MANHATTAN – Lee Borck, Chairman of Innovative Livestock Services Inc., was recognized March 6 as Kansas Stockman of the Year at a banquet in Manhattan. The award is presented annually by the Livestock and Meat Industry Council at Kansas State University.
Borck grew up on the family farm near Blue Rapids. He attended Kansas State University, earning a degree in Agricultural Economics in 1970. He began his career with the Larned Production Credit Association before joining Ward Feed Yard in 1979. As the General Manager of Ward Feed Yard, Borck developed business relationships with other feeders and began to accept industry leadership roles.
Borck built a career in the cattle-feeding industry with hard work, strong personal relationships and an entrepreneurial spirit. He also is a founding member of the Beef Marketing Group (BMG), and currently serves as the cooperative’s chairman. BMG consists of 19 mid-sized feed yards, creating new ways to market finished cattle and becoming one of the first entities to form a working relationship with a packing company. “Our goals have been to make a better beef product and market cattle closer to the meat case,” Borck said. “Our marketing strategies have always been to produce higher-quality cattle and earn premiums for doing so.”
In 2000, BMG introduced Progressive Beef, a verified system of production that focuses on food safety, animal handling, animal welfare, and sustainability. As the Chairman of the Board for the Beef Marketing Group and President of Innovative Livestock Services Inc., Borck has been instrumental in developing a unique approach to meet the retail customer needs through innovative alignment between the producer and the meat case.
Borck is the chairman and a founding shareholder of American State Bank of Great Bend, Kansas. He is the past president of Cattle-Fax and of the Kansas Livestock Association. He served as a board member of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the NCBA Federation Board. Borck was chairman of the board of trustees of the Kansas State University Foundation. He was also chairman of the executive committee and the investment committee at Kansas State University. Lee is widely recognized as a pioneer in developing many of the cattle feeding protocols used in today’s commercial cattle feeding operations. Over Borck’s career, he has been recognized with many awards, including:
• 1995, Kansas State University, Named an Alumni Fellow in the Kansas State College of Agriculture.
• 2007, Kansas State University, Medal of Excellence
• 2009, NCBA, Vision Award
• 2011, Named to Ingram’s 50 Kansans You Should Know
• 2011, Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame inductee
• 2012, Gov. Sam Brownback appointed Borck to the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) board
• 2014, Kansas Stockman of the Year
Borck and his wife Jackie live in Manhattan.