What to expect from a breed association?

[Nesikep]

I was wondering what all the purebred folk expect the breed association to do for them? You're paying them good money, you gotta get something for it other than a quarterly feel-good magazine in the mail.


Reason I ask is because twice now I've contacted the Canadian Salers association requesting some brochures, etc... first time was last summer, second time was 2 weeks ago.
Nada, no reply, nothing! If I were a PB breeder and my association was not responding to emails of potential customers, I'd be pretty miffed.

 

[Aaron]

I honestly never expect much from them, but they do surprise me from time to time. I certainly don't expect much from the smaller associations - they don't have the manpower.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Representatives from the IBBA attend and speak at our field days. Some one often comes to our breed show at the state fair, and is available to discuss questions and concerns pretty much any time. They are very helpful. They supply us with promotional material to give out also.

Our West Coast Brangus Breeders Association is a great group of people. Our dues go for advertising, (even for our individual programs.) Awards, youth promotions, field days, and educational hand outs.
We place some pretty nice ads in the different cattlemens magazines with all of our members listed. It has definitely generated business for all of us.

 

[Nesikep]

If only the people who register (Salers in this case) get the promotional material, it's kinda like preaching to the choir... Advertising and not replying to the business the advertising brings is just stupid.

If it was just slow to reply I can see that happening from a place that's down on manpower, but just plain not replying, twice, is ridiculous.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Nesi you need to contact one of the breeders. Probably a better resource.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Get on the horn and speak to someone, may get faster results.

 

[bse]

AAA nothing, a bill in the mail, then to keep up with the data is an extra cost per animal. If your a big enough operation they will come, if you advertise your sale in the journal they will send a representative, the cost of the add is real high not even sure what it is, but I need that little peace of paper so pay and move on.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

What bse said.

 

[kjonesel]

Breed associations are similar to the extra tractor you have. You can't cost flow it but when you need it it takes on an added value. The Gelbvieh Association is constantly working on improvements that the breeder can use. The implementation of their online registry program a few years ago was a huge improvement. It allowed the member to easily enter information and along with that obtain computer calculated information. All of this wasn't readily to a breeder as recently as a few years ago. Our dues are $120.00 per year plus $25.00 a year per head for herd assessment. It adds up but if I use just half of what is available to a member I feel I could earn that much back in applied management alone. If you unwilling to do the work to utilize the programs available then no its not worth joining.

 

[Dubcharo]

Send an e-mail yesterday 8 pm to the quebec charolais field rep, received a message back within minutes, often then same thing with canadian charolais association.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Our ASA is awesome. They advertise in a ton of magazines and catalogs about benefits of the breed, they send out weekly emails updating us on current research going on with the breed, they track down DNA on older Bulls for testing of new genetic disorders that exist, and they send out field reps to most, if not all, of the sales. When I email or call, I get an immediate response to my questions. And they have two magazines; one for the commercial breeder and free to anyone who asks(Simm Talk) and a monthly one, The Register.

 

[dun]

I've been spoled by the American Red Angus Association. Informative magazine each month, accurate calculation of EPDs, national marketing programs, rep at hte annual sale, reasonable costs, someone to answer questions promptly either via phone or email. That's what I would expect and it's what we get from them.

 

[Jessica06]

The IBBA gets two thumbs up. The online breed registry is second to none. If I see a Brangus bull in the pasture, at the sale barn, etc... all I have to do is get his tag#, get on my phone, and I can find out everything I could ever want to know about him in a couple of minutes. I do this often. The magazine is also really good, and I think they do an excellent job getting the word out about the breed.

 

[wacocowboy]

I like the BBU so far. I get a monthly magazine, they seem to be doing a lot of research and marketing for the breeders. They have people who will come out and grade your cattle for a fee.

 

[Nesikep]

Good to hear some of them are doing what you'd expect them to be doing

 

[SPH]

There has been some discussion similar to this recent on the Hereford message board and the varying thoughts and opinions really vary a lot. I think that since the AHA is in the process of finding a new EVP that raised a lot of the discussion too since who they select is going to be bringing their vision for the breed to the table as well.

For the most part I think the American Hereford Association does a pretty good job. Whenever we've had questions or issues someone in the main office is more than glad to look into them and give you an answer or help you out. Our area field director is really involved with a lot of sales, especially our annual state sale that he personally visits and screens/selects the sale nominations which is pretty time and cost consuming to do along with all his other duties. We've called him up on multiple occasions to get his input if we were looking at a bull on a sale or looking into adding some new bloodlines through AI as he's probably personally seen the bull or programs using those bloodlines to give us his opinion on the cattle. I think that's 1 area some guys could work on is developing a good relationship with your field rep and using him as a resource when needed.

I think some people think the Association should be helping you sell your cattle, I don't agree with that as I think it's their job to properly promote the breed, listen to their members as well as the commercial cattlemen and address concerns that the breed may have and provide the necessary resources to help educate breeders on ways to improve their cattle but it's not the association's job to be providing you with a bunch of free marketing and lip service just because you are a member IMO. One thing we really like is AHA rolled out a new online "self service" website called MyHerd.org where a breeder can input any performance data they collected and be able to run reports or register an animal and usually you get it back pretty quickly after you submit it. We got our weaning data reports back in under an hour after we submitted the weaning worksheet and it's really helped out with transferring registrations when we sell animals too plus any data reported that has an effect on EPDs usually the calf EPDs are updated within a day too.

Our state association does a good job of offering up cooperative advertising opportunities for any breeder who wants to go in on them. Also in addition to the annual beef expo consignment sale are now having annual Hereford influenced feeder calf sales, a Hereford influenced female sale, and later this month will have a first annual Hereford bull sale so those are some good state association organized/sponsored sales that give some breeders another way to market their cattle too.

 

[Nesikep]

I wouldn't expect an association to help sell MY animals, but part of promoting the breed is connecting buyers with sellers... Yes, they are also responsible for the future 'look' and performance of the breed.

The reason I'm perhaps more upset than I would normally be is because there's no breeder within a 12 hour drive from me (Calgary AB), if i want to stay in the country.. And I really don't feel like cross-border shopping for a bull with our exchange rate.

 

[3waycross]

Short answer to your question...........dam little and plenty of expense.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Mostly our association money goes to pay great guys like Frank P.. At least your bunch had enough sense to get rid of him. Dam fools at NALF hired him back.

 

[gizmom]

The AAA does a good job but it isn't cheap. It seems they work really hard to find new ways to charge us. With that being said I have never had a problem getting an answer, if I call David Gazda our regional manager he calls back, same with emails. I honestly don't know how he manages and that was before they added more territory to him. As far as contacting the office concerning any paperwork questions I don't have any complaints I always get an answer and in a timely manner.

I use the AIMS program and the folks in that department are wonderful.



Gizmom