Highlighting State Beef Councils Role in Promoting Beef

Highlighting State Beef Councils Role in Promoting Beef

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

Richard Gebhart - a fourth generation Oklahoma Hereford rancher was elected chairman of the Federation of State Beef Councils at the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention. Gebhart - who also serves on the Board of the Oklahoma Beef Council - says the role of states in the national checkoff program has never been more important.

Gebhart: “It’s the states being able to exert their independance in coordination with their fellow states through a coordinated bottom-up program.”

Having a grassroots-focused checkoff program has been a hallmark of the beef checkoff program from the beginning. Gebhart says having 45 Qualified State Beef Councils integrally involved in such a wide ranging industry is a key to its success.

Gebhart: “The diversity we have, especially at the cow-calf sector is one of our major characteristics and I believe it is a strength. But it is hard to keep 700,000 people coordinated without the state beef councils in there to help us.”

Gebhart says in his experience - producer directors on state beef councils work hard to make sure checkoff dollars are spent efficiently and effectively.

The three Pacific Northwest states beef councils collect the $1.50 per-head beef checkoff in their states and submit 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board for national and international programs.