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American Hereford Association sets goals with strategic business planBy Doug Rich
The American Hereford Association (AHA) looks at the sea of black animals in the livestock industry today as their biggest marketing opportunity in years. "We don't need to worry about what the Joneses are doing," Lee Haygood, a Hereford breeder from Canadian, Texas, and member of the AHA board said. " We need to concentrate on what Herefords have to offer." At the AHA media day on September 25, AHA unveiled their Strategic Business Plan. A blueprint for how their association will take advantage of that huge marketing opportunity. Jack Ward, AHA chief operating office and director of breed improvement, outlined the seven core strategies in their business plan. These core strategies are: Continue to grow the Certified Hereford Beef program; develop a more aggressive and targeted marketing plan to positively influence the perceptions and value of Hereford cattle; increase the quality, consistency and reliability of Hereford genetics; continue to grow AHA net revenue through current and new products, programs, services or partnerships; increase the educational opportunities for their members, prospective members and customers; continue to grow and emphasize their youth development programs and; invest in developing global markets for Hereford genetics. Since 1979 the Hereford breed has experienced a consistent decline in animal registrations. The emergence of European breeds in the 1980s and the development of Angus-based programs in the 1990s played a part in this decline. One of their goals is to increase AHA membership by 25 percent over the next five years. AHA wants to get the message out that the breed has made genetics improvements in the last 20 years. The breed has addressed some of the problems associated with Hereford cattle such as cancer eye, bad udders, and prolapse. As a way to quantify these genetics improvement AHA began a Whole Herd Total Performance Reporting (TPR) system Jan. 1, 2001 This is a system of registration and performance taking whereby every participating breeder updates his or her cowherd inventory annually and is charged for performance data on a per cow basis as opposed to a per calf basis. Today the system has 110,000 cows registered and they have collected 20 million animal records. It is a voluntary system, but Lee Haygood said there has been very little resistance over the years. It is the largest whole reporting program in the industry. "It was a big scary move by the Association when we started this program," Haygood said. The Gold TPR designation rewards breeders who have collected performance data beyond what is required by TPR. Haygood said as soon as the list of Gold TPR breeders comes out the AHA office in Kansas City starts getting calls from other breeders wanting to know how they can get on that list. Gold TPR breeders can use the Gold TPR insignia and graphics on their ads for a year following the date of the award. AHA is not limiting its search for genetic excellence to this country. Jack Ward traveled to Buenos Aries, Argentina, last summer to develop a Pan-American Hereford genetic analysis. When this analysis is completed Hereford breeders and their customers in both countries will be able to compare genetics from North and South America. AHA's ultimate goal is a universal global evaluation. "The bull that could change this industry could be born anywhere," Ward said. "People who have not used Hereford cattle for 20 years will be pleasantly surprised that we have improved the breed," Ward said.
Doug Rich can be reached by phone 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
10/8/07 Date: 10/4/07
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