MARYSVILLE, Ohio — The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association will hold this year’s Cattlemen’s Roundup, Sept. 5-6 in Clark County. The event will feature farm tours, sessions with industry leaders, and food and fellowship with other cattlemen.
The roundup begins the evening of Sept. 5 at R Genetics Livestock, owned by Scott and Sasha Rittenhouse of Springfield. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m., prepared by the Clark Cattlemen’s Association.
Saturday morning registration begins at 8 a.m. at the Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center, Springfield. Breakfast will be provided.
Henry Zerby, Ohio State University Animal Sciences department chairman, will kick off the program at 9 a.m. He will provide an update on the department and the status of plans for the college’s new livestock facilities.
Industry updates
Two representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association will provide industry updates. Tim White, NCBA Region 1 vice president for policy will cover NCBA’s latest policy efforts.
White and his family run TA White Farm, LLC located near Lexington, Ky. The farm consists of 2,800 acres and a 400-head cow/calf operation that includes Angus, Red Angus and commercial cows.
Kate Maher, NCBA senior director of member services, will provide a membership update. Prior to accepting the director of member services position, Kate spent 16 years with the North American Limousin Foundation and most recently worked for the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
State activities
OCA leadership and staff will provide an update on programs and activities, and Ohio Beef Council staff will give details on how Ohio beef checkoff dollars are invested.
Mike Miller, NCBA senior vice president, global marketing and research, will speak on the Beef Checkoff and consumer marketing. Miller will present information about beef prices as they relate to consumer demand for beef, provide highlights of checkoff-funded marketing efforts, a beef export update and discuss opportunities for expansion of the beef industry.
Concluding the program will be Josh Jennings, founding director, Global Impact STEM Academy. Global Impact STEM Academy is Ohio’s newest Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) school.
Students at Global Impact connect their studies to real world problems through hands-on problem-based learning across all disciplines. These “real world” problems come from Ohio’s largest industry: agriculture. Global Impact students find the relevance in all they do through a curriculum rich in bioscience, food science, energy, and the environment.
A beef tenderloin meal will be served for lunch and prepared by GrillAble Catering, Chris Anway of Cable, Ohio. A PAC live auction will held during lunch, featuring two tickets to the Ohio State University vs. Michigan football game in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 29.
Farm tours
The afternoon program will feature farm tours to Agle Family Cattle and McDorman Farms, along with a visit to Sexting Technologies — The Ohio Heifer Center. Group transportation will be provided to each location.
Agle Family Cattle, in eastern Clark County, is operated by Bob and Peggy Agle, along with daughters and spouses Emily and Dominic DePompei and Lucas and Allison Regula.
A third-generation farmer, Bob became interested in raising his own show cattle for his 4-H and FFA projects. A.I. has been utilized since the late 1970s, as well as embryo transfer the last several years.
Several breeds are used in their operation, with a concentration on black crossbreds and Shorthorns. Donor cows, steers and heifers for their 2014 online sale, as well as their farm’s beautiful view, will be on display.
McDorman Farms is owned and operated by Louis J. McDorman, his wife JaNelle, and his son, Louis H. McDorman. The farm has only had two owners since it was established in 1811, with the McDorman family owning it since 1918, when it was purchased by Louis J.’s grandfather. The 1,000-acre farm has been totally rebuilt following its destruction in 1974 by the F-5 tornado that ripped through the city of Xenia.
Today, McDorman Farms specializes in custom cattle feeding with a one-time feedlot capacity of 1,200 head where about one-half of the cattle on the farm have other owners. McDorman Farms was the recipient of the 2006 OCA Commercial Cattleman of the Year award.
Sexting Technologies
Inguran LLC dba Sexing Technologies (ST), based in Navasota, Texas purchased the Ohio Feedlot in the fall of 2010. ST needed a base of operations for live cattle exports, and the feedlot location in South Charleston was in a great location for consolidation of cattle prior to the final destination, their export facility in Maine.
More than 15,000 head of heifers have been exported from what is now known as the Ohio Heifer Center. Most of the exported cattle have been Holstein dairy cattle destined for Russia and Turkey.
ST has filled multiple orders for beef cattle to Russia and shipped many open and pregnant Angus heifers to Russia for private cattle owners. ST’s main farm in Texas is home to 250+ mature bulls, many of them being beef breeds we don’t see in Ohio. ST was created in 2003 with the goal of producing 90% sexed sorted semen for use around the globe.
Regsitration
The registration deadline is Aug. 20 and the cost is $30 for OCA members and $40 for non-OCA members. All registrations at the door will be $40.
The Friday evening dinner and social is free to attend, but guests are asked to RSVP. For more info. about the roundup or to register call the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association at 614-873-6736, or email beef@ohiobeef.org.
A full description of the schedule of events, online registration and a downloadable registration form can be found at www.ohiocattle.org/announcements/oca-summer-roundup.
