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 www.NALF.org North American (303) 220-1693 |
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Members Memo The North American Limousin Foundation (NALF) Board of Directors conducted its summer meeting Aug. 22–23 in Denver, Colo. Fiscal-year–end reports from staff members and budget discussions dominated the agenda. In the end, the Board approved a balanced budget of slightly less than $1.3 million. This “Members Memo” outlines other key actions, and a complete list of approved motions is in the secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site. The Nominating Committee has slated Lance Sennett, Waynetown, Ind. (second term); Jerry Wulf, Morris, Minn. (second term); Mike Hall, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Brian Skaggs, Lexington, Okla.; and Tom Vaughn, Cavalier, N.D., as candidates for the NALF Board. NALF members can send at-large nominations to the NALF office until Oct. 15. For at-large nominees to qualify, signed letters of support from at least 15 different founding, lifetime or active annual members are required. (A form letter is available in the “Limousin Library” section of the NALF Web site.) Identification of all nominees by Oct. 15 enables NALF to publicize their candidacies and include their names on the official ballot. To make voting easier and more inclusive, those unable to attend the Annual Meeting in Denver may write the NALF office to request absentee ballots until Dec. 1. The office will not issue any after that date. Once members complete and sign their absentee ballots, they will mail them to NALF’s official accountant. The changes to the nominations and voting processes replace the former system of nominations from the floor and proxy votes. The Board members invite input from NALF members as they evaluate the changes’ effectiveness. Their telephone numbers and e‑mail addresses are in the Web site’s “Contact NALF” section. Due to escalating business costs and the effort to balance the 2007–2008 budget, the NALF Board approved several fee increases for miscellaneous association services, effective Sept. 1.
In addition, NALF has created a “show certificate service” through which members can request immediately faxed copies of registration certificates. NALF will accommodate those requests for $10 per copy to offset the cost of reprinting registration papers solely for faxing them to show offices. State associations that applied for marketing assistance should have received notification from the NALF office by now concerning their approved funds. The Board allocated $30,000 to the 2007–2008 State Cooperative Marketing Program. The Commercial Marketing and Advertising Committee agreed in August to extend the current national ad campaign into 2007–2008. It recommended that nearly $70,000 be spent on national and breeder-coop ad placements in the coming year, and the full Board approved that number. The committee studied an ad-effectiveness evaluation supplied by BEEF magazine. NALF’s “Beef Up Your Angus” advertisement scored 85 percent in the “recall seeing” category among readers of the April issue. That is four percentage points better than the average advertisement. Slightly more than 25 percent of the readers recalled reading the advertisement, which was on par with the average. Compared to the last evaluation, which looked at the “Fighting Fat, Flat and 4s?” advertisement in April 2005, the Limousin breed’s favorable brand recognition among BEEF readers was up from 40 percent to 47 percent. The breed’s favorable reputation for meeting industry needs was up from 34 percent to 43 percent. The Board voted to conduct a “Master Breeder” workshop in conjunction with the Range Beef Cow Symposium (RBCS), Dec. 11–13 at the Larimer County Fairgrounds outside Fort Collins, Colo. The RBCS includes two and a half days of educational programs, bullpen sessions with the speakers each evening, and a trade show. It regularly attracts about 900 producers and allied-industry representatives. More information about the workshop for Limousin breeders will be in the November “NALF News” and upcoming issues of the Partners e‑newsletter. NALF is conducting a series of free informational webcasts on DVAuction.com for its members and commercial cattle producers. Each will address cattle genetics, management or marketing. All of the webcasts will begin at 7 p.m. MT.
NALF members can find registration instructions for the “members-only” webcasts via the association’s home page. The others are open to all of DVAuction’s registered users. Anyone interested in sponsoring a NALF webcast should contact Frank Padilla in the NALF office. In August, the NALF Web site’s expected progeny difference (EPD) and pedigree search tool began including new details:
As part of its commitment to commercial cattle producers, NALF provides the Limousin Exchange Feeder Calf Classifieds. The Web-based calf-listing service allows sellers to post their Limousin-influenced calves for sale in an easy-to-use, free, classified advertisement. Potential buyers can browse all of the cattle for sale or use the search feature to narrow the listings. NALF staff members draw attention to them through regular communication with order buyers, feedyards and individuals interested in feeding Limousin-influenced calves. To take advantage of the service, click the “Limousin Exchange: Feeder Calf Classifieds” link on the NALF home page. For assistance, contact Bo Sexson in the NALF office. NALF’s LimMark tagging program aids Limousin customers in identifying their cattle and positioning themselves for greater returns by coupling reputable genetics with documented information. The idea originated at the Limousin Visions Symposium in 2004, where feedyard managers shared the breed often does not get the recognition it deserves. Only qualified, properly enrolled cattle may wear LimMark tags. Producers must complete a LimMark agreement and mail or fax it to NALF. Guidelines and the enrollment form are available in the “Programs” section of the NALF Web site or by contacting Bo Sexson in the NALF office. Allow two weeks for tag printing and delivery. The deadline to submit data for the next international Limousin genetic evaluation is Nov. 15. That deadline is especially important for producers of Lim‑Flex progeny from Angus or Red Angus parents that are not in the NALF herdbook yet. Without the data, their EPDs will not be available for winter show programs or spring marketing materials. Birth, weaning and yearling performance data are necessary for reliable EPDs, and breeders’ data are the raw material from which NALF computes genetic predictions. Members with carcass data for groups of pedigreed Limousin or Limousin-influenced cattle are encouraged to submit them, too. The breed’s competitive advantages, genetic improvement and ability to meet commercial customers’ needs all depend on breeders’ data collection and submission. New EPDs will be available around Jan. 1, 2008. NALF will post the spring sire summary in the “Programs” section of its Web site in mid-January. The Limousin shows at the American Royal in Kansas City, Mo., will be Oct. 18, starting at 8 a.m. Jerry Adamson of Cody, Neb., will sort the junior entries; and Randy Daniel of Colbert, Ga., will judge the open show. The junior show at the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) in Louisville, Ky., will be Nov. 11. The open show will begin at 8 a.m. Nov. 14; and Terry Burks of Bowling Green, Ky., will be the judge. The Limousin sale-cattle parade at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) starts at 3 p.m. Jan. 13, 2008. The junior show begins at 2 p.m. the next day, and the Limousin sale follows at 6 p.m. The Limousin open show starts at 8 a.m. Jan. 15. The pen and carload shows are the day after that, beginning at 8 a.m. Most entries for the NWSS are due Nov. 15. To receive Medal of Excellence (MOE) points, all cattle must have the appropriate performance data submitted to NALF. Bulls older than 400 days on the show date must have a positive breeding soundness exam and semen test. Females in the senior yearling and winter yearling classes after Sept. 1 must show with calves at side or have proof of pregnancy from a licensed, nonowner veterinarian. Send all data and direct all MOE questions to Lorrie Taylor in the NALF office. The Doubletree Hotel Denver at 3203 Quebec St. will be the Limousin breed’s headquarters during the NWSS and for the NALF Annual Meeting (9 a.m. to noon, Jan. 14, 2008). Single, double, triple and quad rooms are available for $79 per night if you mention the “North American Limousin Foundation” when you call (303) 321-3333 or 1-800-222-TREE to make your reservations. At its April meeting, the NALF Board appointed American Cattle Services, KK Seedstock Consultants and R&R Marketing Co. as the National Limousin Sale management team. Call Ken Holloway, (580) 597-3006; Keith Kissee, (804) 353-2220; or Randy Ratliff, (615) 791-8982, to consign cattle. All cattle in the national sale must be parent-verified and proto-tested before Dec. 1; and all embryo-transfer (ET) calves must be registered, which requires parent verification, by Dec. 1. Because MMI Genomics (the DNA-typing laboratory) operates on a limited holiday schedule, members must submit samples before Nov. 15 to meet those requirements. Each year, NALF honors a Commercial Marketing Booster of the Year, a Commercial Producer of the Year and a Limousin Promoter of the Year during the NWSS pen and carload shows. Download a nomination form for each of those awards from the “Programs” section of the NALF Web site, or request copies from the NALF office. Nominations are due in the NALF office Dec. 5. NALF is ready for Visions Quest (VQ) Round 3 – another real-world lesson in producing industry-friendly seedstock and feeder cattle while collecting data for genetic evaluation and research and demonstrating the breed’s potential for greater returns. Enrollments were due Sept. 1, but some pen space still might be available. Anyone interested in delivering cattle between Nov. 1 and 15 to the Colorado State University research feedyard near Fort Collins should contact Bo Sexson in the NALF office. VQ guidelines are available from the office or the “Programs” section of the NALF Web site. Show your Limousin colors to family, friends, colleagues and customers this holiday season. Visit www.boelte.com/cards on the Web to order Limousin greeting cards. Several cover designs and inside greetings are available. Boxes of 20 cards cost $20. Personalizing cards is an additional $10 per message per card style. A portion of the proceeds from each order will benefit the North American Limousin Junior Association (NALJA). The NALF Board agreed to give free registrations to all of the natural calves born to the Corner Post Genetics Package female, which Counsil Family Limousin is donating to sell at the 2008 NWSS. CFLX Cheerleader 001T is a Jan. 10, 2007, daughter of Carrousels Peak Power out of Logan’s Cheerleader 280G, the dam of multitrait leader JCL Lodestar 27L. NALJA still is securing other items and services for the package. Prospective donors should contact Bret Begert, director of junior activities. Once it reaches a suitable principal, the Corner Post Fund will facilitate additional activities and scholarships for Limousin juniors. NALF members who can access the secured, members-only portion of the association’s Web site now can go there to submit transfers for their and their linked members’ recorded animals. Launched in July, the tool is in the “Animal Data Recording” section of the member site’s home page. Contact the NALF office for more information. If you activated your secured, members-only portion of the NALF Web site more than a year ago, it is a good idea to change your password now, especially if you have shared your old one with someone else. Now that online animal transfers are possible, changing your password every 12 months or so is even more important in protecting against hackers. The best passwords are a combination of letters, numbers and symbols that appear to be a random string of characters. Visit www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself on the Web for tips about Internet safety. NALF is increasing its efforts to get information about Limousin breeders to local newspapers. You can help by sending your papers’ e‑mail addresses to Brad Parker in the NALF office. Be sure to include your membership number or herd prefix and the publication’s name, city and state. It is best to call the publication first and ask which address should receive news releases. Sending them to the wrong staff member is the shortest route to the trash. NALF staff members appreciate the opportunity to participate in state events where representation from the home office would be helpful, and they would be more than happy to conduct workshops about any NALF programs and services. Contact Frank Padilla in the NALF office to get your state event on the staff calendar. NALF has decided to give up its post-office (PO) box so update your address book and start using the following: North American Limousin Foundation, 7383 S. Alton Way, Ste. 100, Centennial, CO 80112-2339. No, NALF’s home office has not moved. Instead of being “rural Englewood,” however, the property now is inside Centennial’s city limits. While you are erasing the PO box, note that change, too. To generate additional resources for commercial marketing, the NALF Board increased the voluntary checkoff at its April meeting. Under the revised plan, NALF automatically bills the $4 per head fee to participating member accounts when animals are registered. To enroll, mark the space on your member-service–fee notice. You may change your checkoff-enrollment status anytime by contacting the NALF office. The following members enrolled in the program before Sept. 1.
7383 S. Alton Way, Ste. 100, Centennial, CO 80112-2339 • (303) 220-1693
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