4 October 2011

3 minute read

North America

Today, more than 60 per cent of cattlemen identify their herd as Angus, and those Angus-sired calves continue to put more money back into the pockets of cow-calf producers than any other breed — approximately $35 more per head than non-Angus contemporaries according to a recent 10-year study. And thanks to branded beef programs like Certified Angus Beef®, “Angus” has become a household name.

Indeed, the breed is thriving, but Association President Joe Hampton says Angus success won’t be taken for granted.

“Our success, like most successful business models, has always depended on our ability to adapt, to innovate. That’s what will carry us into the future,” Mr Hampton says. “The American Angus Association must remain open to new ideas and new opportunities for growth and relevance.”

With an eye toward the future, the American Angus Association® Board of Directors approved a long-range strategic plan geared toward growing the relevance of the Angus breed.

The plan outlines strategies for the nation’s largest beef breed association for the next five to 10 years — strategies aimed at benefiting all users of Angus genetics, from members to commercial cattlemen to consumers.

In fact, many of these Angus stakeholders ultimately shaped the Association’s long-range initiative, Mr Hampton notes.

“This is the first time in the history of this organisation where so much effort has gone into collecting input from our members, their commercial customers and others with an interest in the Angus business,” he says.

“Through this input, the people who will ultimately benefit from our long-range plan are also those who helped to build it. Their vision for the future of this breed is interwoven into our outlined strategies, and that’s key to the success of the plan — and the success of the Business Breed.”

The initiative is months in the making. The Board first announced the long-range planning process in fall 2010 and began collecting comments from members, their customers and other industry representatives in January 2011. Surveys were included in the Angus Journal and online at www.angus.org, and additional input was gained through a series of listening sessions and individual comments collected by Board members.

“The input gained from the long-range planning process was as insightful as it was valuable,” Association CEO Bryce Schumann says. “Thanks to this process and the dedication of our members who are so invested in the success of this breed, we now have an outline for our organisation’s goals and how to accomplish them.”

The strategic intent of the plan focuses on an overarching effort to increase member success and profitability by:

• growing registered Angus demand;
• increasing marketing and education efforts;
• fostering development and use of technology;
• leveraging entity resources and expertise; and
• growing the industry leadership role of the Association and its entities.

With this in mind, Mr Hampton says long-range strategies focus on the Angus breed’s core sectors: seedstock breeders, commercial cow-calf operators, feeders/stockers, consumers and youth.

Several key initiatives have emerged to advance marketing, education, and technology and research. They include the development of: 1) reproductive trait data and voluntary inventory-based reporting in order to form longevity and fertility measures; 2) an education and culinary center to advance beef knowledge and Certified Angus Beef® brand recognition among retail and foodservice partners as well as consumers; 3) an expanded Angus television presence that provides educational programming and marketing services for Angus breeders and their commercial customers while growing the Angus brand; and 4) the development of genomic resources to benefit commercial cattlemen and expand their use of Angus genetics.

“With time, these initial projects will undoubtedly accompany other beneficial initiatives identified and executed by Association staff and leaders,” Mr Schumann says. “We continue to welcome additional input from our members and others as time progresses. That communication is imperative to the future success of any organization, especially our member-driven Association and its entities.”

TheCattleSite News Desk