AHA elections

[Hereford76]

who got elected?

[CPL]

Micheli, Copeland, and Marty Lueck

[HerefordSire]

I think this could work:

Start a new association for Herefords in America. The membership is free and each registered animal is free. Have corporate sponsors, like PetSmart, Purina, Tyson, etc. able to place their name on each animal along with the breeder's chosen name for a small fee. It is obvious the AHA has a political system preventing it from great success.

[Frankie]

Did you guys vote or put your name in the hat for a seat on the board?

[Hereford76]

Did you guys vote or put your name in the hat for a seat on the board?

i don't know who you are asking but i don't have the slightest desire to be a part of AHA politics. i do however serve on the mha board for last four years. i make a point to get a vote from membership on candidate/s to endorse by the mha. we give that to our nominated reps - but they never have voted the way our association/membership has. go figure.... i personally don't have a problem with any of the guys that got elected. i would like to see moon get a chance someday.

finally, got updated financial statements done for the banker man.... hope they don't take after some of the canadians bankers as of late. maybe i can get around the winter pasture fence for the calves yet today before it gets dark. they are done bawling and need to get back out. preg checked heifers yesterday and bangs vaccinated heifer calves. 87 out of 89 commercial heifers bred on 45 days natural service to 4 mid april born yearling bulls on the driest year we have ever recorded.... go figure why i don't value herefords as a termial breed.

[MO_cows]

I think this could work:

Start a new association for Herefords in America. The membership is free and each registered animal is free. Have corporate sponsors, like PetSmart, Purina, Tyson, etc. able to place their name on each animal along with the breeder's chosen name for a small fee. It is obvious the AHA has a political system preventing it from great success.

Now that is creative thinking, but I don't think it could ever be made to work in real life.

[robert]

nice website Hereford76, the sunshine lad bull looks pretty interesting, he looks like he has a better chance of 'doing it all' than those previously referenced!

[HerefordSire]

I think this could work:

Start a new association for Herefords in America. The membership is free and each registered animal is free. Have corporate sponsors, like PetSmart, Purina, Tyson, etc. able to place their name on each animal along with the breeder's chosen name for a small fee. It is obvious the AHA has a political system preventing it from great success.

Now that is creative thinking, but I don't think it could ever be made to work in real life.

I am almost positive it will work. I have spent quite a bit of time researching this. The other main change would be there is one vote for each member. Not one vote for each registered head per member. This will encourage equal rights and fairness. I figure about 5,000,000 animals could be registered in about 5 years.

The trick would be to get someone like Steve Jobs to lead the association.

The way it is now with the AHA, almost all members are getting the shaft.

Since most educated steak eaters now know that Herefords offer the best tasting meat, with the exception of Wagyu, the free price for ranchers is needed to increase the volume to supply the expected huge demand.


You can think of the new system as following the internet model of free versus newspapers which could eventually go belly up.

[HerefordSire]

I should also explain a little about the model I thought of that works similar to Google's model...

When selling the rights for a company to place their name on one animal....

a web site is established with bids like an auction. One company has enough money where they could buy all the rights for all animals in every breed without an auction. An auction will encourage other companies to participate and drive the prices up for the association.

Pretty clever eh?

[HerefordSire]

I should also explain a little about the model I thought of that works similar to Google's model...

When selling the rights for a company to place their name on one animal....

a web site is established with bids like an auction. One company has enough money where they could buy all the rights for all animals in every breed without an auction. An auction will encourage other companies to participate and drive the prices up for the association.

Pretty clever eh?

There are two other items I haven't mentioned.

One is the association will be global, not just American and not just Pan American. So you could theoretically have a Russian Company bidding on an American bullock. This will drive prices up further for the association and encourage Patriotic competition.

The other is combining one association for all breeds. Each breed will be a separate subcomponent but all breeds will be comparable for EPD numbers, which by the way, will be newly classified according to majority vote, and not the political BFI.

[MO_cows]

I should also explain a little about the model I thought of that works similar to Google's model...

When selling the rights for a company to place their name on one animal....

a web site is established with bids like an auction. One company has enough money where they could buy all the rights for all animals in every breed without an auction. An auction will encourage other companies to participate and drive the prices up for the association.

Pretty clever eh?

Maybe clever, but not at all feasible.

So you would make membership and registration free?? Well open the doors wide because the "granola group" is about to rush in - the fruits, the nuts, and the flakes.

What incentive is there for a company to want their name on an animal? And even if they did, what if the company isn't one that the animal's owner wants to accept? How would you like your bull's name to include Tampax? Or how about the teetotaler that gets sponsored by Jack Daniels? And the sponsoring companies would put on all kinds of terms and conditions to protect their corporate image. The participating breeders would be "selling their souls" to corporate America. Why don't you ask a chicken or pork producer how that's working out for them?

Keep thinking, HerefordSire...you might come up with something that would work, but this ain't it.

[alexfarms]

Did you guys vote or put your name in the hat for a seat on the board?

Members don't get a vote directly for the board. Members vote for delegates. Each member gets a number of votes based on the number of calves they have registered in the last calendar year. The more calves you register, the more votes you get. Board members are nominated by a nominating committee. The nominating committe is selected by the current board. I have voted for delegates in the past, although I didn't send in my vote this year because I got a ballot for the Nebraska delegates and I now live in Kansas. Yes I have filed a change of address with the AHA, a couple years ago. Yes they send my mail to my Kansas address and they put my Nebraska address on all my pedigrees, but they do put my Kansas address on all of my owned cattle on the pedigree lookup on the AHA website. No I didn't contact them to clear this up, life is too short. If I get ticked off enough sometime I may call them. My suspicion or fear is.....My address can't be changed on my official lifetime membership(which has been in my family for over 50 years), because memberships can long be transfered...so they may want to charge me for a new membership and charge me a transfer fee on each of my animals just because i moved. Why go there? I did allow my name to be placed in nomination for a delegate when I lived in Nebraska once and no I was not elected. I did go to that meeting though and I went to the "Breeders Forum" and I raised my hand to ask a question and someone in charge said something like...yes, I guess we can answer a question from a nondelegate. Really too much to bother with.

[Brandonm22]

When selling the rights for a company to place their name on one animal....

IF some company WANTED to put their name on an animal NOW, all they would have to do is pay a $1000 for some calf.....then pay the breed association to change the name on the registry papers. For a modest $82,000 a year, plus expenses, they could hire me fulltime to take care of the needs of their company bovine. IF they wanted to read about themself in the Hereford World, Angus Journal, Cattle Today, Alabama Cattleman, Progressive Farmer, Sports Illustrated or People Magazine all they have to do is buy an ad. The only reason why Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser (who already has something similar going on with the Clydesdales), Ford, Honda, Toyota, John Deere, Caterpillar, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, Levis, Purina, etc don't own bulls NOW is that they think their advertising dollar could be better used somewhere else and/or nobody has pitched the idea.

[HerefordSire]

Maybe clever, but not at all feasible.

I disagree.

So you would make membership and registration free?? Well open the doors wide because the "granola group" is about to rush in - the fruits, the nuts, and the flakes.

Please see previous post.

What incentive is there for a company to want their name on an animal?

Same incentive as a google internet advertisement.

And even if they did, what if the company isn't one that the animal's owner wants to accept?

I am explaining the concepts, not details.

How would you like your bull's name to include Tampax?

I wouldn't mind having the name Proctor and Gamble on my bull.

Or how about the teetotaler that gets sponsored by Jack Daniels?

If members wanted, they could have the last option to buy 100% of the naming rights.

And the sponsoring companies would put on all kinds of terms and conditions to protect their corporate image.

Business is business.

The participating breeders would be "selling their souls" to corporate America.

Members would only be selling partial naming rights.

Why don't you ask a chicken or pork producer how that's working out for them?

Why should I do that?

Keep thinking, HerefordSire...you might come up with something that would work, but this ain't it.

Again, I disagree but thanks for the feedback.

[HerefordSire]

When selling the rights for a company to place their name on one animal....

IF some company WANTED to put their name on an animal NOW, all they would have to do is pay a $1000 for some calf.....then pay the breed association to change the name on the registry papers. For a modest $82,000 a year, plus expenses, they could hire me fulltime to take care of the needs of their company bovine. IF they wanted to read about themself in the Hereford World, Angus Journal, Cattle Today, Alabama Cattleman, Progressive Farmer, Sports Illustrated or People Magazine all they have to do is buy an ad. The only reason why Coke, Pepsi, Budweiser (who already has something similar going on with the Clydesdales), Ford, Honda, Toyota, John Deere, Caterpillar, Kroger, Wal-Mart, Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, Levis, Purina, etc don't own bulls NOW is that they think their advertising dollar could be better used somewhere else and/or nobody has pitched the idea.

Members pay about $15-$20 per year plus about $20 per animal. Many don't register animals. Instead of buying an animal and having to keep up with the maintenance, etc., a company might could buy the partial naming rights for 100 animals for the same amount of money. Much more exposure than you realize for just a little bit of money especially when you hit a big time bull.