Terry Fankhauser came to Denver to join the staff at the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association in 2000, a ranch kid from Kansas nearly straight out of K-State. His family ranch, established in 1906, is in Madison, Kansas, near the Verdigris River south of Emporia.

CCA was established in 1867, and is the nation’s oldest cattlemen’s organization, predating the state of Colorado. Fankhauser served CCA for one year in a staff role. With a vacancy at the helm of the organization, it was an easy decision for the board of directors. The big man from Kansas stepped into the role and was, among the other trade organization execs, the young kid on the block.

Fankhauser was born with a heart defect and fought health challenges during the past few years. He left CCA to return to the ranch in 2022 after 22 years. He passed away on Jan. 29, 2024.

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The various regional cattlemen’s groups and the cattle operations around the state are vastly different, just as the geography varies from one corner to another. Fankhauser was fiercely loyal to the producers he represented and to his friends in the cattle industry.

As a kid who watched his family weather the 1980s in the cattle business, Fankhauser knew well the business of feeding the world wasn’t an easy one. He relished the stories “the old guys” would share with him about the characters in the industry. Years later, he would tell the stories shared with him and laugh, truly appreciating the lessons there for the taking.

He often told the story of a sheep raiser on the West Slope who was infamous for his ongoing battle with coyotes attacking his flock. Fankhauser said the rancher went to D.C. to testify before a committee that was considering using some sort of wildlife contraceptive for population control of the pesky predators. He said a question was posed to the rancher, a bit rough around the edges and certainly not lacking in the character department, about whether this sort of population control would benefit his operation. In his unmistakable booming voice, Fankhauser recalled the rancher telling her, “The coyotes aren’t breeding my sheep, lady, they’re eating them!”

Though he had a firm grasp and a deep appreciation of the history of the state’s agriculture industry and was a quick study of the lessons contained within the stories, he was a big-picture guy. Terry Fankhauser could see further down the road and had the ability to see the big picture.

It was Fankhauser who was behind the scenes years ago when he recognized the need for what later became the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef based on the need to combat a slew of false environmental claims against the beef industry. He leveraged CCA as a founding member when the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association gathered stakeholders to make the Roundtable a reality.

When the pandemic began, it was Fankhauser who was quick to collaborate with Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg to ensure agriculture would be recognized as essential and remain open for business during great uncertainty, especially in the meatpacking sector. He was calm in the storm and a steady voice, always with the beef industry’s best interests at the forefront.

When Gov. Jared Polis snubbed the beef industry, it was Fankhauser who drove the Better with Beef campaign and it was Fankhauser who relished the Meat In Day events around the state and applauded his producers for showing up and raising money for local groups and feeding their neighbors. He never flinched.

There was one meeting with the governor that has been described as exceptionally tense, at best. Leaders from the beef industry were scattered around the office and Polis was irate. It was Fankhauser who sat in a chair calmly waiting to weigh in. It was the First Pup, a scruffy little white lap dog, that sought sanctuary in his lap and remained there for the duration of the meeting with Terry petting him. It’s a visual that simultaneously makes me laugh and reminds me Fankhauser was for many, a port in a storm.

Dan McCarty told me Fankhauser “expected all of us to play bigger than we are.” His observation is perfect. There was more than one occasion Fankhauser pointed me in the right direction and then lobbed me out into the wilds with a deadline and just enough information to know where to begin. He was a mentor to me and to hundreds of others in the beef industry. His thoughts and opinions were sought out at national meetings and his ability to think ahead was unmatched. He was a giant in the industry and his legacy remains in every one of us in the industry today who are ready and willing to fight the good fight.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.