Association Outlook

Montie D. Soules

asa executive secretary/CEO

Shorthorns Persevere!

It has been busy since the first of the year. 2021 kicked off with the 2021 Cattlemen’s Congress National Shorthorn Show in Oklahoma City. This show was originally conceived as a replacement for the National Western in Denver and ended up being a replacement for Fort Worth as well. It was a huge success with numbers that equaled or surpassed the North American in Louisville. I would first like to congratulate the staff and sponsors of this event. It was planned and pulled off in a short period of time; around three months. For a show of this magnitude, it went fabulous. Currently, there is talk of continuing this event and those decisions will be made public in the very near future. In all honesty, it looks like there may be a Cattlemen’s Congress in OKC next year. There have been many positive comments and results for this national event. The sales, for most all breeds, were better than they have ever been, including the Summit National Shorthorn Sale. The cost for exhibitors to attend was less and the same would be true for spectators. The ease of parking and attending made this a very enjoyable event for those who attended. All the positive attendance and activity happened in spite of being in middle of a surge of positive Covid-19 tests. There were regulations concerning this at the show and it was not promoted for large outside attendance of spectators due to the positive surge. It will be very interesting to see how this event could grow if it can be held under normal conditions. The determination of this show’s future should be made public in the next 2 to 3 months.

I also want to thank you, the ASA members, for your patience and understanding during January. Right after the holiday break the office staff including Heather, Shelby and myself all tested positive for Covid-19. As a result, it was necessary to close the office for the first part of January. We were lucky to find and have the help we needed for the Cattlemen’s Congress. We have made it through Covid-19 in the office and we are back to normal trying to take care of business for you.

Soon, you will be seeing some new faces in the office. We are sad to see Emily Velisek leave March 1st and soon Matt Woolfolk will continue his role as Director of Performance Activities by working out of the office on a part-time basis. Two new staff members will come on-board in February. They are Cassie Reid and Wade Minihan. You can read about them on page 24.

The first week in February your Board of Directors met at the office in Kansas City. We were forced to cancel the inperson Annual Meeting due to gathering restrictions in Kansas City because of the Pandemic. In response, we hosted a virtual Annual Meeting which went very well; the Board attended from the ASA Board Room via Zoom and the membership was able to log in from their home computer or device. During the meeting I presented a State of the Association report covering the past year. Joe Bales, Dave Greenhorn and Mark Gordon were each elected for three-year terms during the virtual meeting. Hugh Mooney will serve as your ASA Board of Director President and Joe Bales as the new Vice President. Nancy Grathwohl Heter was recognized as the retiring Board Member and retiring President of the ASA. Hopefully, we will be back to some sort of normalcy soon and put this Pandemic behind us. It has driven a lot of situations and changes over the past year for everyone.

On the bright side of things, we have seen a steady growth in activity since our new fiscal year started on Sept. 1, 2020. A look back at the fall sale season and a review of the demand for Shorthorns indicates a pretty strong year to me thus far. This has carried on into the 2021 year with sales still proving the value and demand for more Shorthorn cattle. I have heard many positive comments about the quality and depth of the numbers at the Cattlemen’s Congress. This includes one the toughest pen shows in Shorthorn history. The Shorthorn Breed was exposed to other breeds in this atmosphere and everyone took notice according to comments about the quality of our breed. Sales have been strong, and the interest has been good for the winter and spring sales. I had a meeting with executives from other breeds and they are taking notice as well; they mentioned the very successful bull sale that week in North Dakota. When we can get positive comments from other breeds it says a lot for our breed and the success and hard work of our membership! =

Thank you Nancy, for your dedication and service to the ASA Board of Directors.