The Angus Conversation recaps board action from this week’s meetings.
American Angus Association President Chuck Grove, Forest, Va., was joined by directors Smitty Lamb, Wadley, Ga.; and Jim Brinkley, Milan, Mo., discussed the recent Board meeting on The Angus Conversation.
Remaining competitive — that was a theme of the August 2023 American Angus Association Board of Directors meetings — and that applies to breeders and commercial cattlemen alike.
A special edition of The Angus Conversation recaps many of the discussions, and it’s available now, wherever you listen to podcasts.
The commercial programs committee report was full of good news, according to chair Jim Brinkley, Milan, Mo. This summer, enrollments in AngusLink were up 300%, with more than 150 lots carrying the AngusLink logo.
“I think as people saw those premiums being paid, the questions are coming, ‘Well, how do I get enrolled in this? What do I need to do?’” says President Chuck Grove, Forest, Va. “Again, I can’t stress enough how it’s starting to really work, the pull-through effect, and the demand for registered Angus bulls.”
The Board moved to make genetic tools easier for commercial cattlemen to understand by using common language when reporting GeneMax® scores, and and will begin offering an AngusLink maternal score in the near future.
To continue gaining knowledge on important topics, the board heard from three staff members at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) related to the gene edit approval process.
“One of the big takeaways that I got from them was the slick edit was just the tip of the iceberg,” Brinkley said. “They’ve got a lot of stuff they’re working on. It’s coming faster than I really realized, and it’s going to come in waves.”
In addition, legal counsel covered patent laws and how they apply to animal agriculture.
“It’s the Board’s job to be as educated as they possibly can on what’s happening around us,” Grove said.
Other meeting news includes balanced budgets despite increasing costs, successful initiatives in all entities and updates on heart health and functional longevity.
To hear Grove, Brinkley and Smitty Lamb, Wadley, Ga., search for The Angus Conversation on your favorite podcast platform, or visit this link: https://www.angusjournal.net/episodes/episode/7bf59564/board-recap-angus-focus-on-the-commercial-cattleman-research-updates-budgets-and-the-fda