Category: Stories

Minnie was born in 1921 in Stoughton, Massachusetts, grew up during the depression, and graduated from Brookline High School in 1939.  She took all the business courses she could, as she knew she needed to work.  She was very adept at business machines and English grammar and was hired by Western Union as a teletype operator after graduation.

When assigned to the Washington, D.C. line, her job was sending telegrams which began:  “We regret to inform you…”  By then, the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, and the spirit of patriotism was huge in Boston.  Feeling she needed to do her part, Minnie enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps and was inducted in Boston Garden in March 1943.

While at basic training at Ft. Oglethorpe, GA, she marched in revue for President Franklin Roosevelt.  When the WACs approached him, they were given the order “eyes right.”  She felt it was an honor to parade for the President and knew that he cared about them.

Minnie earned her corporal stripe after completing Radio Training School and was assigned as a teletype operator.  She was sent back to Ft. Oglethorpe for overseas training and received orders for England.  She spent five days crossing the Atlantic on the Queen Mary and reached her assigned post at the 8^th Air Force base in Watford, England, where she worked in the teletype office.  She received messages regarding weather conditions, which dictated when pilots were able to drop bombs over Germany.  She would meet her husband Jimmy Griffin at this base.  An Army sergeant, he worked in the weather office, and often Minnie was the WAC who delivered weather information from her office to his.  With all of England blacked out, their dates involved walking with flashlights into the town of Watford.

Minnie’s next orders were for Charleroi, Belgium, and Jimmy was transferred to High Wycombe, a base near London, where they would reunite after her tour in Belgium.  They had already submitted paperwork and were married in England June 11, 1945.  Upon her discharge, she received a Good Conduct medal and medals for serving in the European Theater of Operations and during the Battle of the Bulge.

The Queen Mary would transport her back to New York, and she recalls the sight of the Statue of Liberty was overwhelming, because when she left, she didn’t know if she’d ever see Her again.

Minnie and Jimmy reunited in Boston, took a train to Arizona, and arrived at the ranch in December 1945, expecting their first child.  She recalls Jimmy telling her he had “lots of cows,” and was dismayed when they drove down the dirt road to the ranch, and she never saw a cow!  She and Jimmy moved into the small ranch house with his mother and her life as a ranch wife would begin.  They would have six children, and all are active in ranch operations to this day as part of the Griffin Ranch partnership with Minnie at the helm.

This week we are pleased to continue our series featuring Arizona cattlewomen who have also served our country in the armed forces. Pam Turnbull, the president-elect of the Arizona State Cowbelles, served many years in the military and continues her serving ways with many other organizations in her community. We asked her a series of short questions so our readers could get to know her better.

Arizona Beef Council (ABC): Tell us about yourself and your background in the military.
Pam Turnbull (PT): I am from Alamogordo, New Mexico, a small, patriotic town surrounded by agriculture and a strong military presence, with wide open spaces offering unusual adventure nearby. A short drive led to so many fun places, such as the White Sands to the west, mountain meadow picnics in the summer and tubing/skiing/sledding/ice skating in the winter to the east, our uncle’s ranch and cousin’s orchards north of town, and great hiking to the south.

Men in every generation of my family served in the military before I was born – from the Revolutionary War on to my father and grandfathers. One of my great uncles served with Pershing chasing Pancho Villa and in World War I, then with Patton in World War II. We also had a neighbor who survived the Bataan death march and was a prisoner of war. He and his wife really pushed me to go to college and seize the new opportunities for women in the US Air Force. I attended New Mexico State University, joined the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), and received a B.S. in Ag Business Management.

During 23 years of military service, I had great opportunities. I lived in or visited 21 countries, 43 states, 3 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, plus, attended the Air Force Institute of Technology and received a Master of Science in Logistics Management.  In reflecting on my military career, the focus of my efforts was to create tools with technology, focusing on innovation and modernization.

The USA has been “at war” since 1989–fighting aggression, drugs, and thugs– and sending humanitarian aid all over the world.  One of the jobs where I knew I made a HUGE difference FAST was developing barcode, smart card, and RFID capabilities and installing global infrastructure (and mobile tools) for distribution management. My favorite job was making airplanes fly as leadership on flight lines with fighter, bomber, airlift, tanker and reconnaissance aircraft.  Providing aid and shelter in our homeland was also rewarding–air dropping feed to cattle and other livestock when floods or massive snow storms hit the Midwest and Northern states, hurricane recovery efforts and earthquake search and rescue missions, delivering supplies to snowbound mountain towns while downed power lines were rebuilt – to name a few.

ABC: How are you involved in the cattle community?
PT: My involvement in the cattle community these days is as a consumer, promoter, and the neighborhood “beef broker” (sharing pasture raised, soy-free beef from the Barnard’s at WhiteBarn Farms in Portal and butchered at the Willcox Meat Packing House). I also have a brother and cousin with cow-calf operations near Carrizozo and Mayhill, NM.  Plus, I am the President-Elect of Arizona State Cowbelles and Immediate Past-President of the Willcox Cowbelles.  I am also Beef Quality Assurance certified and a Master of Beef Advocacy 2.0 graduate.

ABC: What is the most important life lesson you learned from your service in the armed forces?

PT: Always be true to yourself and your own priorities.  Wherever the path leads, live each day with Personal Responsibility in your Daily Efforts (PRIDE)!

Pam adds, “To those who help feed the world, THANK YOU!”

Each farm, ranch, or business involved in any segment of the beef community plays a unique role in ensuring safe, nutritious meat is readily available for both me and you to eat. The first part of the beef lifecycle begins on the ranch. Ranchers maintain a herd of cows who give birth and nurture a calf every year. The first couple months of a young calf’s life are spent gaining nourishment from the cow’s milk and grazing on pasture grass. When calves are about six months old and are big enough to fend for themselves, they are separated from the cow during what is considered “weaning time.” About a third of female heifers (a heifer is a female cow who has not yet given birth to a calf) will stay on the ranch for breeding purposes, while castrated male steers and all other heifers will be up for sale. Sometimes, they are sold to what is referred to as a “stocker or backgrounder” where they will continue to graze on pasture and put on more weight before moving to a feedlot. Some cattle are sold directly to the feed yard shortly after being weaned.

The majority of livestock are sold at auction. Today, it is not uncommon for weaned calves to be sold online. However, there are still hundreds of sale barns all over the United States that hold live auctions on a weekly basis. The Marana Stockyards, located just outside of Tucson, is an example of one such sale barn. For more information on the complete beef lifecycle, visit FactsAboutBeef.com.

The Marana Stockyards have been owned and operated by the Parsons family since 1992, and play a vital role in the Arizona cattle community. They auction off over 1,200 cattle every Wednesday afternoon. Summer is a slower season, but they expect to see as many as 2,000 cattle run through the sale barn each week this upcoming fall and spring. Now, that’s a lot of beef! This summer, I was able to sit down with Seth Nichols and Clay Buck Parsons, both of the Marana Stockyards, and get a feel for what goes into running a successful auction house.

One thing that was made very clear when talking to these two gentlemen, is that the Marana Stockyards always has their client’s best interest at heart. Both Parson and Nichols come from ranching backgrounds and understand what buyers and sellers expect. When cattle are received, they are sorted into “packages” depending on the current market demand. The packages are differentiated by a variety of factors including the number of cattle, sex, and age. The stockyard analyzes what trends are the most popular at the time in the cattle market and group animals accordingly. The end game is simple; get the most money for your cattle!

The Marana Stockyards does their part in getting ranchers the most bang for their buck but also emphasize only so much can be done once an animal makes it to the auction house. As Buck Parsons puts it, “Getting top dollar for your cattle doesn’t start at the sale barn. It starts at the ranch itself and making cattle the most marketable they can possibly be.” Simple practices, such as vaccinating and castrating, bring a significantly higher price come auction time. Even such things as producing calm, relaxed, gentle animals go a long way and could potentially increase someone’s profits. The stockyards do their part in trying to educate ranchers on what management practices are the best and what will ultimately benefit the rancher in the end.

While the majority of cattle who enter the sale barn are from Arizona ranchers, the animals next destination is varied. Stocker calves, who are smaller and need some more time to grow, may be headed off to a ranch, while larger weanlings are typically transported to Texas, Kansas, or Colorado feedlots. Older cows and bulls are purchased by buyers from packing houses.

The Marana Stockyards has been serving Arizona ranchers for close to 15 years. Just think of how many cattle have come through the barn in that amount of time! The stockyards  do an outstanding job of educating their clients on growing healthy animals. They continue to help better the Arizona cattle community. Both the Parsons and Nichols families are active in Arizona cattle organizations and encourage others to get involved. They know the importance of sticking together as one united community and feel that if everyone does his or her part, then Arizona beef will continue to thrive for generations to come.

Blog post by Michelle Allen, Arizona Beef Council and Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association 2016 Summer Intern.

By Dean Fish, Santa Fe Ranch Manager

Fall fair season is upon us! Many of us have family members or friends who are getting those fat steers ready for their shining moment in the ring. The way it works in your mind is that the “apple of your eye,” i.e. your kid, is leading the calf that is slapped by the judge as the Grand Champion Steer. This happens once at each county or state fair every year. The complications arise when there are multiple “apple of your eye” types entered in the fair. The more entries, the more likely that you will not get the winner’s slap.

Between my son Garrett and I, we have campaigned twenty such fat steers. Between the two of us, we have gotten the grand champion slap once. Once. That’s like batting .050 in baseball. You would certainly get cut from my beloved Diamondbacks baseball team for that, although you might still be able to play for the Padres. In the interest of fair disclosure (pun intended), he had one Reserve Champion. I had three Reserve Champion steers, however, Garrett believes he is still ahead of my record because he won the “big one.” Whatever he would like to believe is fine. Three trumps two in my book and since I am writing this blog, I have the last word.

In my multiple careers as an exhibitor, parent, leader and spectator of fat steer shows I have reflected on the many, egregious ways that a steer show is lost. They fall under two main categories: dishonesty or incompetence.

Outright dishonesty: Somehow the judge is crooked, bribed, or somehow otherwise enticed to select your rival’s steer. It has to be. That is the only way that an obviously inferior steer shown by a less polished showman could have beat your kid, right? Even if the judge has an impeccable reputation, has judged major stock shows and trained under the leading livestock evaluators of these fine United States, he or she really took that bribe or helped a fellow breeder out by selecting another’s steer. Maybe he or she was instructed which brands or ear tags were supposed to win. If you hang around the sideline long enough, you will begin to learn all about the various, devious ways that judges can pick the “right” steer. Let’s not even start on the fitter’s culpability in this “fix.” Fitters can do all kinds of stuff from airing and pumping steers to gluing fake tailheads and flanks on calves. Of course, any number of feeding tricks are employed to make sure that the winning steer handles correctly.

Outright incompetence: Either the judge is blind, hungover, pre-hungover, tired, or under some other influence that does not allow him or her to make a rational, educated decision. If they were competent, they would have picked your steer as the champ. Otherwise, how could that crippled, yield grade 5 no-good calf from the other side of the county beat your perfect calf? What happens when they get a swine breeder to judge a steer show? Oh boy, wait until the Livestock Committee or Fair Board hears about this! It is a well-known fact that a judge who picked a Charolais steer in 2007 would never pick a black calf to win it all in 2016.

I hope that by now you realize that this is a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the market steer experience. There is not a better way, in my opinion, to instill valuable life skills in a young person than by raising and exhibiting livestock. My participation in 4-H helped to develop critical life skills that I use to this day. My son is a much better person because of the experience and knowledge he gained by showing cattle and goats. One of the most important things that we learned as a family is how to lose. I will confess that I caught myself at my first county fair soon after my son’s defeat talking to the judge. In the heat of the moment, I proclaimed to him that a “good little one beats a bad big one.” I immediately recognized that as very poor sportsmanship and apologized, but the damage was done. It was difficult to swallow my pride and admit that maybe a “good big one beats a good little one.” Regardless, the judge has a hard decision to make and a lot of times it boils down to personal preference.

I hope that you go out to your county fair, state fair or other livestock show this fall and cheer on all of the livestock exhibitors. Only one of those exhibitors is going to be truly happy, but each and every one deserve your support and encouragement. Also, take a moment to thank all of the volunteers that dedicate their time to help keep this great tradition of livestock shows thriving. Sure, it’s not perfect, but they are doing a competent, honest job of running a good show. Ribbons fade and trophies disappear over time, but the lessons learned remain.  And if you, or someone you know, gets that “congratulatory slap,” make sure that you enjoy it. Heaven, and the Fish family, knows they are rare.