041174 SD Cattlemen to Address Landmark Issues

Sioux Falls, SD - The last year has seen numerous monumental and groundbreaking changes in the cattle industry. From BSE to the national beef checkoff, beef has been in the news.

It's these newsworthy events and more that members of the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association will be addressing at their membership meeting during the annual convention and trade show.

"There are a lot of big issues that have come up in the last year, and we need to get our membership's input on these issues. That will let us, the leaders, know which direction the organization should go as far as action," said SDCA vice-president Scott Jones of Midland. "I think some of the issues we're going to see come up include the possibility of a refundable state checkoff, prairie dog control, the necessity of filing uniform commercial code security interest, CRP and animal identification. Some of these are recurring issues that we may want to re-examine, and others are issues that we've never dealt with before, so we may be drafting entirely new resolutions to deal with those."

In addition to the membership meeting, convention participants have a chance to hear Dr. Temple Grandin, world- renowned livestock handling facility designer, speak about "Low stress cattle handling systems and facility design," Dec. 1 at Pfizer Cattlemen's College. Other speakers include South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture Larry Gabriel and National Cattlemen's Beef Association chief economist Gregg Doud.

The trade show will feature booths from people and businesses in all aspects of the cattle business. Raffles are being held for a year's use of a $10,000 cusomizable Silencer chute and a year's use of a Tru-Test livestock scale.

"We've got a great lineup of speakers and trade show exhibitors this year. They all have something valuable to offer and I hope as many people as possible can take advantage of this great learning opportunity," said Brian Brockel, SDCA president from Selby. "Some hot issues are going to be discussed during our membership meeting. The people who go to convention are the ones who dictate where the association goes for the next year, so this is an important meeting to attend."

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com