I had asked the question some time ago about the assn. this is the reply I got and feel it is a pretty good explanation:
CKC- the NCBA was the old NCA (National Cattlemans Association)-and was a good organization-- but in the 80's they changed their charter and direction - and name (National Cattlemans BEEF Assn.) trying to make it more of a "beef industry" association and brought in the feeders and the Packers to their membership/ruling body and thru a complicated system of voting power by the number of cattle in each state- gave each part of the industry a voice...But because the Packer/Feeder states had many more cattle (feedlots)-they continually overruled the cow/calf man and their interests and those of the small farmer/rancher- instead taking the sides of the Big Corporate interests...What benefits feeders-doesn't always benefit cattlemen- what benefits packers doesn't always benefit cattlemen...And what benefits cattlemen usually doesn't benefit either feeders or Packers...
To me anymore- NCBA has nothing to offer the average US cattle producer- and no longer is a true cattlemans organization...You can't represent all phases of the industry- and do them all justice...
Its like now- when 90+% of cattle producers surveyed- and 90+% of consumers surveyed want M-COOL- and many consumers say they will "buy American" if offered the chance- the NCBA still opposes it... The only reason is because their Packer controlled board wants to keep it so the packers can continue to import cheap beef from around the world and pass it off as US product to increase their profiteering...
There are two groups which effectively represent the average cattleman- especially the family type farm...These are R-CALF
http://www.r-calfusa.com/
and USCA
http://www.uscattlemen.org/
Both give you representation- and 1 man, 1 vote representation rather than a complicated system like NCBA's where the individual vote means little against their ruling (Corporate dominated) committees....