Board of Directors Higlights (2 sets of minutes included)

NC Board of Directors Meeting Highlights  Nov. 28, 2006, Lincoln

President Pete McClymont asked for any changes to the minutes of the October 10 NC Board meeting.  Discussion occurred concerning the illegal dumping in Shell Creek and the Board motioned to “send matching funds up to $750 to Crime Stoppers.”   Greg Baxter moved and Paul Davis seconded to amend the motion by striking the words “to go to Crime Stoppers.” Motion passed.  A motion was made by Jeff Bash, seconded by Chris Schluntz, to approve the modified October 10 NC Board of Directors meeting minutes.  Motion passed unanimously.

NC Executive Vice President Michael Kelsey reviewed the NC Board actions of 2006.  A motion was made by Chris Hagedorn, seconded by Greg Baxter to approve the 2006 NC Board actions.  Motion passed unanimously. 

Mr. Kelsey provided an update on staff responsibilities.  Currently NC still has two positions vacant and is accepting applications.  The positions are the Director of Marketing Information position and the part-time Northeast Field Staff position. 

NC Vice President of Operations Lee Weide provided an overview of the NC Annual Convention & Trade Show. All council and committee chairman were then asked to review their agendas. Discussion occurred on the growth of the ethanol industry in Nebraska and that NC needs to develop policy on this issue.  Board members were advised to encourage the membership to attend the council and committee meetings in order for the Association to develop policy on the ethanol issue.

President Pete McClymont provided a member services report on behalf of the absent Member Services Chairman Scott Reynolds.  Mr. McClymont indicated that NC had reached its goal of 502 new members for 2006 and for the first time collected over $1 million in dues revenue.  Mr. McClymont also discussed a recent membership summit that had taken place in Lincoln.

Mr. Weide reviewed the minutes from the last NC Beef Pit Committee meeting. During the meeting a motion was passed to direct the NC Board of Directors to move $2,000 from the Beef Pit proceeds to the UNL NC Excellence Fund.  A motion was made by John Maddox, seconded by Chris Hagedorn to send $2,000 from the 2006 Beef Pit proceeds to the UNL NC Excellence fund.  Motion passed unanimously.

Animal Health & Nutrition Chair Anne Burkholder provided an update on the BQA program including the effort that is starting to get the entire beef industry “on board” to promote BQA – from farm to fork.  A meeting during the convention will take place with nutrition and animal health companies to discuss the issue. NC staff member Drew Gaffney has also been moved to fulltime.

Nominations Committee Chairman Tom Hansen provided a Nominations Committee report.  Chairman Hansen reported that an individual has been chosen to receive the NC Hall of Fame award and two individuals have been chosen to receive NC Industry Service awards. Mr. Hansen reported the following nominations: Seedstock Council chairman – Jeff Bash, vice chairman – Doug Keiser; Farmer/Stockman Council chairman – Jeff Kalkowski, vice chairman – Greg Wiedel; Feedlot Council chairman – Chris Hagedorn, vice chairman – Jeff Jorgensen; Cow/Calf Council chairman – Lynn Myers, vice chairman – John Maddux. Chairman Hansen announced they have selected four candidates for NCBA’s YCC. Mr. Hansen also indicated that they have nominated Jay Wolf for president, Larry Smith for president-elect and Todd Schroeder for vice president.

President Elect Jay Wolf announced that Wayne Eatinger has been elected the new Region 2 Director and Justin Ramm has been elected the new Region 4 Director.  Mr. Wolf has also asked Homer Buell to chair and David Dickinson to vice chair the Education Committee and Chuck Folken to chair and John Young to vice chair the Natural Resource Committee. The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.  Y

NC Board of Directors Meeting Highlights  Dec. 1, 2006, Lincoln

NC Cow/Calf Vice Chair John Maddux announced to the Board that he was resigning his position.  President Wolf accepted his resignation and wished Mr. Maddux well in his future endeavors. 

Mr. David Allen of the Sand County Foundation made comments to the Board thanking them for the partnership of the award given and that they look forward to working with Nebraska Cattlemen in the future.  The NC Board of Directors directed staff to work with David Allen on recognizing the two finalists that did not win.

Mr. Darcy Davis with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association provided an update on the Canadian Cattle Industry and thanked Past President Pete McClymont for attending their convention last summer. Mr. Darcy also thanked the Board for the positive relationship that the two organizations have and look forward to continuing the relationship.

President Jay Wolf announced that the Board needed to elect two Board members to serve on the NC Executive & Finance Committee. Jay Martindale nominated Chuck Folken, seconded by Steve Niemeyer.  Scott Reynolds nominated Dave McCracken, seconded by Todd Schroeder.  Todd Schroeder moved to cease nominations and cast a unanimous ballot for Chuck Folken and Dave McCracken to serve on the 2007 NC Executive & Finance Committee.  Motion passed.

NC Vice President of Operations Lee Weide provided a review of the NC Annual Convention & Trade Show.  The convention had 560 attendees over the three-day period, which was par with last year.  A motion was made by Levi Whipps, seconded by Greg Baxter to leave the Convention format the same for the 2007 Convention in Kearney.  Motion passed unanimously.

The Board reviewed the Directives for staff that came out of the council and committee meetings.       

Brand: Be it directed that the NC staff develop posters be developed and printed offering the reward.  The distribution should start with the livestock markets of the state.

Be it directed that the NC staff to develop and conduct, along with the Nebraska Brand Committee, meetings to educate members on the brand laws and the rules and regulations of documents needed to prove ownership of cattle.

Education: Be it directed that the Nebraska Cattlemen provide education to beef producers in order to understand and competitively adjust to the changes necessitated by the explosive growth of the ethanol industry.

Marketing: Be it directed that the staff of Nebraska Cattlemen develop and produce an informational program on the recommendations of the Industry Wide Beef Checkoff Taskforce. It is additionally directed that staff organize programs and work with the regional directors to make presentations to the membership at regional meetings throughout the state.  The objective is to inform and involve a greater percentage of the membership in consideration of the four recommended changes to the Beef Checkoff program.

President Wolf announced to the Board that NC now had eight NCBA Board seats and needed to assign those positions.  After discussion, the seats were assigned to Jay Wolf, Larry Smith, Todd Schroeder, Pete McClymont, Homer Buell, Levi Whipps, Greg Baxter and Dave Bruntz. 

Discussion occurred on the replacement of the Cow/Calf vice chairman position.  A motion was made by Scott Reynolds, seconded by Jeff Kalkowski for President Jay Wolf to identify an individual to serve out the vacated vice chair position in the Cow/Calf Council to be ratified at the next Board meeting.  Motion passed unanimously.

The Board then set the dates for the 2007 NC Board of Directors meetings.  They are as follows:

•   January 24 – Legislative meeting – Lincoln

•   January 25 – NC BOD meeting – Lincoln

•   April 9 – NC BOD meeting – TBD

•   June 8 – NC Midyear/BOD meeting – Columbus

•   August 15 – NC BOD meeting – TBD

•   October 9 – NC BOD meeting – TBD

•        November 27 – NC Annual Conv./BOD

     meeting – Kearney

President Wolf brought to the Board the tabled issue of what to do with the $500 donation from Amarillo Brokerage Company.  A motion was made by Scott Reynolds, seconded by Dave McCracken to send the $500 to the UNL NC Excellence Fund.  Motion passed unanimously.