NETBIO Hosts Banquet and Elects Officers
by: Bobby McDonald
It was a large crowd of beef producers and Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) members that made their way to the Hopkins County Regional Civic Center on Tuesday night, for the annual NETBIO Banquet and business meeting. Members of the organization market their livestock through the organization by conducting sales throughout the year, selling "backgrounded" calves, that have already been weaned, received their initial shots, and started on a feeding program. By grouping calves from the area according to quality and size, and meeting special criteria, local producers are able to receive a premium for their livestock, when they conduct the special sales.
Yes, those in attendance were certainly interested in the price of beef "on the hoof," but they, for the moment, were more interested in the Choice "Flat Iron" Steaks they were served for dinner, with all the trimmings. "We raise beef all year long, so we make certain that at least one night a year we have a dinner of some of the best beef their is to offer!" explained Phil Sadler of the Alba-Golden area, who served as President this past year, and was the Master of Ceremonies for Tuesday night's event.
"Yes, Beef was DEFINITELY for Dinner!!!"
The Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) founded in 1998 has established a reputation throughout the Southern United States as one of the leading preconditioned calf sales in the US. Their focus is on improving the genetics of area cattle herds, enhancing management practices to meet the national quality assurance standards and producing healthy pre-conditioned calves that will perform from the time they leave the ranch until they reach the consumer.
Phil Sadler, NETBIO President and Cow/Calf producer from Golden, TX, stated, “This year’s meeting showcased the Texas Beef Council. They assisted in bringing our featured speaker to Hopkins County. Mr. Gregory Hanes currently works out of Denver, Colorado, but previously spent 8 1/2 years in Japan living and working for the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF). While there he was instrumental in marketing US Beef to Japanese Consumers. The USMEF has contacts established all over the world and they work in concert with the Beef Council in marketing our US Beef. His presentation provided insight into the political and regulatory intricacies involved in marketing and exporting our products abroad.
Dwyatt Bell, Chief Operating Officer and Agribusiness director for the NETBIO added “We are pleased with NETBIO’s performance this past year and the financial highlights indicated an all time high for the number and the gross dollars of cattle marketed through the NEBIO sales. We added an October sale in 2010 and in 6 sales held to date, we have marketed 31,408 head at an average of $608.63 per head with gross sales of $19,115,847. We still have our November sale ahead of us and it is typically our largest. From the inception in 1998 we have marketed 250,041 calves for $147,383,895.”
“The success of this organization and its reputation in the industry continues to expand and Hopkins County is proud to be the home of this organization.’’, stated Mario Villarino, Hopkins County Extension Agent. Mario continued stating, “The entire Northeast Texas economy and some of our neighboring States all benefit from the revenue generated as a result of the NETBIO sales. We are in the process of collecting factual data from our membership to assess the economic impact of these sales.”
Approximately 150 members and guest were in attendance for the Annual Meeting on Tuesday, October 26th at the Hopkins County Civic Center. Members and guests enjoyed learning about the work of the Texas Beef Council and the US Meat Export Federation as they team up to increase the exports of US Beef. The membership also re-elected Joe Don Pogue, Bo Dunlap and Meredith Caddell as agribusiness directors and Phil Sadler and Tom Dunlap as producer directors. Newly elected producer directors included Ben Shumate of Cookville and Lynn Melton of Grand Saline.
The audience also previewed a short film clip promoting next year’s feature speaker Temple Grandin. Ms. Grandin has agreed to be on hand to address the NETBIO membership on the evening of Oct. 5, 2011 and the following day she will be the feature speaker for an Autism Program for teachers from across Regions 7 & 8. The NETBIO group will be coordinating plans with educators and will host this event. In announcing next year’s program, Mr. Bell stated, “Our board is excited about bringing Ms. Grandin to Northeast Texas and we are delighted to share this unique opportunity with the schools and communities throughout our service area. The NETBIO membership covers over 35 counties in Texas and these producers play a significant role to the economic viability of the schools and communities within their respective counties.
The audience also participated in a live economic survey conducted by the AgriLife Extension Service. Producers answered questions by activating their responses electronically with wireless keypads that were distributed to all the participants. The purpose of the survey was to measure the economic impact the organization contributes to local and area economies. Results of the survey will be summarized and reported by a State Extension Economist.
To learn more about the NETBIO sales, producers can contact Sulphur Springs Livestock and Dairy Auction @ 903-885-2455 or by going online to ssls@sslivestockauctions.com.
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