Betty Jo Gigot, Editor and Publisher

The Vision of the 2010 beef industry long-range plan is: “A beef industry that is profitable, growing and sustainable for future generations.” Hard words to live by, but over 5,000 cattle people who attended the Cattle Industry Convention in Denver were not deterred. After all, they’ve seen the past 10 years produce spectacular results for the industry as a whole.

“We had a plan … worked the plan … and were successful,” concluded the first 10-year plan after consumption growth and development of over 4,500 new products.

The new mission statement, “Mobilize all U.S. cattle and beef industry participants to prosper amid growing competition by solidifying U.S. beef’s position as the world’ most preferred protein,” is not only a call for unity, but also an effort to keep beef center of the plate.

The top four priorities – creating value through beef production; creating growth through consumer markets; creating sustainability through a favorable business climate; and creating opportunity through global competitiveness – come with a stiff group of goals.

The intended results by 2010: to succeed against domestic competition by increas ing beef demand 10 percent and establish a consumer satisfaction index by the end of 2006 while targeting 2010. Internationally, the goal is to increase U.S. beef exports from 1 billion pounds in 2005 to 3 billion pounds by 2010 and to improve the balance of trade by becoming a net exporter in terms of value by 2010.

Coming from the principle that the U.S. beef industry is uniquely independent and interdependent, the Long Range Plan Working Group included representatives from cow-calf producers to auction market operators, feedyard managers to processors to retailers.

Their guiding principles state:

We Believe the goal of beef production is to increase value for industry participants.

We Believe cow-calf producer are the foundation of the beef production chain.

We Believe in the freedom to choose y our own business models, marketing techniques, partnerships or organization.

We Believe that it is only by working together toward a shared vision that we will produce the world’s most preferred protein, resulting in increased profit opportunities and growing beef demand.

Those tenets should lead the industry during ten more profitable years.

2006 NCBA Officers
Taking over the leadership from Jim McAdams, Mike John from Huntsville, Mo., was elected NCBA president. John is the manager of John Ranch, Inc., a retained ownership, commercial cow-calf operation.

President-elect for the coming year is John Queen from Waynesville, N.C. Paul Hitch, an Oklahoma cattle feeder and stocker from Guymon, Okla., was elected NCBA vice president.

New leaders at the Cattlemen’s Beef Board are Jay O’Brien from Amarillo, Texas. Ken Stielow, owner of Bar S Ranch in Paradise, Kan., will serve as vice chairman and Dave Batemen from Illinois serves as secretary/treasurer.

Larry Jones from Holcomb, Kan., will serve as chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils with Gary Voogt from Marne, Mich., as vice chairman.

Jack Maddux of Imperial, Neb., was elected president of Cattle-Fax. Maddux is owner/manager of Bentz Valley, Inc. Ned Ellis, Ft. Deposit, Ala., was elected president-elect for Cattle-Fax.

Vision Awards Recipients 2006
Recipients of the 2006 Beef Industry Vision Award, presented by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF), were announced at the Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show in Denver. Dean Davis of Pingree Design and Equipment of Greeley, Colo., shares this year’s Vision Award with Jim Odle and Buddy Jeffers, founders of Superior Livestock Auction of Ft. Worth, Texas.

Davis was honored for his innovations in the beef production and meat packing industries. Davis founded Pingree Design and Equipment after a 15-year career with Monfort. His inventions include the walking beam, hide and down pullers and curved feed bunks. All have been used across the nation to reduce costs, decrease injuries, and improve the safety and quality of beef. These innovations have been critical in keeping the U.S. beef industry competitive and efficient.

Odle and Jeffers are true pioneers in the field of cattle marketing. They founded Superior Livestock Auction in 1987 as the nation’s first satellite video cattle auction. Superior Livestock Auction has now grown to become a leader in the cattle marketing industry, with 400 field representatives working across the nation. In one month alone – July 2005 – Superior auctioned over 500,000 head of cattle. The company operated from offices in Ft. Worth and in Brush, Colo. It manages all aspects of a cattle transaction, from contract to delivery and payment.

When presenting the Vision Award, NCF Chairman Bob Josserand said, “The vision put forth by Jim and Buddy of Superior Livestock has had a profound impact on our industry. Their innovation has made the beef business better for all of us.”