DENVER – The National Cattlemen's Beef Association's television program, Cattlemen to Cattlemen, is hosting a live episode on Nov. 16 featuring experts who will explain the potential impact of the US Department of Agriculture’s proposed rule on livestock and poultry marketing, which was proposed on June 22 by USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration. The show will provide an opportunity for viewers to ask questions and express their own opinions.

Panelists for the live call-in show, to be broadcast on RFD-TV from the NCBA’S Cattlemen to Cattlemen studios in Denver starting at 8:30 p.m. EST, will include Allie Devine, vice president and general counsel for the Kansas Livestock Association; Stephen Koontz, associate professor at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University; David Hunt, a Colorado feedyard operator; Robbie LeValley, president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and co-owner of Homestead Meats; and Colin Woodall, NCBA vice president of government affairs. Viewers can ask questions to these panelists live on the air by calling: 1-888-824-6688.


Program topics include studies that outline the economic impact on the beef industry if the rule is implemented.

“Because the USDA has refused to conduct an economic impact study, it has been left to industry to determine what kinds of costs this rule might have,” said Steve Foglesong, an Illinois beef producer and NCBA president. “Producers have a right to know what these studies show.”

The comment period on the proposed USDA rule ends Nov. 22. Foglesong said the live broadcast will go beyond the rhetoric to provide details about what the regulation means.