OCA ELECTS NEW MEMBERS TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) recently held elections for directors in districts 3, 6, 9, 12 and one at-large position.

Elected Directors

The newly elected board members are Kirsten Nickles, district 6, Dale Taylor, district 12 and Frank Phelps, at-large.

Kirsten Nickles resides in Wooster, where she currently works for Certified Angus Beef as their Sustainability and Animal Care Scientist. She is also close to her home town of Loudonville, where she still works alongside her father, Doug, on their commercial operation where they raise Simmental x Angus cattle and raise row crops. The goal of their operation is to produce high quality replacement females as well as cattle that consistently grade, but have the capacity to be highly efficient in their own feedlot.

Nickles completed all of her graduate studies at The Ohio State University. During her five years at Ohio State, Nickles completed her Masters and PhD in Animal Sciences, focusing in beef cattle nutrition and management and performing research that is practical and applicable to the Ohio beef industry.

Dale Taylor is from Bidwell, Ohio in Gallia County. Taylor and his wife Jessica have four children: Josie, Hattie, Lillie and Bodie. He started farming at an early age with his parents Blaine and Donna. They operated a dairy farm for many years and then transitioned the farm to a cow calf and row crop business. The Taylors currently own and custom feed Wagyu cattle for Sakura Farms with 250 head currently on feed. They also take pride in their stocker calf operation that averages 700 head per year along with around 70 cows. Field crops are still a major part of the farm where they farm around 1,000 acres of corn and beans. When Taylor is not on the farm, he enjoys watching his three daughters show pigs and cattle.

Frank Phelps of Belle Center was elected to the at-large position. Phelps has served on the board previously as a director and as OCA president in 2014 and 2015. Phelps owns a 250 head seedstock operation that markets Limousin breeding stock and feeds the balance of their own calves. The O’Connor-Phelps Limousin Farm was recognized as the OCA Seedstock Producer of the Year in 2007 and Phelps was named the recipient of the OCA Beef Industry Excellence award in 2010. He currently represents the state’s cattle industry on the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Concentrated Animal Feeding Facility (CAFF) advisory committee.

The directors elected to serve another term are as follows:

District 3 - John Ferguson, Geauga County

District 9 - Jim Jepsen, Fairfield County

The board will elect officers and the executive committee at the next meeting.

Retiring Directors

OCA would like to extend a thank you to the retiring directors for their many years of service and dedication to not only the association, but the industry as a whole. Thank you to: J.L. Draganic, Huron County, at-large; Pam Haley, Ashland County, district 6 and Luke Vollborn, Gallia County, district 12.