Red Angus - Looking for a new executive secretary

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ROAD WARRIOR

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As of Friday the R A assn. will be looking for a new exec. secretary. This is good news for the breed as the past leadership was not exactly promoting the entire breed just a chosen few. I hope we can find someone that will pick up the reins and go. This is a breed that is ready to explode with proper leadership IMHO. Cudos to our current board for giving him the boot!
 

itk

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If they would be willing to promote from within I can think of a great candidate they already have. Ron might actually enjoy running an association that will listen to and implement his ideas. The RA breed also has more cattle that fit the mold of what he tried to do with shorthorns. I don't know if Ron wants to or will be a candidate but if he got that job there will be a serious shake out in the cattle industry in the next few years and when the dust clears the RA breed will be on top.
 

aj

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Bolz would be my vote. When he talked to shorthorn people about stayability their eyes just kinda glazed over.
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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I think we will be looking for someone that will promote the breed as a whole. For the past several years we have been in EPD overdrive due to the fact that the "office" was geared for promoting "the number system" not the breed. They were basically anti show and controlled the show ring by influencing the judges chosen. Basically that meant that the cattle with EPDs through the roof won many times reguardless of how bad they were and some good cattle with lesser EPDs got left standing in the ring with out seriously being looked at. If you have looked at our breed publication in recent years you will have noticed that the few show pictures they did print , you almost need a magnifying glass to see. I don't personally have anything against Ron, but the general membership (at least the ones I have talked to) are not overly impressed with him in his current possition. There is talk of doing a little house cleaning in the office and he is one that is being looked at as well as a couple of others.
 

itk

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Ron likes good cattle not epd's and leaves the showring alone to it's own vices so he sounds like the perfect candidate to me. I guess his one downfall would be he has forgotten more about the commercial cattle industry then 99% of us remember ;D. As I shorthorn breeder I am almost embarrassed to say that Ron was to good of a cattleman to be in our association, but in all honesty he probally was. I agree that some of his ideas and ways of thinking are alittle off of the beaten path but in retrospect every single thing he said about and tried to do for the shorthorn breed was right on the money. It will be to bad if the RA association membership is saying the same thing in a few months.
 

garybob

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aj said:
Bolz would be my vote. When he talked to shorthorn people about stayability their eyes just kinda glazed over.
They don't get it! They'll NEVER get it!!No matter how hard any one of us tries to "keep it real", the show breeders willl pour cold water on the fire.
I just don't think these folks understand the fact that, in the cow-calf business, that optimum to average performance in direct interface with an "environmental challenge"( heat, humidity, hills&mountains, rocks, parasites,etc) along with firm, constant selection pressure for longevity, and fertility FIRST, carcass &feedlot traits SECOND, Phenotype LAST, is what makes other breeds acceptable to the cow-calf guys.
Here are a few famous quotes that summarize my feelings.

"cast ye not Pearls before swine"

"You can lead a Horse (or Jack-@$$) to water, put you can't make him drink"

Last year, just after Christmas, I went over to Eureka Springs for the afternoon. In one of the T-shirt Shops (that also sold incense) I saw this slogan on a one of them-there Goth-kids' TeeShirt: "Never underestimate the power of Stupid people gathered together in a large group"

Hope the ice melts, sooner than expected, for you guys currently without electricity.

GB
 

aj

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Gary bob...I hate to agree with a old hippie but dang it I do.I really don't have a dog in the fight(I am not a red angus member) but the neat thing about the red angus breed is that the show ring hasn't screwed it up yet. I was exposed to the red angus cattle at fort hays state in 1981. I almost got into them but I didn't. Becton and lambrect bros and those guys kept foreign blood out of their herds. They used natural selection and selected for goofy things like % weaned per cow and honest bwt's and practical convience traits. They are the straightest bred bunch of cattle in the world. I have incorperated Lancer f442 and cherokee canyon in my durham red program. I love the results.I don't have the right to even discuss the direction of your breed but I pray that some of the breeders like buffaloe creek and Larry Crousaint keep on keeping on with natural selection in the red angus cattle cause the red angus breed has some real world cattle. God I love your cattle! (clapping)
 

knabe

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garybob said:
"Never underestimate the power of Stupid people gathered together in a large group"

i have that shirt, but i'm not goth

i also have a shirt on it with the letters IDK
 

cowz

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Time for another one:  "The world is run by those who show up!"

( So make sure you join and attend your local cattlemen's organization!)
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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garybob said:
aj said:
Bolz would be my vote. When he talked to shorthorn people about stayability their eyes just kinda glazed over.
They don't get it! They'll NEVER get it!!No matter how hard any one of us tries to "keep it real", the show breeders willl pour cold water on the fire.
I just don't think these folks understand the fact that, in the cow-calf business, that optimum to average performance in direct interface with an "environmental challenge"( heat, humidity, hills&mountains, rocks, parasites,etc) along with firm, constant selection pressure for longevity, and fertility FIRST, carcass &feedlot traits SECOND, Phenotype LAST, is what makes other breeds acceptable to the cow-calf guys.
Here are a few famous quotes that summarize my feelings.

"cast ye not Pearls before swine"

"You can lead a Horse (or Jack-@$$) to water, put you can't make him drink"

Last year, just after Christmas, I went over to Eureka Springs for the afternoon. In one of the T-shirt Shops (that also sold incense) I saw this slogan on a one of them-there Goth-kids' TeeShirt: "Never underestimate the power of Stupid people gathered together in a large group"

Hope the ice melts, sooner than expected, for you guys currently without electricity.

GB

GB - I think you missed my point here. I'm not saying that the show ring should rule the breed - I am saying don't penalize the very people that spend thousands of their own dollars each year dragging their cattle out in front of the general public promoting the breed while you sit in your office in Denton, Tx and make disparaging remarks about them because they are not "true Red Angus breeders" while you promote a cripple as being the greatest bull in Red Angus history because he has the "ideal EPDs". PEOPLE - PAPERS DON'T MAKE THE COW!!!!!!!!! EPDs are a marketing tool that can, are and have been tinkered with by certain breeders by falsly turning in inaccurate data to lower their BW EPD and increase the rest of the EPDs. I'll take a good functional cow that is good on it's feet and legs with poor EPDs over an animal that is a cripple with bad feet and legs and no spring of rib but has monster EPDs. Good cows don't have to be ugly, there is a middle ground here somewhere. Promote the breed as a whole, not just the "special interests". Off the soap box, Happy Holidays to all!
 

Show Heifer

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Ah, RW....the "middle of the road" is a figment of everyones imagination. Doesn't exist. So you can look for it if you want, you can breed for it if you want, but it just doesn't exist. Sorry.
 

aj

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RW I agree with you that are overemphasized. A monster yearling epd can result in hard keeping bigger cow size cattle that I don't like. EPD's are a tool. I won't even look at the shorthorn high epd yearling cattle cause they won't survive in my enviroment. I like bulls like gizmo who's yearling epd is low. But his daughters make super cows. They can survive in my environment. I used to admire people stacking pedigrees with the low birth trait. Now I'm hearing the females in this line have pelvic regions that allow for only a 65# calf to pass. Single trait selection is bad, bad, bad. I think there is middle of the road cattle(balanced traits). I do think the showring emphasizes single trait selection cause bw goes out the window and people select for the squarest hip, or the biggest frame, or a certain cattle. I like the old simmentals before they turned black. Everyone was in a hurry to make them black they left so many good cattle behind! I have heard cherokee canyon had feet problems and I am on the lookout for that. Road Warrior I respect your opinion. It all gets back to who shows up and who gets their director in and on. One thing I've noticed is that cold wet weather makes everybody cranky, including me. :)
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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Show Heifer - I can't believe you would rain on my one car parade! :) I chalk it up to the fact that most people are jealous because the little voices only talk to me!

AJ - I don't have any official data to back it up but after 30 some years calving cows - I do believe that if you continually stack calving ease genetics generation after generation your pelvic area will suffer. I think we have a prettyu good board right now that has the good of the breed in mind, not just their own private agendas, unlike some of the past boards.
 

Show Dad

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SH - The middle of the road is an elusive ideal only in the fact that the edges (extremes) keep changing. There are always curves. But that makes life interesting.

I agree with RW that the whole breed needs to be promoted. This is a process and won't happen over night but this board is better than when I joined the association. I like EPD's but only as a tool.

As for the show ring ruining cattle, well that is for another thread.
 

TPX

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Well it will be interesting to see what happens with your assoc. I agree that the breed is on the rise and you shoud to the most as a assoc to take advantage of it.  Just wondering how many of you red angus breeders are going to denver.  This is the first year that us canadians can take animals down there since bse and i do know that some candian red angus cattle will be going down there.  I think that it will be interesting to see how these animals are excepted down there since some of them wont have huge nmbers but do have alot of performance.
 

ROAD WARRIOR

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TPX said:
Well it will be interesting to see what happens with your assoc. I agree that the breed is on the rise and you shoud to the most as a assoc to take advantage of it.  Just wondering how many of you red angus breeders are going to denver.  This is the first year that us canadians can take animals down there since bse and i do know that some candian red angus cattle will be going down there.  I think that it will be interesting to see how these animals are excepted down there since some of them wont have huge nmbers but do have alot of performance.
TPX - I heard that any of the cattle coming acrossed the border have to have CAN branded on them. I don't know if that is true or just a rumor but I would sure hate to have to brand that all over my whole showstring. I hope this is just a rumor and that we see a bunch of Canadian bred Reds in Denver. Some olf my favorite cow are "canooks"!
 

itk

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Gravy should be the least of his concerns at the McDonald's just south of the grounds they don't even speak English. It is a good thing they have numbered value meals because the only Spanish I know is the numbers 1-10 so at least I don't starve.
 
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