Livestock producers gather near Cedar Point
Marion and Chase County livestock producers met May 20 at Turkey Springs Ranch near Cedar Point. The meeting was sponsored by Kansas Livestock Association.
Dinner was provided by Frontier Farm Credit and by the Doyle Creek Land and Cattle Co. of Florence.
KLA Director of Stockgrowers Council and Membership Todd Johnson gave an update on issues facing livestock producers on the state and federal levels. Johnson informed producers of the efforts under by KLA and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to distribute timely, accurate information to the consuming public and to beef producers regarding the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in one cow in Canada earlier that day.
He reminded producers the United States never has had BSE and the "firewall" prevention system in place makes the introduction of the disease nearly impossible.
Johnson informed producers about the record keeping cow-calf producers should start with this spring's calf crop to comply with mandatory country-of-origin labeling of beef, which goes into effect Sept. 30, 2004.
John Donley, coordinator of Industry Relations for the Kansas Beef Council, gave a report on how the $1 per head beef checkoff is being invested in education, promotion, and research with the goal of increasing beef demand.
Marion County KLA Director and meeting host, Sara Neal, thanked producers for taking an interest in their industry.
Gary Sneed of Cedar Point and Scott Miesse of Marion each won a drawing for a one-year membership in KLA, compliments of Exchange National Bank and Jim Bell & Son of Cottonwood Falls as well as Central National Bank and Tampa State Bank of Marion.
