Nebraska was quite visible for the duration of the 2008 Cattle Industry Annual Convention and Trade Show held February 6-9 in Reno, Nevada - the self proclaimed “Biggest little city in the world”.

Pre-registration of Nebraska residents was over 200 and more registered on site. Those strong numbers were reflected in the 50-plus who attended the Nebraska Caucus held Thursday afternoon of the convention. 

The tradition of a Nebraska Caucus was re-established three years ago and enables attendees to learn about and discuss resolutions that are proposed for each committee, determine who will attend the committees and to affirm what NC policy is on the issues to be discussed. Thursday evening NC hosted the Nebraska reception with more that 400 people in attendance. This ever growing event would not be possible without the support of sponsors Bank of the West, Bill’s Volume Sales, Grace-Mayer Insurance, Lextron Animal Health and Settje Agri-Services.

Nebraska Cattlemen had forwarded two policy resolutions to NCBA for consideration during the policy committee meetings. Both were center-stage items during the Convention.

The first, a resolution regarding the beef check-off, was adopted by NC members at the November convention. The resolution called for changes in the Beef Check-off Act and Order to eliminate the reference to charter date of an established national non-profit industry-governed organization; to enable a validation process to provide beef producers the opportunity to petition for a referendum on continuing the Beef Checkoff Program; to enable a validation process to provide beef producers the opportunity to petition for a referendum on increasing the Beef Checkoff; and modification to allow checkoff dollars to promote US beef.

The modification on using check off dollars to promote US beef did not get a lot of validation from other state organizations, however, the other points were successfully adopted. NC conferees were disappointed by the repeated efforts to establish a dollar figure of proposed increase to the check off. It was NC members’ intent that the process be established then an increase or decrease could be established through a referendum.

The other resolution came from a directive from the NC Board of Directors. It was a resolution asking for trade to be re-established with countries using a stair-step approach to full OIE standards. NC asked that trade be negotiated on bone-in meat from 30 month or younger cattle. This would have had a supported cattle prices since over 90 percent of fed beef in the U.S. would fall in the 30 month or younger category.

This resolution got the attention of many of the attendees as well as U.S. Trade Ambassador Richard Crowder who flew to Reno to address the committee specifically concerning NC’s resolution. The Ambassador’s position has been for our trading partners to accept the OIE standards that all beef from the U.S. is safe regardless of age. After much debate, NC had to compromise by removing the 30-month or younger portion of the resolution for full OIE standards but was able to pass an amendment that would insist Japan and Korea resume trade immediately or face trade sanctions.

While these were the two most widely discussed resolutions NC members were present in all committee meetings and took an active role in the discussions and decisions made.

NC members also were placed in positions of leadership at NCBA. David Bruntz, NC past president from Friend, was elected Regional Vice President for Region VII. He will sit on the NCBA Executive Committee and will represent Region VII which consists of Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota. Also, J. D. Alexander, NC past president from Pilger, was elected as Vice-Chairman, Federation Division and will also serve on the NCBA Executive Committee.

The Nebraska Cattlemen association serves as the representative for the state’s beef cattle industry and represents professional cattle breeders, ranchers and feeders, as well as 48 county and local cattlemen’s associations. Its headquarters are in Lincoln and a second office in Alliance serves cattlemen in western Nebraska. This and other Nebraska Cattlemen information is available at www.nebraskacattlemen.org.