The following is an unofficial review of topics discussed and actions taken during the Board of Director meetings held in Fort Worth, Texas on January 19-20, 2020.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
- Genetic Evaluations / EPD work will continue to be done by John Genho and Livestock Genetic Services.
- Registration website / database will be moved to Digital Beef sometime in the next 6 to 8 months.
- Prior to registration system being made “live” at Digital Beef there will be approximately 2 months of beta testing to ensure the system functions as desired.
- Older cow registration moratorium will occur from May 1, 2020 until October 1, 2020. Look to the ABBA website or for announcements on the ABBA News page in The Brahman Journal.
- When ballots are sent in the future they will have a place on the ballot for ABBA member name and ABBA member number. There will no longer be a place on the envelope for members to have their name or ABBA number.
- Award recipients for the International Show Dedication, ABBA Friend of the Year, International Friend of the Year, Performance Breeder of the Year and Sponsor of the Year were determined.
- It was decided to wait to make a decision about the ABBA Hall of Fame recipient at a later date.
- Changing the criteria for what will allow a member to vote for directors was tabled and will be revisited at a later date.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE:
- Chris Hancock of Hancock Advertising reported to the ABBA Communications Committee on his plan of work for ABBA. Hancock was not at the General Board meeting, but had reported to the Communications Committee in their meeting. The 2020 ad plan was discussed and Chris Hancock agreed to the plan of work for the proposed budget amount.
- Five new ad designs were approved focusing on Brahman Performance, the new Bull and Queens Indexes, and the use of Brahman cattle by commercial breeders.
- Ad placement was discussed and costs for ads for 2020 should run approximately $23,600.
- There will be a redesign and a relaunch of the ABBA website. The relaunch and redesign will cost approximately $18,000. The website will be created and maintained by Grant Company located in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
- New photo shoots were planned for both F1 and Brahman ads.
- Older merchandise that ABBA had in their inventory was sold at the 2019 National Show. Approximately$2,000ofmerchandisewassoldattheevent.
- Discussed possibilities of having merchandise on the website that could be drop shipped to clients, rather than have the ABBA purchase to keep in inventory.
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE:
- International committee is the only committee that is required to raise the funds they spend. In the future all monies spent and raised will be in separate financial line items so the funds can be better tracked.
- The International Meet and Greet will be held prior to the International Sale in Houston.
- The committee decided to work on developing educational seminars for judges to present when they travel internationally for the ABBA.
- 2019 International Party/Field Day event raised approximately $25,000.00.
- Prototype of new Grand Champion Banners for use at international events were presented and approved.
- Discussion about a reception to be held for ABBA members and International guests during the 2020 TAMU Beef cattle Short Course. The committee is charged with finding sponsors for the event. The event was a success in 2019.
- Motion made and approved to start a fund for the Australian Brahman breeders affected by the fires.
MARKETING COMMITTEE:
- The ABBA F1 Sale was discussed and will be held on March 21 in Caldwell, TX and they are looking for sponsors and consignments. Contact Milton Charanza of Broken Triangle or the ABBA office if you would like to sponsor the event or consign cattle.
- It was decided that the 2020 ABBA F1 Sale will be dedicated to Dr. Graham of Graham Land and Cattle for his long-time sponsorship.
- The Brahman Journal was thanked for continuing their support of the Marketing Committee and producing an F1 Newsletter in the magazine every quarter.
- Memorandum agreement was signed by Milton Charanza for the same terms of the sale as the previous year.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE:
- There was discussion and a request for the Executive Committee to discuss that the ABBA Member Services Committee and the ABBA Communication Committee should be merged. This was recommended so that there would be better communication to the ABBA members.
RESEARCH & BREED IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE:
- 2020 Bull Test and 2020 Steer test were discussed.
- Performance Breeder of the Year was decided.
- Suggestion was made to change the way committee chairs communicate with each other. Conference calls were recommended for better interaction amongst the different committees.
- A motion was made and seconded and passed to no longer require birth weights on papers for cattle to be allowed to show in ABBA Approved events. This change went into effect immediately.
SHOW COMMITTEE:
- CANCELED THE PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED WEIGHING OF ALL AGES OF CATTLE PRIOR TO SHOWING AT HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW. THIS WAS CANCELED DUE TO SAFETY PROBLEMS AND LOGISTICS. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES FOR ALL ENTRIES IN THE CALF DIVISION WILL BE HELD AS SCHEDULED ON TUESDAY, MARCH 3RD.
- Made a motion that all cattle should be weighed on big scales at the Kick Off Classic for data purposes ONLY. No animal would “weigh out”. Will have to confirm with the Kick Off Classic board if they are willing to have this happen.
- All judges on the judge’s list will be asked if they would be willing to judge events out of the country.
- 2020 National Show will be held in Shreveport, LA from November 4 – 7.
2021 National Show will be held in Rosenberg, TX from October 31 – November 6. - Color classification will be offered at Ft. Worth Stock Show beginning in 2021.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
- Roll call was taken.
- Minutes from the August meeting and November meeting were approved.
- President Loren Pratt and Executive Vice President Dr. Joe Mask each presented reports on the current status of the ABBA.
- The ABBA fi nancial statements were presented and approved by the board of directors.
- Each committee chair presented their committee reports
