News Update
Dec. 15, 2009

Foundation to Sponsor YCC Participant

Every year, the Angus Foundation selects and sponsors one American Angus Association® member to participate in the Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC) tour. The tour and conference, which begins in Denver and proceeds across the country to Washington, D.C., helps young leaders understand all areas of the beef business, ranging from industry structure to issues management and from production research to marketing. The program is limited to a small number of producers each year, and all participants must be nominated by one of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) affiliate organizations.

The applicant must be between the ages of 25 and 50 and must be an active member of the NCBA and the American Angus Association. This will be the seventh year that the Angus Foundation has provided this opportunity to an Association member.

Applications for the 2010 YCC are available on the Angus Foundation web site, at www.angusfoundation.org, and should be returned to the Angus Foundation no later than Jan. 4, 2010.

— Release by the Angus Foundation.

Webinar on Retained Ownership

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture and the Nebraska Corn Board are sponsoring a webinar beginning at 12:30 p.m. CST Wednesday, Dec. 16, featuring retained ownership considerations. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Feedlot Specialist Galen Erickson and Extension Livestock Marketing Specialist Darrell Mark will discuss:

• economic decisions;
• considerations when selecting a commercial feedyard;
• the latest research results on feeding distillers’ grains; and
• fed-cattle marketing options.

The webinar will last about 1 hour, 15 minutes. To access, you will need Internet access to view the program and either a computer with speakers or access to a phone line to hear the audio. To enroll or ask questions, e-mail Lynn Gordon, Nebraska Department of Agriculture, at lynn.gordon@nebraska.gov or call 1-800-422-6692.

NCBA Task Force Recommends Major Structure Change

The cattle industry is in the fight of its life, and members of the NCBA are considering a structure change that would allow the organization to quickly and efficiently address industry challenges without sacrificing grassroots input. The change is being recommended by producers and state organization executives from across the country who participated in NCBA’s Governance Task Force.

The change includes development of a smaller board of directors, while retaining strong producer input through a new “House of Delegates.” The recommendation is being submitted for review and approval at the 2010 NCBA Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, next month.

“We are being attacked on many fronts by rapidly changing issues and well-heeled groups, which are light on facts but heavy on funding, and they are threatening to put cattlemen out of business,” said Jan Lyons, co-chair of the NCBA Governance Task Force, NCBA past president and beef producer from Manhattan, Kan. “We’ve carefully reviewed challenges involved with restructuring, including the legal ramifications, and we believe our recommendation improves our organization and makes it the lean, mean fighting machine we need to face the forces lining up against our industry.”

The Task Force is recommending a 29-member board of directors, 26 of whom are elected by a 250-vote House of Delegates and three ex officio non-voting members. These include the Federation of State Beef Councils chair and vice chair and the NCBA CEO. The House of Delegates will include 100 votes from NCBA affiliates, 100 votes from state beef councils, and 50 votes from breed associations and other interested groups.

“Grassroots input through the House of Delegates is crucial to the success of the new structure,” says NCBA Past President and Task Force Co-Chair John Queen, a beef producer from Waynesville, N.C. “Members of the House of Delegates will vote on policy and demand-building programs to be recommended to the board of directors, which will be the body with legal and fiduciary responsibility for the association.” According to Queen, committees of beef producers who share common interests (such as cow-calf operators, feeders or those interested in beef demand) will provide grassroots input to the House of Delegates.

Queen says the Governance Task Force conducted a deliberate process in developing the recommendations, starting with listening sessions of producers when the group was established in July 2008. In the end, it was determined that the current structure, which includes a 274-member board of directors, is unwieldy and makes authority and accountability within the organization difficult. The problems and gaps in the current structure were discussed and approved by the board of directors last July.

One of the Task Force’s charges was that recommendations comply with the Checkoff Act and Order. Legal counsel and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) were consulted throughout the process, and “the task force is confident our recommended structure is legal and consistent with the Act and Order,” Queen says.

“As a former board member of my state beef council in Kansas and also as a former chair of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, I believe the Federation will have the strongest voice on demand-building programs in the House of Delegates and the Board because they are the experts on these matters at NCBA,” Lyons says. “And as ex officio members to the Board, the Federation chair and vice chair will have a considerable influence with the 29-member Board.” Lyons added that NCBA would continue, at the direction of its Board, to propose beef demand building and protecting programs to the Beef Promotion Operating Committee.

Representatives from all segments of the industry studied, debated and crafted the new structure recommendation, according to Lyons. The 21-member Task Force included both producer members and state organization staff interested in improving their national organization and the entire industry.

“This structure change is a move the Task Force believes NCBA needs to make,” Lyons says. “The consumer marketplace has never been more challenging. And the policy climate in Washington, D.C., has never been more volatile. We need an organization that can move quickly, precisely and with unity. The future of our industry depends on it.”

The Task Force’s recommendation will be submitted to the NCBA Executive Committee in San Antonio, Texas, and be discussed by the full board of directors during its annual meeting Jan. 30. If the Board approves the direction, bylaw changes would be developed and voted on at the Summer Conference in Denver next July. Implementation of the new structure would begin upon approval of the bylaw changes by the Board.

— Release by NCBA.

FSIS Issues Humane Handling Directive

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued Directive 6910.1, Revision 1: District Veterinary Medical Specialist (DVMS) — Work Methods. This directive provides instruction to DVMSs regarding the work methods they are to use when conducting humane handling verification assessments at both livestock and poultry establishments. The DVMS is also to assess whether a facility has implemented a systematic approach to humane handling and slaughter, which is a voluntary program. If there is no formal program, the DVMS is to discuss with establishment management the four steps involved in implementing a systematic approach as discussed in the Federal Register Notice, Humane Handling and Slaughter Requirements and the Merits of a Systematic Approach to Meet Such Requirements, (Sept. 9, 2004).

Some of the core criteria covered in humane handling verification assessments include evaluating stunning practices, unloading procedures, electric prod use, and slips and falls. The verification form to be completed by a DVMS is similar in nature to the American Meat Institute (AMI) Animal Handling Guidelines with regard to acceptable limits for specific core criteria.

This directive cancels FSIS Directive 6910.1, District Veterinary Medical Specialist (DVMS) – Work Methods, dated April 13, 2009.

The directive can be located at: www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/6910.1Rev1.pdf.

— Release by AMI.

Academy for Ranch Management Announces 2010 Workshop Schedule

The Academy for Ranch Mangement will host two prescribed-burn workshops in 2010 at the Texas AgriLife Research Station in Sonora.

The scheduled dates are Feb. 17-19 for the basic workshop and March 4-6 for the advanced workshop. Prescribed burning is a tool that can be used to manage rangeland vegetation for livestock and wildlife. The control method may be an effective tool to restore rangeland heading into the spring of 2010, said Ray Hinnant, one of the workshop instructors.

“Burning is nature’s way of maintaining a grass, shrub and tree complex without the use of chemicals or mechanical control methods,” Hinnant said.

The basic workshop will provide information on planning and conducting a prescribed burn and equipment for fire suppression and weather monitoring. Participants will develop a prescribed burn plan and conduct a prescribed burn during the workshop, Hinnant said. The advanced course provides more detailed information and burn-boss instruction.

A comprehensive exam is administered following the advanced workshop for those interested in completing the educational requirement for either a commercial or private certified and insured prescribed burn manager, he said.

The fee for each workshop is $395 and includes meals and on-site lodging. For more information and to register, call 979-820-1778 or 325-387-3168 or visit http://www.ranchmanagement.org.

— Release by Texas AgriLife Communications.

— Compiled by Mathew Elliott, assistant editor, Angus Productions Inc.