If there is one person who knows Kentucky’s cattle industry, it most assuredly would be Jim Akers, the chief operating officer of the Bluegrass Livestock Marketing Group.
Akers has been involved in the cattle industry for many years, and he has seen Kentucky grow into one of the most respected cattle-producing states in the country.
Akers began his career on his family’s farm in White Mills, Ky., participating in 4-H and FFA.
“Our farm was typical of those in that area of the state at that time. We were tobacco farmers with purebred Herford cattle and sheep,” he said.
Akers’ parents worked public jobs, so the farm was a part-time business. His opportunity to move toward a full-time, mainstream agriculture occupation came when he won the state 4-H livestock judging contest as a senior in high school, which brought him to Lexington for the first time.
“That got me in touch with some of the people at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Monty Chappell, who was the sheep specialist at UK and the coach of the state livestock-judging team, kind of put me under his wing and encouraged me to go to UK and helped me get a job and get situated there,” Akers said.
He graduated from UK in 1985 with a degree in animal science, having worked at the UK Research Farm while a student.
Akers said he was set to work on his master’s degree at UK when a call came from Morehead State University to work on a regional adult education and sheep development project.
“Considering my background and economic situation, I took the job,” he said with a laugh. “And it was a good first job for me.”
While there, he taught night classes and oversaw about 100 sheep producers in northeastern Kentucky.
“I’m one of those lucky people. I’ve never gone out looking for a job. There’s just always been something new that came down the way,” said Akers.
After about two and a half years at Morehead, he was offered an assistant farm manager position at a commercial operation in Paris, Ky., raising both sheep and cattle. Two years later, Akers moved into the manager’s job, after the person who hired him retired.
From there, Akers’ career path continued to a much different place than White Mills or Paris, when his wife was accepted into veterinarian school in 1992.
“We moved to Alabama for her to go to Auburn, and amazingly and fortunately, within 30 days of being down there, I was offered a position to manage a ranch,” he said.
Akers stayed there for the duration of his wife’s studies but returned to Kentucky when a new manager’s position in Bourbon County came along.
The circle was completed a few years later when Akers returned to UK as an integrated resource management coordinator. It was there, after 15 years in commercial farm management, he became involved in many initiatives, including Cow College, the Kentucky Certified Pre-Conditioned for Health (CPH-45) program and the Master Cattlemen’s program, all of which have grown into revered, recognized educational and animal-health programs to help cattle producers succeed.
Akers said one of his pet projects was to nurture the relationship between the university and the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association. As this relationship has grown, so has the cattle industry in Kentucky. The state has become one of the premiere cattle-producing states in the country, ranked fifth overall and first east of the Mississippi.
But there was one more move in the stars for Akers. When the Bluegrass Stockyards organization decided to expand, Akers was once again called upon to help lead that expansion. He said initially he told them he was really happy where he was, but the opportunity to be involved in one of the largest cattle groups in the country lured him away.
“We’ve overseen the expansion and the increase in market share even in an environment when we’re challenged with cow numbers,” he said. “It has been a very rewarding time but a very challenging time as well, and right now, it’s about as challenging a time as we’ve had since I’ve been here, from a business perspective.”
Cow numbers are down all over the country, due in part to drought conditions that have forced producers to sell off the herds.
Even with that, Akers said he feels good about the industry, and many of those cows are being sold to other cattle producers, which helps the industry and has helped steady cow numbers.
Akers said it’s amazing and rewarding to hear people in feedlots outside the state talk about how much the cattle industry has improved in every way over the past 15 years in Kentucky.
He attributes that directly to the investments made by the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board into the industry. Akers also said programs around the country are being modeled after the ones here, and those investments have had more impact on the industry here than anything that has happened in the last 100 years.
He has worked hard and hopes his
endeavors have made a difference in the cattle business, but he’s modest in accepting
accolades.
“I genuinely love the agricultural industry. It’s a part of my heritage and part of who I am,” he said. “I’ve been very, very lucky to have been put into situations that I just love to be in, and I felt like I was being productive.”
Akers added that he feels like now is a pivotal time in the cattle industry in making changes to meet the needs of producers. He said he’s excited about it and he believes the auctioning marketing system is the foundation for the whole industry.
“Bluegrass and our whole organization is progressive enough and solid enough to be able to move outside of where we’ve operated for the last 100 years basically, and to be able to make the changes needed to make ourselves valuable in the marketing sector and to open doors for these producers that are doing a better job with their cattle,” he said. “That’s what I think about all day long, every day.”