Page 6 - WCA Ketch Pen August 2020

Headquarters
From your president
6
The challenges our producers face continue to come. As Mark Streuli and I talk it seems we get one issue settled and two more pop up. That is why your organization is here and so important in helping you meet your challenges. A recent example was an issue in one county with NRCS that prompted me to check with other counties about their experience with NRCS. To my amazement and concern many counties were experiencing the same challenge. As an organization we can help facilitate a discussion to resolve (try to) these types of issues, that is of course, if we are aware of them. Please continue to bring forward what is challenging you, someone across the State may be dealing with the same issue. You can do this by contacting Mark, myself, your local Cattlemen’s President, District Rep., or Executive Committee member. There is strength in numbers, we need your membership and we want and need to communicate with you about what is concerning to you.
Another great example of WCA working for you is the Grizzle Bear issue. What a great accomplishment to have Secre- tary Bernhardt invite two WCA officers to a press release in Omak, (in fact, the only non-elected and non-paid peo- ple were there) to announce he would not be moving forward with legislation to put Grizzlies in the North Cascades. Thank you Jeff Keane and Jeff Dawson for attending that meeting and thanks to everyone who worked to make this happen.
By the time you read this we will have had our July meeting. This is going to be via Zoom or conference call, a definite challenge for this president but we are trying to use the technology we have to get our business done at the same time respecting people’s space and time, as we are all busy. While we will be discussing many issues, one that jumps out at me is the recent call by some for signatures on a petition to bring our National Beef Checkoff to a vote. I have attended many state and national meetings and can tell you your check off dollars are well spent and you are being well represent- ed. Bill McLean did a great job attending and representing us at these meetings. We thank him and his family for their efforts on our behalf. I want to thank Marty Stingley for moving into that role, I am confident you will represent us well. The fact we fight amongst ourselves in this industry continues to “blow me away”. Let’s pull together and work toward the good of the industry, especially during these tough times.
As you will see elsewhere in this Ketch Pen, we will be welcoming Ashley House to our team as the new Executive Vice President. On behalf of myself and the Executive Committee we are excited to bring Ashley into our organization. We look forward to great things. Please welcome her as we work to get her around the State to meet our members.
We are also pleased to have the new data base up and running. Thank you Dillon for keeping the ball moving on this. As is the case with anything new there have been a few glitches. Know that you are not alone if you are one, as I was, who had recently paid your dues and the system missed you. We (Dillon) are working through these growing pains – please help us out by calling and reporting any trouble you may have. We also continue to move forward with a new accounting system. These two together may be challenging but in the end the advancement in the WCA’s technology will allow us to better serve our members. Please bear with us during these transitions.
As a final note August 25-26th will be our Board of Directors meeting and resolutions meeting. We will be meeting in Ellensburg at the WCA office. Please bring your ideas and input and plan to join us for this important meeting and to welcome Ashley House.
Ketch Pen www.washingtoncattlemen.org
August 2020