CULP’S COMMENTS
THE WAY I SEE IT
by Ken Culp, III, Ph.D. Chairman of the Board, American Chianina Association
S
erving on the Board of Directors for the ACA is not for the faint of heart. It is both a huge commitment, as well as a tremendous responsibility. Rest assured that it is not taken lightly by those whom the membership has elected to serve. The board consists of 12 individuals; one elected to represent each of the ACA’s four regions; with an additional eight serving in at-large positions. Association by-laws stipulate that a maximum of four individuals may serve from any region at a time. Boards are faced with important, weighty issues and are challenged to make decisions based upon the best interests of the association, its membership, and breeders. These decisions become more difficult because our breed is very diverse and is composed of a variety of breeders, including Italian Fullblood, Chiangus, Chianina, Chiford, as well as club calf and commercial producers. Many times, the best interests of one group conflict with the best interests of another. Decisions are further complicated because breeding principles and the personal convictions of individual board members must sometimes be compromised to protect the Association’s bottom line. Moreover, each board must deal with decisions that were made by other boards, often decades earlier. Each board uses current information to make the strongest, most well-informed decision possible. However, the impact of that decision is sometimes not felt or observed while the directors making the decision are still seated on the board. Early Registration Requirements Originally, the ACA registered cattle by fractions (rather than percentages.) To be eligible for registration, the minimum amount of Chianina blood required was one-quarter. (It is important to note that one-quarter was expressed as ¼ rather than 25%.) Registering quarter-blood cattle was easy in the 1970s and 1980s, when there was an abundance of Italian Fullblood genetics available; all of which were fresh and new;
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| CHIANINA JOURNAL | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
providing a remarkable new outcross. Additionally, in the 1970’s, the industry had shifted to leaner, faster-growing cattle. Tallow was no longer a valuable product; cattlemen selected faster-gaining, leaner made cattle. In response to this industry shift, the show ring began selecting larger framed, leaner, later maturing cattle. Italian fullbloods provided the easiest avenue to transform “beltbuckle” cows to larger framed, later maturing cattle in a single generation. Amendments Made The “quarter-blood registration requirement” was eventually amended; with the minimum requirement being lowered to 1/8, largely due to the influence of a single sire. BC Total Power 2CA was born on March 14, 1985. This extremely popular sire, who sired champions in both breeding and steer shows, eventually had 2, 266 progeny registered. Unfortunately, Total Power was 15/32 blood. Because the ACA didn’t “round up” fractions, he was not considered a half-blood. Therefore, when mated to non-registered females, his offspring were 15/64 … 1/64 shy of being a quarter blood. Not wanting to lose the considerable registration revenue that Total Power was generating, the minimum registration requirement was reduced from ¼ to 1/8. Rules of Registration Amended to Remove Minimum Later, another Board amended the Rules of Registration, removing the 1/8 minimum requirement and replacing it with the stipulation that at least one parent be registered with the ACA to register a calf. That single decision, made by a board in the previous century, probably had a greater impact on the loss of Chianina blood in the pedigrees of cattle recorded with the ACA than any other decision in our association’s history. I’m not criticizing that board; they made the best decision possible based up on the information that was available at the time.
