President’s Report

from The American Black Hereford - Fall 2022

by The American Black Hereford

Upcoming Events

Rod Garman ABHA President

ABHA Officers

President: Rod Garman 497.957.2068

Vice President: Matt Marsh 912.425.0365

Treasurer: Don Hardin 515.313.8982

Secretary: Jacob Moreno 417.763.4233

Board Members: Darrell Selby 270.566.2624 Logan Hill 970.629.8807 Chad Jones 913-731-3428 Brock Johansen 435.749.1543 Jeremiah Malone 931.309.6805

ABHA Executive Director Ernie Dominguez 512.567.7840

ABHA Communications Coordinator Sierra Franks sierra@blackhereford.org Well, it’s that time again. We are just a few days aways from our next Annual meeting in Kanas City and that is always an exciting time. I know I enjoy getting a chance to see other ABHA members and talk about what is happening in each other’s lives.

This year, I’m very excited about all the good news we have to share at the Annual meeting. I’m going to save most of it for the meeting, but all I can say is there is a lot of great things happening in the ABHA right now. One thing that I want to share is something that was a goal of mine when I became ABHA president. We have hired a Communication Coordinator, Sierra Franks, and her job is going to be to help promote the ABHA through marketing and communication. We are also going to have her available for you as a member to help you market your animals. So, if you need help with a new website or refresh the one you have or take videos or pictures of animals you want to put in a sale, or just ideas on how to help you sell your animals, she will come to your farm and take pictures and can take drone footage of your farm. In other words, anything you need to help promote YOUR cattle she can do. We will have a complete list of service offerings available very soon.

Our goal is to make Sierra available to our members as a tool to help you sell your animals and have professional pictures. I acknowledge we as a breed as a whole need help with this. Remember sometimes your picture is all your buyers will see. So, with a little more experience and a little more investment, it will pay off. What we put out there for the world to see is a representation of our entire breed. So, we want to help you all we can to sell your cattle for top dollar and you are ready to make more the next year. Believe me it is a lot more fun selling out your calf crop than feeding them until they are three years old or taking them to the sale barn. We as a board and as your president, are here to help promote you and your farm. If we can make that happen, we all win in the end.

Sometimes to grow, we must outgrow things, which means we must relook at how we do things, so we can grow to what God has intended us to be. As kids, we outgrow our clothes, we outgrow our beds we outgrow many things. As an adult, I have learned we continue to outgrow things (other than my clothes that seems to still be an issue), but we outgrow our actions, the way we speak, the way we think and if we are truly growing, we outgrow people. Many times, we are held back because of the people we are around telling us we can’t or shouldn’t do something. The word says, “when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.” That means we need to outgrow our ways. And today, as I look at where we are as a breed and where we have come from, I can see outgrowing is exactly what we are doing. We are going from where we were to where we are to where we are going. It is a very exciting time to be in the ABHA!

I know our EPD journey has been a long and bumpy road, but there are a lot of moving parts to make this work. I am happy to report that we are making great progress with our EPD service offering. We will be making an announcement at the meeting in Kansas City, so I hope you will be there in attendance. As of today, we are waiting to see our third run and we expect them to look even more accurate. Sorry, this has taken as long as it has, but we will get there I promise.

Well, I hope to see you all in Kansas City at the National meeting this year. We have a lot of great news to share and things we plan to roll out for our members. Until then may God Bless you and the ABHA. See you soon!ABHA

The ABHA is excited to welcome Sierra Franks as Communications Coordinator. Sierra is responsible for leading the communication efforts for the Association including overseeing the production of the official ABHA publication, The American Black Hereford; press releases, membership communication, and lead the development of a cohesive communications and member education strategy across all print and digital communications.

Sierra will work with members of the ABHA Board and members of the Association on developing a comprehensive marketing and national advertising campaign. The ABHA will also offer creative services available to ABHA members for sale catalog, picture, video, ad design, etc.

Sierra is from Follett, Texas. She is a fifthgeneration agriculturist, and no stranger to the industry. She grew up raising and showing cattle while being heavily involved in FFA. Her family own and operate Born Ranches. The ranch headquarters is located just south of Darrouzett, TX along the Kiowa Creek and they run a commercial herd of Hereford females.

Still being involved in her family’s operation keeps her busy, while also photographing livestock around the country, and world! She enjoys mentoring strong willed, kind individuals within the agriculture industry through promoting the idea of “Make Kindness Loud”.

With almost 10 years of experience in the professional side of the cattle industry, Sierra has been able to learn from many of the most influential and brilliant minds in the industry. Sierra was the Media and Marketing Coordinator for ShowChampions USA where she was responsible for producing social media campaigns, building audiences, and promoting ShowChampions globally. She then joined Legacy Livestock as the Southern Regional Director where she was responsible for growing their business into the Southern Region of the country. Mostly recently, Sierra founded Uplift Imaging to grow her business and expand her offering of services focusing on new developments and trends within our industry.

Sierra has a deep love and knowledge for quality cattle and promoting them in their best light. She believes in the American Rancher, and the story each has to share about their livelihood and passion. “We are excited to have Sierra join our ABHA staff and look forward to having her help us with our national campaign to reach all members of the cattle industry and those interested in taking advantage of everything Black Hereford cattle have to offer. I’m looking forward to having her assist our members on how to market and put their cattle up in the best light when promoting their programs,” said Rod Garman, ABHA President. Feel free to reach out to Sierra for any of your communication, marketing, and advertising needs. Sierra can be reached at sierra@blackhereford.org.

We are excited to welcome Sierra to the ABHA family! ABHA