

This special edition of TCA Talk features a New World Screwworm update with perspective from Dr. Samantha Beaty, the state veterinarian for Tennessee. With the recent news of the New World Screwworm fly cases in Texas and New Mexico, we wanted to get the latest insights from Dr. Beaty, who covers the current status of NWS in the U.S., the risks associated with NWS and the prevention strategies that are in place in the affected areas of the country. We also get an update on Tennessee’s preparedne

Dale Parker, the Executive Vice President of the Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association, returns to TCA Talk to look back on a recent trip he made with other members of TCA leadership to Washington D.C. As Dale shares with us, the visit to the Capitol Hill provided TCA with an opportunity to meet in-person with Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn as well as several members of Tennessee’s Congressional delegation. The issues that the TCA delegation discussed with lawmakers during their time in Washing

Jessica Young returns to TCA Talk as we continue to get her perspective on how the younger generations of cattle producers are meeting the challenges of balancing the demands of work on the farm, outside careers and raising a family. As you will hear, Jessica understands that being a beef producer is driven by a deep passion for the industry and the vital role of feeding the world. Despite challenges such as long hours, tough conditions, and rising input costs, she views the community as a tight

Jessica Young joins us on TCA Talk to share her personal and professional journey into production agriculture. Through the first part of our conversation, we’ll learn how Jessica is balancing her role as an Extension Agent in Wilson County for the University of Tennessee with her home life as a wife, mother and cattle farmer. Although she grew up in the Atlanta suburbs, Jessica developed a passion for agriculture through visits to her grandparents' farm and by farm-sitting for others. By the ti

In this edition of TCA Talk, we will share the remaining interviews from the collection of 15 Q&As that we did while we were onsite at the 2026 TCA Convention in Franklin. You will hear feature interviews with three vendors who had display areas at the convention. Our first stop on our vendor visits was to the Summertown Metals booth, and we learned how the Summertown Team utilizes the opportunities offered at the TCA Convention to network with producers to go into some depth on their range of s

For this episode of TCA Talk, we will be sharing some of the vendor visits that we made with the experts in the booths that were set up onsite at the 2026 TCA Convention. Our first stop on this tour brought us to see the folks from AgCentral Farmers Co‑Op, which is based in Athens, Tenn. AgCentral, as we learned, operates 11 facilities and service producers across Tennessee, Kentucky, North Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The co-op provides agricultural retail and wholesale services, inclu