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beef cattle and grain operation. His operation currently markets 3,000 head of cattle annually. Goecke has served for nine years as a director of the Allen County Cattlemen’s Association. He is also a director of the Allen County Senior Fair Board and a member of the Allen County Agricultural Society, Allen County Farm Bureau, Midwest Electric Coop, United Equity Co-op, and the Mercer Landmark Co-op. He served as a director for United Equity, Inc, Delphos, Ohio from 1996 to 2000. He graduated from Spencerville High School where he earned his State Farmers Degree and was active in FFA. Goecke attended Miami University, Oxford for business. Currently he serves as vice president of St. Patrick’s Parish Church Council. He has also been involved with coaching youth sports and is currently a junior high basketball coach. Goecke has been heavily involved in helping youth with their junior fair projects for the past 40 years.

Brad Thorburg - District 7

Brad Thornburg of Belmont County is now serving his third term on the board. Brad and his wife Mindy live near Barnesville, Ohio and have two daughters, Vonn and Vaya, and a son, Voss. They own an Angus/Simmental based cow herd where they focus on raising good quality females that can be retained in their herd, as well as, raising steers that can be marketed into the food chain. The farm is a total AI and embryo transfer operation where no bulls are used. Thornburg was born and raised in the Barnesville area, located in Southeastern Ohio. After graduating high school, he furthered his education in the trade of bricklaying. He has worked for the Ohio/ West Virginia Bricklayers Union for the past 19 years. Mindy is also very involved in the cattle operation and is a territory business manager for the cattle and equine division of Zoetis. Thornburg’s primary interest has always been being involved in production agriculture and predominantly raising beef cattle. Thornburg was named OCA Young Cattleman of the Year in 2019 and represented Ohio on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Young Cattlemen’s Conference and Tour.

Sarah Ison - District 10

Sarah Ison of Clermont County will continue to serve District 10. Ison and her husband, Josh, and children, Thea and Deklan, farm near Moscow, Ohio. The couple returned to Ison’s home in Moscow in 2016 following graduation from Texas Tech University where she earned her doctoral degree in animal science. Ison specialized in pre-harvest food safety, epidemiology and microbiology. Her research focused on antibiotic resistant E. coli and Salmonella in feedlot cattle. Prior to receiving her doctoral degree, Ison earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Morehead State University (MSU) in Kentucky. While at MSU she was an active member of the equestrian and livestock judging teams. Dr. Ison currently serves as an Adjunct Professor at Northern Kentucky University teaching microbiology and works as an independent food safety and research consultant. She is also an active member of the Clermont County Cattlemen’s Association and served on OCA’s membership committee. The Isons operate a direct to consumer and retail sales beef business, Cincy Beef, focusing on providing local high-quality beef. The Isons recently received the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation’s 2020 Excellence in Agriculture award.

District 1 director serves Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Lucas, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood counties. District 4 director serves Allen, Auglaize, Darke, Mercer, Miami and Shelby counties. District 7 director serves Belmont, Carroll, Guernsey, Harrison, Jefferson, Monroe, Noble and Tuscarawas counties. Lastly, district 10 director serves Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Greene, Hamilton, Montgomery, Preble and Warren counties. To find contact information for the new directors, please visit ohiocattle. org or call the OCA office at (614) 873-6736.