I'm a day off wishing you a Happy May is Beef Month, but I will settle for May 2! I can't believe that its already May. Where did January through March go? It also means that Dustin and I are under two months away from tying the know. It's crazy how time flies!

Speaking of how time flies, I still remember being crowned the 2005 Minnesota Simmental Queen and going into our local radio station to inform listeners about beef during May is Beef Month. That was only six years ago! Man, I feel ancient!

I'm very passionate about the beef industry. At the age of 8 or 9, lets just say a long time ago, I was showing my first beef calf. I also remember the first time my parents and brother went to a cattle sale to purchase a heifer for our outfit. I stayed back with my grandparents and when my parents arrive, they told me they got a heifer and it was named after me–Sarah–even though she had an "h", I was still thrilled!

My parents were very encouraging for my brother and I to be involved in agricultural activities–4-H, FFA, American Junior Simmental Association–but still let us take part in sporting activities through school. Let's just say my brother and I found our niche at a young age–being in the cattle barn, halter breaking our calves, and traveling around the nation to participate in the AJSA classics.

Funny thought that I just remembered: My brother and I thought we would conquer haltering breaking calves without the assistance of our folks. Needless to say, we could of used their help. We are running around with the lasso, tripping over fence line, and getting stuck in sloppy manure and I think we only managed to catch one calf. We need like 3 or 4 calves to be halter broken!

Enough with my reminscing, beef will continue to be a key nutrient in my diet. This day is also a fine day to thank those cattle farmers and ranchers who raise high quality, nutritious beef for consumers to implement into their body systems. However, its just not only the cattle producers, but we need to give credit to feed manufactures to equipment dealerships, and feed marketers to assist in bringing beef to the dinner plates of consumers.

My hats off to everyone involved! This is very sentimental for me as well because my family for the past several years have been to sell beef from the farm to consumer around our area. It's a wonderful feeling knowing we produced that meat, as well as the enjoyment our consumers receive while eating tasty, nutritious home raised beef.

On that note, over the last couple months, I have known my parents were selling all our cattle. Let me tell you, I have never been filled with so much emotion. Cattle has been my livelihood since I was young. But I understand their reasoning, it is going to be a benefit my parents since my brother resides about an hour away and I'm 8 hours away in a different state. The best part of this, all our cattle went to one of our amazing cattle friends who has been with us since we first started. Even though next May, we won't have beef on our farm–May is Beef Month will always remain with me!

"Beef, It's What's for Dinner!" (The last line of my MN Simmental Queen candidate speech before being crowned!)