Clyde Lane, University of Tennessee Extension Beef Specialist emeritus, was honored with the 2014 Beef Quality Assurance National Educator Award. Lane is well known to beef cattle producers as the host of Tennessee Cattle Lane, a series of 70 instuctional videos that tackle topics that help producers enhance their operations. Photo courtesy UTIA.

NASHVILLE, TN – Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) has named a University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture animal scientist as the recipient of the 2014 BQA National Educator Award.

Clyde Lane, UT Extension professor emeritus, was honored at a reception and ceremony at the 2014 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Nashville. BQA is a nationally coordinated program that provides information to U.S. beef producers on how to raise cattle under optimum conditions. Each year, the National Educator Award is presented to one outstanding educator who has instructed others in the BQA principles of proper management and product safety.

Lane, who resides in Milan with his wife Jane Ann, is recently retired from the UT Department of Animal Science. He spent nearly 40 years as a UT Extension Beef Specialist. He implemented the BQA program in Tennessee, which is responsible for training more than 18,000 individuals since its inception. He remains involved in the planning and coordinating of UT’s educational outreach programs.

Through innovative training techniques, Lane has educated producers on building proper handling facilities, appropriately assessing cow and calf health, and transporting cattle the BQA way.

“I feel that education of producers is the first step in promoting the positive image of the beef industry,” says Lane. “With producers doing things right, consumers have a better product.”

In addition to training the state’s producers, Lane has worked with students from 4-H to college level to promote agriculture and encourage career development within the industry.

Another legacy of Lane’s tenure with UT Extension is his work as a videographer. As a one-man crew, he produced a video series titled, Tennessee Cattle Lane, which includes more than 70 episodes.

The annual winner of the National BQA Educator Award is selected by representatives from universities, state beef councils and affiliated groups. The award is sponsored in part by The Beef Checkoff program with additional financial support provided by Safeway’s Rancher’s Reserve, Cargill Meat Solutions and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Beef cattle are typically Tennessee’s top agricultural commodity. In 2012, the sale of beef cattle and calves accounted for more than 20 percent of the state’s total agricultural cash receipts.

UT Extension operates in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties as the off-campus division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. An educational and outreach organization funded by federal, state and local governments, UT Extension, in cooperation with Tennessee State University, brings research-based information about agriculture, family and consumer sciences, and resource development to the people of Tennessee where they live and work.

Published February 8, 2014