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Post by Glenn on Jul 24, 2014 8:33:17 GMT -6
What do they do? I've never met mine. I had to look up on the AHA site to see who he was. He is Dustin Layton and lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.
Are they just glorified ringmen who also draw a salary from the AHA off all the fees we pay?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2014 10:19:01 GMT -6
Ours is Joe Rickabaugh who has Iowa and Missouri. We have a great relationship with him and I would bet it would be hard to find someone in our area that doesn't like him as he's a hard worker and very dedicated to the breed and probably spends more time on the road than most of us could ever imagine. Especially in the fall he does a ton of work for the Iowa Select Hereford Sale that is in Feb. He personally visits each farm that submits a nomination for the sale and last year they had over 125 nominations from 50 breeders over 7 different states and he had to screen cattle for the sale and cut it down to no more than 70 lots for the sale. You can imagine just how many hours, miles, expenses, etc. something like that takes on top of his other duties to his area as well as personal obligations which his job takes him away from being home with his family. We've had no hesitation to call him up over the years to have him give us his thoughts on bulls we were possibly looking at purchasing or using AI and respect his opinions.
These guys work for the breeders so my suggestion is if you want to get to know your field man give him a call and chat a bit, see if he is going to be in your area sometime and invite him to visit you. I would hope that these guys would be willing to take you up on an offer to visit, they shouldn't hesitate to find a way to make it work as it is part of their job to represent your interests.
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Post by shumakerherefords on Jul 24, 2014 11:33:17 GMT -6
Here is the list from the AHA website hereford.org/seedstock/field-staffI had no idea who the rep for Kansas was because I have never had one visit in the 34+ years since I started my herd. Another breeder commented years ago that the main function of the field rep was to sell ads for Hereford World.
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Post by bookcliff on Jul 26, 2014 12:49:07 GMT -6
Ours is Joe Rickabaugh who has Iowa and Missouri. We have a great relationship with him and I would bet it would be hard to find someone in our area that doesn't like him as he's a hard worker and very dedicated to the breed and probably spends more time on the road than most of us could ever imagine. Especially in the fall he does a ton of work for the Iowa Select Hereford Sale that is in Feb. He personally visits each farm that submits a nomination for the sale and last year they had over 125 nominations from 50 breeders over 7 different states and he had to screen cattle for the sale and cut it down to no more than 70 lots for the sale. You can imagine just how many hours, miles, expenses, etc. something like that takes on top of his other duties to his area as well as personal obligations which his job takes him away from being home with his family. We've had no hesitation to call him up over the years to have him give us his thoughts on bulls we were possibly looking at purchasing or using AI and respect his opinions. These guys work for the breeders so my suggestion is if you want to get to know your field man give him a call and chat a bit, see if he is going to be in your area sometime and invite him to visit you. I would hope that these guys would be willing to take you up on an offer to visit, they shouldn't hesitate to find a way to make it work as it is part of their job to represent your interests. I think the world of Joe, always done right by me anyway, as honest and hardworking a man as you'll find in the breed assn business in my opinion. also really respect Tommy's cow savvy and solid eye + the few times I've been involved with him he's been straight up-a true blue old school field man, Levi--have no reservations about him whatsoever, has always been good and solid in the dealings I had with him, he always done me fair and square and worked his butt off to make it a good a deal as possible for everyone involved, Ben---well in my opinion and personal expereince-- they just don't come much better and he damn sure enough understands the real world side of this industry + and straight talker-- big plus in my opionion, don't know dustin, and while I haven't really had anything to do with Mark personally he has always been pretty friendly to be around at AHA type stuff and at shows. don't really know John, haven't had any business dealings thru him, but have been around him alittle bit in the yards at Denver over the years and he conducts himself very professionally from what i see and is very personable and courtious to talk to.. I also really respect Art, alwasy done me right over the years and what he said is what they were when they showed up, never "run" my money, wish he was still at AHA but damn glad he stayed on in the hereford business after he and AHA parted ways. the one thing that does piss me off about alot of "registered breeders" are they expect the fieldmen to show up & stroke em on a regular basis and/or sell their cattle for them. personally I think the field staffs time is better spent stopping and talking to sale barn managers, being at commerical cattle meeting ect ect ect promoting the use of hereford genetics or putting together and/or running venues like the previously mentioned Iowa sale to provide more forums for breeders to promote and sell thier program/cattle (notice I said breeders diong the promotion and selling of their cattle, not the fiedlstaff diong it for them). futhermore, if you can't sell your own cattle how or why do you expect someone else to do it for you. THE GOOD LORD ONLY HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES........................
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 14:02:43 GMT -6
I have known a few that were legendary leaders in the cattle business. Willard Wolf, Willard Wilson, Clyde Windecker to name a few. They can be indispensable to a breeder. If you have a good one and he is doing his job he can certainly help you move your program forward. I would be on the phone getting to know your fieldman. Their are other field reps out there that can certainly help your program such as Publication reps, Insurance reps and Independent reps.
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Post by timbernt on Jul 26, 2014 20:29:27 GMT -6
As much as I dog on the AHA home office I will have to admit a great deal of respect for our fieldman, Joe Rickabaugh. If the rest of the AHA staff puts in the effort he does we are definitely getting value for our fees. The only caveat to that is in Iowa and Missouri it seems mainstream Hereford breeders are the hobby people that advertise in the World and go to shows. That is where the field staff efforts go. It would be a waste of money for me to advertise in the Hereford World, so I suppose the home office feels it would be a waste of time to send someone out to stroke my ego. Even back in the days of Doug Ott, he let you know that it would be nice to spend a little money advertising in the Hereford Journal when he came by for a visit. I totally agree with Tom that if we are to be more than a hobby breed in the Midwest that a little contact with commercial cattle would be in order. That is why I despise the Sullivans and Star Lakes of this world getting pumped as mainstream when they are really no more than a freak show.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 7:55:49 GMT -6
I'm not going to dog on the Hereford World but timbernt I agree about the advertising, it's not very practical for us. Our advertising dollars are more effective going towards advertising such as the Midwest Marketer, Hereford America, and Farm Bureau Spokesman publication which reaches more of the commercial cattlemen market in our area and not just the mainstream Hereford breeders. Believe it or not but Craigslist has actually been a very effective advertising route with a lot of our sale bulls and that doesn't cost us anything more than the time it takes us to update our website, get some photos and videos, and post an ad online. I still feel that having some kind of relationship with your fieldman is beneficial whether you are buying or selling as you never know when he might come across something that is a good fit for you whether it's scouting a bull on a sale he's at or giving out your name to a potential buyer that is looking for something you may have.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2014 8:34:10 GMT -6
When the AHA purchased the Hereford Journal years ago it changed the way fieldmen had to operate. They no longer could do just their job of being a fieldman, but also had to sell HJ adds to keep Kansas City happy. I really feel that this was a disservice to the fieldmem and the breeders.
Outside the AHA fieldmen have also changed the breed... Gary McDonald & Jay George sold off a heck of a chunk of the breed at one point. Today we have several excellent outside fieldmen order buying bulls for both purebred and commercial operations. They are one heck of an asset to a program. It might cost you $100 or so for their services on a commercial bull sale. I feel that the $100 you give an outside fieldman for bringing a buyer to your herd is pocket change for what you are receiving. get to know the reps at Western Video Market, Northern Livestock Video, Superior Livestock. Go to their Video auctions and promote your cattle. You will do yourself a much better service than wasting your time on some "damned steamboat vacation"..
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