BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING SUMMARY Media Center of Cotton Bowl Dallas, Texas October 17, 2016 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE J.D. Sartwelle, Jr. Chairman Sartwelle gave an update on the Search Committee for Executive Vice President of ABBA. The Search Committee consists of: J.D. Sartwelle, Jr., George Kempfer, Loren Pratt, Carl Fontenot, Coleman Locke, and Mike England. The committee developed the qualifications and a time frame for the hiring of an Executive Vice President. They outlined a Request for Resume and are currently accepting resumes. The ABBA is currently looking for someone to take charge of everything we do and serve as an advisor to the ABBA Board of Directors. The committee agrees that this person is not required to have an agriculture or cattle background. The Request for Resume was distributed to agriculture press and has quickly gotten around to breed associations and other circles. The committee sought advice from the Job Posting Board at Texas Tech University who helped quite a bit in determining where and how to post this position. All heads of 5-6 Animal Science Departments were contacted; Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State, Auburn, and University of Florida. The position was posted on the Animal Science Job Posting Board and will be seen by all heads of departments of every University Ag Dept. in the United States. The Search Committee has received 4 applications to date. There may be 2-3 other people interested in submitting a resume. The committee will continue to accept resumes. The resumes received are currently being reviewed. The committee anticipates that shortly after Nov. 1 the committee will be in a position to interview or reject applicants. The goal is to fill the position by the first week of January 2017. The Executive Committee approved minutes of a teleconference meeting held on September 7 and the meeting held in Dallas, Texas. The committee approved the financial report and 2017 Proposed Budget presented by Secretary/Treasurer, Loren Pratt. The Executive Committee reviewed and approved 14 new ABBA membership applications. The committee declared an Executive Session and heard from an ABBA member with concerns with no action taken. A membership spreadsheet including number of ABBA Active members for the last 5 years and other analytical information was reviewed. The ABBA Membership/Members Services Committee will further review this and take steps in an effort to retain members. The committee agreed to change the name of the Activity Fee to Annual Membership Renewal. This is being done to help better describe the annual fee. The committee reviewed a letter written by ABBA attorney regarding the word affiliate. This letter was drafted solely to protect the interests of ABBA from anyone who claims to be affiliated with ABBA. After reviewing the letter, the committee instructed staff to consult with ABBA attorney to soften the verbiage as the committee felt it was a bit strong. The intent is to protect ABBA not offend any organization or association promoting the Brahman breed. 1
The committee reviewed Violative Conduct proceedings as determined in the last meeting with no action taken. All action taken remained in place as the person involved made no response or took any action. The Winter Board Meeting schedule was reviewed. Committee meetings and Board of Directors meeting will take place in Ft. Worth, Texas January 15-17, 2017. The headquarters hotel will be the Hyatt Place Stockyards Hotel. The Executive Committee will take place on Sunday, January 15, the Committee and Board of Directors meetings will take place Monday, January 16 at the Ft. Worth Stock Show. The Executive Committee discussed concerns with regards to the online search options currently available on the website under Animal Search. This pertained to how much information should we allow to be viewed online. No action was taken at this time, however, this may be something that we may need to further discuss at some point in time. The committee discussed other items under new business with no action taken. Chairman Sartwelle thanked the Board members for their time and effort in attending the Board of Directors meeting. He commended them for their dedication in helping make decisions to move the breed forward. FINANCE COMMITTEE Loren Pratt The ABBA finances continue to stay positive and in line with finances of a year ago. ABBA finances reflect a total income of $536,637.36. This is primarily due to increases in Registration and Transfer income with a total of $312,355.66. We have increases in Registrations, F1 Certifications and Activity Fees. Some of the increases are offset by decreases in Transfers & DNA Fingerprinting. Expenses are up by $36,317.59 as compared to this time last year but within the budgeted projections. The increase in expenses are due to an additional employee on the health insurance, additional work from AgTown, advertising, the purchase of a new phone system, the purchase of a new booth, expanded promotional items, Three Judge Panel expenses and ABRA processing fees due to more registrations and a slight fee increase. We will be reviewing the AgTown contract to possibly add more hours to the contract. The ABBA will be publishing a Membership Directory in 2017 and have already incurred some expenses. ABBA Scholarships have increased. Total expenses are $466,978.63 with a Net Income of $67, 658.73. The Balance Sheet reflects a Total Checking/Savings of $1,517,299.44 and Total Assets of $1,602,795.90. Total Liabilities are $42,870.33 and Total Liabilities & Equity of $1,602,795.90. This is $43,028.00 greater than it was on January 1, 2016. The association is going in a positive direction and is expected that we end the year in a positive position. The investments managed by Chilton Capital continue to do well with an account balance of $654,622.32 which is a 9.1% increase since the inception with about 4.6 % per year. Loren Pratt presented a positive 2017 Proposed Budget that was approved by the board. There are some variables that will change the outcome of the year end 2017 figures, however, the board agreed that the budget presents a good frame work to start off the year. It was noted that there are several variables for next year. We may possibly have two Executive Vice Presidents 2
for the first part of the year, the current office lease ends May 31, 2017, and contract with American Breed Registry Association (ABRA) expires September 2017. With this we may have additional salary expense, we may need to increase office space and if we continue with ABRA there will be an increase in fee structure. COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE Rick Butler The Communications Committee initiated a restructuring of the ABBA website to make the site more user friendly. The committee will meet with Mrs.Tonya Perez of AgTown Communications who will be asked to make these changes. New search options will be added in the future to make things easier to find. One item that has already been added is SUBMIT YOUR EVENT tab which allows members to add their events to the ABBA calendar of events. The print ads were reviewed and the committee is looking at making changes in an effort to make sure ABBA print advertising dollars are getting the maximum exposure. The committee will be procuring photos from other sources to be used in future advertisements. The committee will also be getting more involved in ad placements, fees and approval of future ads. The committee is exploring advertisements in feed efficiency, they ask members who have more information on this to be reviewed for future advertisements. The ABBA shopping cart will be available during the 2017 Houston Show. Increased sales were reported in 2016 and the committee will continue to work to make promotional items easily available for purchase once again. The Brahman Journal has agreed to provide the kiosk to be used to place promotional item orders online and the ABBA staff will bring orders by the next day for pick up at the ABBA booth. The committee asks ABBA members to also help promote the availability of this service in their Facebook pages and social media. SHOW COMMITTEE Patricia Collins The Show Committee addressed the 2017 National Brahman Show. The committee hopes to have the final details finalized by November 31. The committee approved the Heartland Classic Show in Okeechobee, Florida as an ABBA point show to take place in the fall of 2017. The committee agreed that an ABBA Approved Judge cannot judge two ABBA, AJBA or a private ranch sponsored show within a period of 6 months. This action affected the south Florida Fair in January 2017. The committee appointed Stuart Watkins to judge this show. The judge for the Rio Grande Valley Show was replaced, Dr. Clay Espey was appointed to judge this show. A Show Survey will be sent to every ABBA member who entered cattle in a 2016 top ten show. The survey will focus on gathering information to improve all aspects of the approved shows. No member or ranch will receive more than one survey. Survey Monkey will be used to gather information. The committee agreed to mail a survey to all ABBA Active members that registered cattle in 2016. They will be sent a complete judges list and asked to pick their top 10 judges. These 3
surveys will be compiled and referred to by the Show Committee when selecting and replacing judges. In an effort to improve the Judging Seminars, the committee agreed to screen future applicants interested in attending ABBA Judging Seminars. All applicants will be reviewed and approved by the Show Committee in advance of the seminar. It was also recommended that five evaluators be secured prior to future judging seminars with the high & low scores being dropped. The committee recommended and approved that any judge that has been removed from the ABBA judges list, or not accepted as an ABBA Approved judge because of either an ethics or conduct violation, shall not be eligible for consideration as an ABBA approved judge for a period of 36 months. The selection of judges for 2017-2018 will take place prior to the next board meeting. RESEARCH & BREED IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE John Coleman Locke The Research & Breed Improvement Committee reported that things are going very well with their ongoing performance programs. They are very pleased with the quality of the bulls that participated in the Bull Gain Test. They reported that a total of 88 bulls made it through the program with 66 passing the test. There will be a total of 40 lots for sale at the Performance Tested Online Bull Sale scheduled for October 25-27, 2016. This program will be reviewed after the sale to see if any changes need to be made in the future. As a follow up to a discussion at their last meeting regarding too many codes on recip dams, the committee discussed standardizing recipient dam information on historical data. The idea is to retroactively use a constant crossbred dam on ET calves to be able to utilize as much data as possible. Dr. Mike MacNeil suggested that a test be conducted to see what the data looks like compared to what we have right now. Going forward there will be 5 available recipient dam codes. A final decision on how the genetic evaluation will be run will be made once test results are reviewed. The committee will host a Brahman Research Summit to take place prior to the Spring ABBA Board meetings in Overton, Texas. The committee will work in conjunction with the International Committee on this summit. They will invite influential international customers in an effort to gather information and get their input with regards to what they are looking for or what type of data they are interested in. This summit will also be conducted to educate ABBA members on the performance program. The committee heard a report from Dr. Mike MacNeil on the formation of Indexes. The committee is not sure where we need to go or how to begin, however, they agree that this is something that will be investigated. 4
YOUTH ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE Michael Goudeau The ABBA Youth Activities Committee is looking at two venues for the 2018 All American Junior Show. The two venues that are being reviewed are Bryan/College Station, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The selection process for the AJBA Board of Directors was discussed. An an application and interview will take place to select future AJBA Board Members. The 2017 All American Junior Show was reviewed and the committee agreed on the following: 1) The F-1 Show will follow the Showmanship Contest on Wednesday 2) The Bull Show will follow the Bred & Owned Show on Thursday 3) The Gray Heifer Show will take place on Friday 4) The Red Heifer Show on Saturday 5) The judge will pick 10 head and will only talk the top 5 animals 6) The Poster and Autograph Contests were dropped and an Advertisement Contest will be added. MARKETING COMMITTEE Arnold Saunders The Marketing Committee reported that there is an increase in seven of the eight categories of the ABBA F1 Certification Program. The only category that did not show an increase was the F1 male certifications. There are increases in new members, administrative fees, Certifications, ear tags, F1 certificates and F1 plus certificates. The Fall Select Sale will be held Saturday, October 22 at College Station, Texas with a total of 81 head in the sale. There are seven bulls, seventy one females and some semen & embryo lots. Broken Triangle, Milton Charanza, will be the sale manager with Leo Casas as auctioneer. It will be held at the TAMU Beef Cattle Center at 1:00 p.m. The ABBA 2018 National F1 Sale will be managed by Broken Triangle and Milton Charanza to be held in Caldwell, Texas. Anyone interested in consigning please contact Chris Shivers or Milton Charanza. INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE Dr. Scott Satterfield The International Committee reported that the ABBA Meet and Greet will be held after the 2017 Brahman Female show in Houston. A Planning Subcommittee headed up by Carl Lambert was appointed. The ABBA International Field Day will be held Friday, Oct. 21, 2017 sponsored by Genetic Development Center in Navasota, Texas. Everyone is encouraged to attend. There will be plenty food, fellowship, speaker and entertainment including a Fun Auction. We want to thank Gustavo Toro and the GDC for agreeing to host this event on such short notice. The Vietnam Trade Mission will take place Oct. 31 Nov. 7. An ABBA delegation of approximately eight members will be traveling to Ho Chi Ming City and Hanoi to promote and provide information through formal presentations on American Brahman cattle to both government officials and the private sector. 5
After discussion on the dissemination of scientific information to international members it became clear that information we feel is important was not necessarily useful to our international breeders. The committee recognized the disconnect and agreed to work together with the Research and Breed Improvement Committee to conduct a joint project on a Brahman Research Summit to be held in conjunction with the ABBA Spring meetings. The committee agreed to invite a small group of international breeders to participate in this summit. This was discussed at the Research and Breed Improvement committee and they have agreed to work with the International Committee on this joint project. The National Cebu Show in Colombia was attended by an ABBA delegation that received a very warm welcome. The National Brahman Show in Ecuador was judged by Johnny Jefcoat. Upcoming events were reviewed: National Show in Peten, Guatemala Nov. 9-13. This is a center of Mayan culture and tours to precede have been planned. The Ganadero De La Dorada Show in Caldas, Colombia will be held on Nov. 10-13. MEMBERSHIP/MEMBER SERVICES COMMITTEE Larry Ford The Membership/Member Services Committee headed up a highly successful 2016 ABBA Membership Convention. This years convention had the largest attendance to date with 15 first time families attending. This event provided a great opportunity for education and fellowship. Thanks to Linc Coleman of Bonchasse Land & Cattle and his staff, the convention kicked off with a fantastic ranch tour, educational workshops, meal and entertainment. General sessions included industry leaders and speakers who outlined where the breed is today and how we can better prepare ourselves for the future. The 2017 ABBA Membership Convention to be held in Kissimmee, Florida, September 14-16, 2017 was discussed. A reception is being planned along with breakout sessions and ranch tours to nearby ranches. The Allied groups will have displays at the convention and a fun and educational time is planned for all. The committee was provided with a list of new ABBA members. They will contact new members by either phone or email to welcome them and help them with any ABBA information which they may be interested in. In an effort to investigate the retention of new members, the committee agreed to send out a survey with specific questions focused on their reasons for not renewing their memberships. The committee hopes to identify areas that need improvement and work on solutions to retain memberships. 6