2008 PRESS RELEASES
January 25, 2008
VIRGINIA CATTLE FILL THE BILL FOR SELECTIVE TURKISH BUYERS
Contact: Marion Horsley, 804.225.3820
For the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ (VDACS) Marketing staff, traveling 5,000 miles to ensure customer satisfaction is all in a day’s work. Just ask Frank Graves, VDACS Director of Livestock Marketing, who traveled from Richmond, Virginia to Izmir, Turkey in mid-December 2007. He went to ensure that Turkish buyers were pleased with the 198 bred Angus and Hereford heifers and the 1,400 Holstein bred heifers they had purchased through a Culpeper Virginia exporter, T.K. Exports, Inc. and that the cattle were adjusting well to their new surroundings.
Marketing experts at VDACS had long recognized Turkey as a potentially strong market for Virginia cattle and, according to Keith Long, Director of VDACS’ Office of International Marketing, had spent years establishing a firm foundation and building trust to ensure a good business relationship.
Long explained, “Starting several years ago, we began using funds provided by U.S. Livestock Genetics Export, Inc. (USLGE), a nationwide livestock-specific trade association, to help lay the groundwork with Turkish officials, livestock farmers and agribusinesses through an exchange of visits. We have a great story to tell and an outstanding product to sell because the quality of Virginia cattle is well-known and could meet Turkey’s exacting specifications.” Graves had traveled several times to Turkey gathering market information, conducting buyer missions, participating in trade shows and even giving a seminar at Animalia Istanbul on the “Development of a Foundation Beef Herd for Turkey.”
Because of its magnitude and complexity, this beef and dairy cattle sale took months to put together, and many skilled and knowledgeable participants to accomplish. Serious discussions began in early 2007. The Turkish buyers gave the Virginia exporter a very definite set of requirements. The cattle had to test negative for specified diseases, had to be bred for a certain range of time, had to be a certain weight, had to have a strong production history and had to meet genetic standards.
The experienced VDACS Livestock Marketing staff, including Randall Updike and Richard Lloyd, working with many small Virginia cattle producers, located appropriate beef cattle in Fauquier, Orange, Culpeper and Louisa counties for the buyers’ review. Livestock Marketing staff also developed an official certificate of identification for each of the beef heifers, helping finalize the sale. The buyer of the beef cattle was a first-time purchaser of beef animals with plans to use them as a foundation herd.
VDACS’ work did not end with the buyer’s selection of the cattle. Graves and Lloyd were on hand at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware to help move thirty-six tractor trailer loads of cattle onto the ship Frisian Express in a process that took approximately ten hours. Two weeks later, when the ship arrived in Turkey, Graves and Gordon Thornhill, the Virginia exporter, were at the port to help reverse the process. More than 100 trucks were required to deliver all 1,598 head to the various farms.
Graves said, “Gordon and I spent a week in Turkey visiting every one of the buyers to see for ourselves that the cattle had arrived in good condition and were adjusting to their new environment. We also wanted to maintain that face to face relationship. I think the buyers were appreciative of the relationship building and that an official from Virginia’s government was there to follow-up and was genuinely interested in the success of this deal. But this is how VDACS works – for both domestic and export markets – because we want satisfied customers who will come back to Virginia for additional business.”
VDACS Livestock Marketing made a lasting impression with more than just cattle. The captain and members of the crew of the Frisian Express each got a Virginia’s Finest cap when they left Delaware and they were wearing them when the ship docked in Turkey. In addition, the buyer of the beef cattle received a Virginia flag with instructions to hang it where the cattle could see it to make them feel at home.
As Keith Long sees it, “The assistance provided by VDACS’ Marketing staff to the Virginia exporter was a significant component in the successful completion of this cattle sale to Turkey. The high quality of the genetics was certainly a factor but this huge undertaking required the combined efforts of a lot of dedicated folks who treat this business as if it were their own. That makes all the difference.”