A Word from the CEO…Dustin Hurlbut

A WORD FROM THE CEO

by Dustin Hurlbut, CEO, American Chianina Association

It sure has been a fast-paced summer! It all started with one of our biggest events of the year – Junior Nationals in Louisville, Ky. When we arrived in Louisville it was 103 and we thought it was going to be a hot, miserable week again. Little did we know that by move in day, we would top out at 82 degrees and had some very nice temps all week. The facility there is air conditioned, and there was plenty of room for cattle and people to be comfortable. It takes a lot of planning and time to pull off a Junior National and there are lots of little details that a lot of people don’t realize.

We are fortunate enough to have one of the best junior advisers in the business with Heather! She puts in countless hours to make sure everything is nearly perfect for our section of the show. We had some great interns this year and we have a great working relationship with the Blake, Lindsey, Josh and Rylee on the Maine-Anjou side of things. We all put a lot of work into it year-round so our kids have the best experience possible! We have the industry talking about how much fun the kids have at our junior national!

With state fair season just starting, it is another exciting time of the year for everyone. So many juniors get to see their hard work and dedication they have put into their cattle pay off. Some are concluding their project while others are gearing up for the fall/winter run of shows and still some are hunting for their next investment in genetics to go another year. I will be out and about at some state fairs and making some herd visits looking at cattle that are selling this fall. Let me know if you are needing anything or just a second opinion on cattle I have seen. I will also be looking at cattle for the -C- The Difference National Sale held in Oklahoma City in January.

The Association has a few things in the works for this fall. One of the most exciting is we have been working with the Midland Bull Test in Columbus, Montana, to include a division for Chi/Chiangus in their sale. If you have an interest in sending some bulls to Midland Bull Test please contact me so I can get you the details. This could be a really great opportunity for our breeders.

The ACA is also celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year! We are setting up an online store with 50th Anniversary memorabilia and merchandise. This store will allow you to order things ahead of time and get just what you want. We will have a handful of things in Louisville this fall at our annual meeting, but encourage you to take advantage of the online store. Watch for more info on that coming soon!

We are also planning a 50th Anniversary Celebration to take place during our National Show in Louisville this November. We have some special things planned so please make plans to attend. We hope to see you there!

I’ll conclude my article with a few things about our office. As most of you know, we had a storm come through Platte City this summer that ripped the roof off our building. This allowed many inches of rain to enter the building which caved in all the ceilings, and soaked and wrecked most everything we had. We did manage to save some things from the office but for the most part it was a major loss.

The office was shut down for a couple days while Jennifer, Stephanie & Heather got things we could salvage moved out of the office and Jennifer & Stephanie relocated to a temporary office. They will work from this temporary location until construction can be finished on the remodeling.

Speaking of remodeling, the new roof is in place and the

building is completely cleaned out. Estimates are it could be 6 to 8 months before we are moved back in, but it is more likely it will be close to a year to get everything done to be able to move back to Platte City.

I want to thank everyone for their patience while the office was closed for a few days while we worked through everything with the building. We take for granted when everything runs smoothly and we have no problems. But when something like this happens and you have to up and move everything, computers get ruined and you have to wait on the telephone company to come move your phones to the new office it just takes time. Jennifer and Stephanie did a great job of trying to keep up with things coming in during that week. Oh, and did I mention this happened right before we left for Junior nationals? We had a lot of stuff going on all at one time!

As we look toward the busy fall season, please reach out if there is anything the association can help with. I encourage you to take advantage of the Cow Catch Up registration special we have going if we have older animals to register. This is a great way to get your herd caught up an at affordable price.

We have many fall shows coming up and lots of excitement is building. Hope to see you down the road.

~Dustin