CEO Message

Message

from the CEO ...

As the New Year is approaching, I want to take this opportunity to extend my heartfelt greetings for the season and to thank everyone for all their efforts throughout the year. The success of the ABGA is built on the efforts of our Members, Staff, and our Board of Directors – so thank you all.

The past year has been a good one for the ABGA as it appears we will end the year with an increase in registrations, transfers, and memberships. We continue to receive reports of Boer Goat show inclusions in State and Local programs for FFA and 4-H as those that were slow to add us are now working to catch up to the others that led the way. Interest in registered Boer Goats by all the indicators remains high.

The 2017 JABGA National show saw nearly a ten percent increase in entries over the prior year with many new faces in attendance. It has always been my contention to be successful we must continue to grow where youth involvement is concerned so this improvement is indeed pleasing. But let us also not forget our past members whose vison helped us get to where we are today and the members in attendance at the National Show banquet did just that when they gave the Ryals family a rousing standing ovation for their past efforts as they stepped forward to receive the Ambassador to the Breed award.

The energetic young minds of our current JABGA leadership and their strong desire to promote the breed led them to recommend a number of changes in the coming year. The most significant of these is a vastly enhanced regional show program for 2018 that will continue to attract entry level livestock enthusiast to the Boer Goat industry. A special thank you for those of you who have already stepped up to help them fund this program. Sound minded JABGA leadership will be needed as new programs expand or are introduced. The ABGA board is considering a proposal presented by the JABGA to increase the age limit of junior members over the next couple of years. Many other livestock associations have made this change as the added maturity and the retention of experienced leadership on the junior boards and committees allow them to let their youth plan and run events like the new regional shows as well as their own Jr National show. The ABGA Board is considering all options in an effort to ensure this is right for the JABGA.

As I had reported earlier this year the ABGA board voted to afford membership increased opportunities by expanding the percentage program to include fifty percent bucks and twenty five percent does. Rules to govern this expanded percentage program are on course to be approved by year end and with a little luck the program should be mainstream by as early as mid-2018. Given the incredible demand for goat meat needed to satisfy the US consumers, coupled with the vast number of these goats produced in areas with little or no human interaction, allowing our members to combine high performance traceable Boer Goat genetics with the feral genetics from well-established Spanish goat programs to meet the specialized needs of many commercial producers simply made sense.

I want to thank all of you for being members. Without you, there is no ABGA and I assure you we’ll continue to work towards retaining your membership and bring in new ones. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.