Debbie Costa: Promoting the Beef Industry

By Chris Woodyard | Photos courtesy of Stocktonia

Debbie Costa really is at home on the range—or at least on her family’s 60-acre ranch in Lodi, where she lords over scores of Black Angus cows and their calves.
Debbie is the new president of the California CattleWomen, an 1,800-member organization that promotes the beef industry and offers programs, internships and scholarships to encourage young people to consider careers in farming and ranching.

Debbie comes from a long line of cattle ranchers. Her family has been involved in agriculture for five generations. She loves the outdoors and riding horses. To her, there’s a certain magic to the cattle business.

“Once a year, we have a bunch of baby calves, and they’re playing and jumping around,” she said. “I think that’s my favorite time of year.”

It’s the kind of business where everyone pitches in. At daybreak every morning, she partners with her 90-year-old father, Frank Costa, to feed hungry cows. He drives the tractor, while she unloads bales of hay.

During busy times, she can still reach out for help from her two grown children or sister and brother-in-law. The family’s spread includes the main ranch, where she has her home, and several hundred acres nearby.

Like her cattle business, joining California CattleWomen was a family affair for Debbie as well. Both her mother and mother-in-law were members. “It was just sort of a natural thing, I guess,” she said.

She has been active in the organization’s San Joaquin-Stanislaus unit, one of 31 around the state, since 1992. Over the years, she’s served in a number of roles: committee chair, secretary, treasurer and president of her unit. In 2004, she was CowBelle of the Year. In addition to her work with the San Joaquin County unit, Debbie has long been involved in efforts at the state level, where she also has held a number of posts. As president of the California CattleWomen, she will serve
two years.

She gives the group credit for playing an important role in teaching city folks about what goes into producing the meat they put on the dinner table. “People are so removed from agriculture and the land. We help them understand it,” she said. “Everybody’s working together for a common goal to educate the public.”

That education includes school programs where students are introduced to things that could get them interested in ranching, such as branding irons or cow ear tags. Members also offer advice to those new to the cattle business, including information about access to water or dealing with predators. “You get people who want to do it for the first time. You get people who are coming back to it from when they were kids,” she said. Or, for that matter, people like herself who grew up around the cattle business.
“There’s quite a variety of different stories,” Debbie said.

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