Heart of America Hereford Association
Minutes of Annual Meeting – November 2017
The Heart of America Hereford Association held its annual meeting on November 18, 2017 at the Greenville Livestock Auction Facilities in Greenville, Illinois. The meeting was called to order by Samantha Parish. Samantha took the time to thank all for helping to get things ready for the sale. She thanked all the help, cooks, and barn crew in the back. Larry Moffett then added a special commendation for Darrell Buetler for all that he does in the back both before sale and after. The meeting was then turned over to Kevin Babbs, sale manager.
Kevin did let the members know that John Lidy has the website up with the current sale catalog on it. John stated while the website name was rather lengthy he felt it was still best to use it. The website for the association is and Lidy stated that he has the ability to run sponsor ads as a means to fund the website. Our annual fee is $140. He also assured the membership that he will update the mobile view as he was not happy with it at that time as well as link it to the Facebook page. Kevin interjected that we also wanted to make sure that John was taken care of as the creator and editor of the webpage. The types of ads that could be run on the site then became the topic of discussion. Banner ads were primarily what everyone was looking for. Sweatman then raised the question of price and length the ads would run. Entwistle suggested that member banner ads be $25 and non-member ads be $50. Corey Perry then made the motion that members of the association who wish to run ads on the website would be at the cost of $25 and any non-member would be charged $50. Further discussion ensued as to where the ads would be run on the site and if the price should be based on what page the ad was placed on. John Fauth the moved to table the motion at hand in regards to price until the spring sale and then second came from Sturdy’s. The motion failed as discussion continued, for the necessary reasons of wanting to set a price to move forward with the website. Lidy stated the website would run ads and operate under the rules of no auto renewals and if there was an overwhelming desire to place ads he would create a waitlist. Emily Perry then called previous question and the membership voted on the main motion made by Corey Perry. That motion failed. John Lidy then made a new motion that the ad would be priced as follows, $50 for the main page, $25 for 2nd most viewed page, and $10 for ads placed on the tabs/pages with the lease amount of visual traffic. Ron Sieverson 2nd the motion and it was taken to a vote and the motion carried.
Kevin proceeded with the meeting my noting the age limits that the association put in place at the 2011 meeting. Those limits are bulls are not to be older than 4 years and of age while cows are not to be older than 10 years of age. Several members were concerned with the age of the cows and felt that 10 years old was too old to be selling as a breeding piece. Ron Severson moved that the age of cows be moved to 6 years of age with the 2nd by Stump. The motion carried so the age limits are currently bulls not over the age of 4 and cows not over the age of 6. With that taken care of the membership moved into discussing the size of the sale.
Kevin made mention that we have some consignors who bring several animals while we have others who bring only a couple. He stated that 60-70 lots would be the ideal size for our association. Larry Moffett mentioned that in the starting years of the association it was a struggle to bring enough animals together to have a sale. With that David Biggs said the Hereford breed as a whole is in a completely different place then it was even 10 years ago. We are progressively moving forward. Stump stated that he truly hated to see it limited too much for fear that we would begin to go backwards and struggle to get entries, so he pushed that the decision on the amount of lots continued to be left up to the sale manager. All were in agreeance that they would be the best way to handle it. Kevin then asked that consignors only put one bull in per sale. This would help in raising the average price on bulls. Samantha Parish suggested that all bulls needed to be DNA tested prior to the sale. Corey reminded the association at this point in time it is not mandatory and only suggested due to the large amount of lots that went to commercial breeders rather than purebred operations. Samantha stated that the cost is only $38 and would be a protection policy for the consigners as well as the association. Kent Burns moved that all bulls selling in the HOA sales be DNA tested and have that test done and processed by sale day. John Fauth 2nd the motion and the it was a unanimous vote from the membership.
Kevin proceeded with the meeting by bringing up our tagging system. Craig Cruther has a digital engraver and had mentioned to Kevin that he would be able to make tags with the Association name as well as the lot number. Cost was the question from the members present. At that time, we did not know the cost so the members felt it would be best to stick with the standard y-tex tags we have been using.
Emily Perry then addressed the members and let them know at the spring sale and all other sales there after 2 copies of health papers would be sufficient per lot. There was no longer a need to bring 4 health papers per lot. She also reminded the members that the sale committee was the Board of Directors so if they had any concerns or questions they could contact any of the members on the board. David Biggs then asked about paying entry fees up front instead of having them taken out of the sale check. Kevin stated that we ask for entry fees up front to try and get some of the bills associated with the sale paid earlier rather than later.
Ron Severson asked about the possibility of having the sale online. John Meents stated that the average cost for an online sale is $2000.00. Ron then stated that he had sold some animals to Texas and that wouldn’t have happened if the buyer had not been able to actually see the animals via the online sale. Kevin said that it would cost around $28.50 per lot to have it available online. Stone said that we should just try it and see how it works out, otherwise how will we know the effectiveness of it. Entwistle stated that they had several buyers ask if it would be broadcast online. Stump moved that we have a 1-year trial with an online auction with the online host to be decided upon by the Board of Directors. Burns 2nd the motion and the motion carried. Kevin then on the topic of advertising thanked Ron Severson for supporting the sale by announcing it on his radio show.
Samantha then asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes or treasurers report. John Meents noted that we correct the mile radius to 150 miles, for where the catalogs get mailed to. John also shared with the membership that he thinks the cost of printing is going to go up. Kevinmentioned that we already pay a fair amount for our catalogs to be printed and dispersed. Stone noted that if he had a stronger online presence we may be able to cut down on the printing and mailing. Stump moved that the minutes be approved as corrected and Ogle seconded, the motion carried.
Samantha then called for clarification as to a check that was written in September. Emily explained that we could not send a check to that consigner until all of the paperwork with the AHA had been handled. As soon as they consigner had corrected on their end the check for their lots were issued, that was why there was a check for lots written in September. Biggs asked about the champion payments that had went out and Kevin pointed out that the association had always paid out for a champion that was purchased out of the sale. With those matters tended to John Fauth made a motion to approve the treasurer report with a second by Kurt Peterson. The motion passed unanimously. Lastly Sump made a motion to keep the current, board members, directors, officers, and sale managers in place for the 2018 year the motion was seconded by Kent Burns and the motion passed. Kent Burns then made the motion to adjourn the meeting with a second by Corey Perry. The motion passed.
Submitted by: Emily J. Perry