Auburn, April 1, 2002---East central Alabama cattle producers who once traveled near and far – mostly far – in search of good sires for their herds now should look no farther than Lee County.

(Circle of Champions:  Five of Lee County's top producers compared notes recently, including, left to right, Tom Lovell, Banks Herndon, Mike McGuire, George Richburg and Mahlon Richburg.)

Thanks to drastic improvements in breeding and selection, top-quality sires abound in Lee County. In fact, as many experts attest, east Alabama cattle breeders could compete with anyone in the country.

"You’re talking about a really powerful group of Angus breeders in Lee County," says Dr. Lisa Kriese-Anderson, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist who has worked closely with many of these producers during the past decade.

"Many producers want to buy their bulls," she adds, "and it’s because they’ve done their homework and put these exceptional genetic packages together. They have developed programs that work for producers."

It’s a solid reputation, but one that took years to build.

One individual who has played a key role in this phenomenon is Lee County Extension Agent Smokey Spears, who has spent most of his adult life working with cattle producers.

As far back as the early 1980s, Spears worked with his local Cattlemen’s Association and Farmers Federation to buy equipment, such as scales and cattle chutes, to help producers chart the performance levels of their animals.

He has also been actively involved with Extension’s three outreach programs aimed at cattle producers: the Beef Quality Assurance Program (BQA), the Master Cattlemen’s Program and the Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA).

Spears worked with Extension Animal Scientist Butch Blaylock to provide for BQA workshops for producers in Lee and adjoining counties. He also worked with Chambers County Agent Kim Wilkins and Extension animal scientists to provide Master Cattlemen training throughout his region.

Spears has also been a strong voice for BCIA in his county since the mid-1980s, becoming the second agent in the state to establish a BCIA heifer sale as well as a Heifer Association, which continues to this day.

More recently, he has also advocated new, innovative forms of marketing, such as board sales, which enable buyers to evaluate cattle prior to sale.

With only about 11,000 brood cows, Lee County is not even numbered among the top 20 cattle-producing counties in Alabama. Yet, with about 25 certified master cattle producers, it has one of the state’s highest compliance rates with this program.

In addition, five of the top 10 indexing bulls sold at the recent Auburn University Bull Test Sale belonged to Lee County producers, including the top bull consigned by George Richburg – at age 22 the youngest person ever to accomplish this feat in the test’s 52-year history.

Richburg, a long-time participant in Spears’ award-winning 4-H youth livestock program, plans to pursue a career as an Extension livestock educator.

"Here is a young adult whose 4-H experiences have shaped him and influenced what he wants to do in life," Kriese-Anderson says. "He’s turning this passion for cattle breeding into a career. "Part of this he got hanging around Smokey."

Lee County producers also have garnered top placements in other performance testing programs in Georgia, Mississippi and Montana, earning them a reputation for excellence throughout the nation.

Two Lee County producers also have received top statewide honors: Tom Lovell of Oak Bowery Farms, honored as the 2000 BCIA purebred producer of the year and, more recently, Joe Navarre of Torbert Farms, recognized as Alabama BCIA top commercial producer for 2001.

All along, Spears has remained doggedly determined to ensure that producers profit from every commercial advantage available to them, according to Kriese-Anderson.

"Smokey has taken BQA, Master Cattlemen, BCIA and the board sales and made all these principles work together to benefit producers," she says.

"If you don’t have an Extension agent willing to do the leg work, it’s not going to be done."

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