Master Cattle Commodity Meeting b

and they come up with the answers to solve their problems the week after that the collection point at Jerome Idaho one of the best facilities of any of the collection points around the country had weeds growing up in it hadn't been used for I'm not sure how long the next week they opened up that collection point and we moved three loads of cattle through it the same week all those people have divided the areas up out there and are doing the work themselves we're parading a whole crew of people up here in front of you that will never cut wood that will never accomplish anything without everyone of you pitching in and helping them clear over here on the far left Ron Shaw it's kind of a story all of his own actually so Ron and I were both living in Omaha and were very good friends Ron is a subcontractor framing houses there Ron a year ago at this time couldn't have talked to you about the national farmers organization because I'm not sure if he had ever heard of it he definitely could not have talked to you about cattle because the closest he had ever been the cattle was eating a t-bone steak when I hired Ron I had to spend quite a bit of time with him but I don't believe there's ever been anyone in the industry group is much together in so little time as this man has the next man Gerald Cox brought with him to the organization the rapport that we definitely needed in that area of southern Colorado New Mexico and Arizona I was out there and we had a meeting in amount of this in Monta Vista Colorado it would definitely impress every one of you the type of respect that he has with the cattlemen around that area it definitely impressed me the very same with the next guy Don him sandy Don is probably one of the harder working men in the organization on the staff but Don has that same type of respect with the cattlemen and the industry out there he wrote an agreement for us up at Glasgow Montana that is the best cow agreement the state of Montana has ever seen on the end Joe song a year ago when I went to work with Walt we were traveling around the the Midwest mainly to meetings the meetings were very tough in a lot of areas but every time we got into Wisconsin then there were a lot of fun we had taken the same program that y'all had had for quite a number of years but we had taken it and a year ago Walt Hackney told everyone at the convention how he wanted to see the system operate well everyone had the same opportunity but joe psalm took that system and in the state of wisconsin put it to work exactly the way it was written a number of years ago probably the only man that has ever done that like I said we're not parading all these people up here in front of you except we're hoping that through this meeting the feedback that we'll get from you is going to help us in dealing with the farmers and ranchers across the country Dwayne just stepped in the door Duane wind from Illinois he's a cattle supervisor for the state Illinois I would just assume that we would open this up now and start out with questions or if you have some suggestions the people you can direct them at anyone or a certain area you might want to pick out one of these people excuse me one minute I wanna I wanna before you start sandy Wilson here is a real benefit to you as an organization and I can't help but look at sandy and see how pretty she is and then think in my own background of what I had done as a rock headed old tobacco chew and Packer when someone like her come in from the National Farmers Organization and asked me if I wouldn't bend a little to make a little better trade for the membership I wonder what my response would have been I think I know and I think that sandy deserves a hand because it's tough for a girl in a packing house I don't know how many of you ever been in one but I'll tell you one thing it's no family picnic and she's in there waiting blood and guts to her ankles across that kill floor I went through the kill for an area whether at the talero plant doesn't bother bit and you know what impresses the man that owns the plant that probably knows her like a daughter is the fact that it doesn't bother her a bit and she's there and she's all business and I'm really proud of sandy and we've got another girl in me omen plant in Sioux Falls South Dakota just just started and it's doing the same work so you see where we're in the e what is it day what does that gold what does it call sounded know y'all know where the women are the women are equal to men are sorry for it or something like that anyway we got no distinctions because I can assure you that her abilities in the state of California are as equal to Don M Sandy's or any other plant rep we have across the country and she has that same respect of that membership out there and they depend on her to carry the mail for them in that packing house and she does and I and I think that you've got to be impressed I I know you're impressed as I am with the youth that we have going now but more importantly much more importantly is that their potential for you and those members you're representing here today in the future because we don't have to stop and regroup and retrain now for a long time in this department I'm referring to specifically I got people here now that are as good as gold and I last as long as you will and longer but it's up to you to keep them upcoming there's a lot of young fellows in this room and if you like what you see and I'm not talking about sandy necessarily but if you like what you see going for you here today in this cattle division there's two things I want you to do I want you to think about what might be your involvement with this organization specifically cattle and specifically going the workforce but I want you to also come back here Thursday and hear what these people have really got to tell you I can't seem to emphasize it enough how proud I am of these people and more importantly how proud I am of that program they're going to present this Thursday now Steve and that Thursday meeting Bobby Cox from Montana will also she will be the first speaker you'll hear Bobby just walked in I think you need to give her a hand well we've thrown quite a bit at you and maybe boasted a little bit there's got to be somebody sitting in this room that either doesn't believe the thing we've said or has got maybe some advice did did y'all hear what he the question the question was stop me if I he asked about the check off and if the collection points take all the check off or if we have another system to use are you also getting at the pay back to the farmers on how long it takes and no I don't believe he asked if there was any Packers anywhere that collected check off something that I thought was part of your question but it wasn't was on the time it takes when the check goes to the collection point they take the checkoff off and then shoot that check to the producer something that I am NOT going to stand for is these people that call in and and say they've been waiting two weeks for a check on three old cows it's completely uncalled for and and I'm slowly trying to speed this up change the system the Packer in Westbury in Washington I mean Welch I've just started the deal there with our man out there John Saturday and all the payment on cattle Larry is going directly right out of the packing plant but our man does the paperwork coming that way on depend on how I sell the cattle if the cattle are sold live he pays for him the moment the cattle arrive at the plant and her weight up flatten the beef he pays for him the next day and great and yield it's the third day that's very well put and I'm sure there probably isn't anyone in here that disagrees with you because Joe like I said he's a about the only one in the country that took the system and run it exactly the way it was written and it's definitely been a success for him up there for the people in the state of Wisconsin but also the rest of the people sitting up here come to work for the organization for a reason and it wasn't that your reputation was so fantastic that it drew everybody into it so yeah I see what you mean but everyone else up here and there is more people than just us definitely had some very deep feelings for coming to work for the organization there surely some more questions I would hope that we either not be done that good a job or that that you definitely that's fine Harry because I think some of these other people would like to know what hurry I've heard this comment from Harry and I've heard I've visited with people that Harry has visited with about this problem this is a it's a it's an extreme problem the reciprocity s and so forth that these truckers have are - it doesn't makes I think somewhere in the back of my mind Harry and correct me is it required that you have the reciprocity if that's a correct term on your own vehicle if you're hauling your own cattle to the Packer is that uh is that correct or not all right sir I now Harry because of this idiot but it's not a criticism of the National Farmers Organization it's a condition up there that's affecting his ability to produce so he brought this up the first I heard about it at least was about three weeks ago maybe Virgil Miller oh I'm maybe was Iran I really well the the thing we've done too you see we try we try to counteract now in southwest Minnesota there's only one physical local so to speak Packer and that's Wilson and company in Albert Lea but from Harry's area he's got a certain amount of freight disadvantage plus the fact that I don't like our working agreement over there so between the two of those were kind of restricted there on what we get done now Harry made a more valuable comment though to me as a bargain er at the same time he was discussing this problem out of Minnesota he made a comment that because of these problems and because of the fact that cattle freight was less going into Sioux Falls South Dakota to John Murrell own company if which we did not have if we would get an agreement with John Marone company it would in fact attract a lot of these very cattle he's referring to that we're losing because of this thing in Iowa it would attract those members they want to go through the organization but monetarily they don't feel they can do it so Harry I don't think you know this but one week ago a very close friend of mine is a corporate head cattle buyer for John Narellan company Tom Malcom in Chicago I called Tom and I expressed this exact problem that you brought up I said I don't know that we can do business with Morel but at least we feel that we have a volume potential over there that you're losing possibly we're losing that Joe couldn't have if you were negotiated a decent agreement with us so Harry Tom asked me if I would in fact write up a proposal and send to them which I did last week he hasn't of course had time to get back to me and then of course with the convention I've not had time to talk to him but he found over the phone really no problem with that agreement we have with the Dubuque Packing Company and lamar's Iowa where Harry's referring to the shipping these cattle now that's what has been said here today about cooperative communication we can work it as constructive as we can destructive you see I didn't know where he had a problem because I'm not aware of all these reciprocity 's across the country but Harry was a wire and he voiced his opinion and while he was voicing his opinion he also came up with a constructive way to handle it in getting an agreement with Morel I didn't think we needed one we had a plant in Sioux for Sioux City at a plant in Amar's Iowa you know you can get saturated with packing houses but in his case with the proper agreement I feel confident and I think as Harry does it will attract thousands of cattle through our program that we currently are losing because of this thing coming back and forth into Iowa so you see the importance to the organization of close ties and close communication and Harry of divorce as I said earlier is the premier in collection point people he's a thinking person but you people obviously apparently are also considered to be thinking people otherwise I wouldn't think your membership in your localities would have delegated you to come to this convention to represent them so when you go home think think what you can do like area of divorce is done think what can improve now I'm not gonna spend the time of day with you if you complain to me about a cancer I'd cow that got condemned in some damn packing house but if you can show me away that we can increase volume in your area in thousands by Kerry has said boy I'll go to the mat for you and with you and we'll have what you need I just wanted to fill in on that Harry because I knew years bringing it up and I knew Steve wasn't as aware of the thing because I happen to be one that handled that one and I wanted to tell you about that so you can take it home with you Harry we're in there quite frankly I think we'll have what we want I haven't had time to talk to Tom but I will when we get back to home okay I don't know if any of you know this other young man that just came in here he's a trainee and the organization his name stately and ordinary well I'm just going to ask you to say something I guess good golly well well oh I heard of the discussion here it's great now the responsibility goes on you with a contract to get the volume and that's the way it's working the position that I believe that this organization is in is a position that I never thought we would get in until we had master contracts because I'm not afraid to say publicly which I'm going to say and have been saying but the meaning behind it is even greater than what I'm saying I believe that almost without exception the nfo members are getting the best prices available to the farmers in this country and there's very few exceptions we need two things one of them's pride and confidence and the others contacts and I have one goal in this convention to give you a preview that we sent an army of producers out across this country like nobody could ever imagine to back up those programs with volume and backed up with volume even greater achievements can be made in the contracting it's pretty hard whilst Dunham's miraculous job and you can tell the difference Walt every place that you've got the additional volume what you can do you know you can't do much with a wheelbarrow full but I'm very pleased but out of this convention that army of producers you know we've had the conventions and everybody cheered and stomped and they went home and everybody thought everybody else was going to do something nobody's going to escape this convention it's showdown time for everybody I believe we can achieve the March first first date and I have no other intention than to lead and if necessary drive push to reach it so I've got a little sheet of paper here if there's any way to sign a Blood Pact I guess this is what we're going to do I got to be careful about my terminology you know that is it's a little sheet of paper that everybody that's a producer in this convention or otherwise starts out by signing their name and underneath that they're going to list five other people that we're going to have to give an explanation that is not on here that have to their knowledge has not been contacted in the last year you know this little chummy better going around talking to the same people investing with the same people is not going to get it we've got to expand ourselves and it's going to say the name the address the county the phone number if possible the type of production the amount of production there's five spaces and you better remember those names because you're going to be held responsible for reporting back if those names are not on through our accounting department that they're not on something that has come through the organization very shortly and be called to see if they have been contacted and what they said and if you failed on one you're going to be asked to replace that one it's showdown time we've got it just almost where we can touch it a total victory we saw and we all leave here no longer do we go out and saying yep hold up her hand we're going to do it this time when we go out of here we're going to have a piece of paper of a sign commitment and we're going to make it pretty miserable to be right honest for anybody that hasn't got it about all we can do is just be as ornery as we know how you know call ask and we got plenty of telephones and plenty of people but I'm not gonna be asking anybody to do anything I don't do myself because I want Christmas off of I'd like to have next week off you know anybody's worked longer hours and I have he step forward I don't want to cook no I'm not sure I want to compare Kent Bailey I I gotta talk to him he's got to let up I wished we had to talk to more people like that but I'm determined the most determined I've ever come into a convention because we've got it in position oh I know there's going to be a few people like I got a letter the other day talking about how bad the cattle department was I also got a report what the cattle looked like and I know what the guy did he went out and picked out those are the heads to the sale barn somewhere they were low goods and they thought they at least half of them are turbine choice with a hundred de Milo feet you know well we're gonna have a few of that and we're gonna have a few things like that happened but I know that most of the people in this country lives in 2025 hours ahead on their cows and fat cattle they're not going through the nfo and so that's all I got to say I hope it's good news but you know it doesn't make a whole lot of difference for me whether it is everybody's going out here no longer saying yep boy words on the door meaning somebody else is gonna die this time we're going to know who's committed to what glad to be here that's just the beginning but I think we're there were we can shove it over the hill and be the proudest group of people that overcame the biggest odds anybody ever overcame in this country thank you glad to see you thank you very much horn Lee you know there's a there's a thing in this organization I was sitting there thinking about it when he got to come walking in here and was talking about it you know I've come out of the of the packing industry as I've said a hundred times but what I want to say is this I don't think that you as members can possibly appreciate what I'm gonna say as much as I appreciate what I want to say I've attended all kinds of stockholder meetings and the corporations and they were big corporations I have attended conventions with those corporations and I have had meeting similar to this but from a different side of the fence and I've never had the president of my corporation bother or be willing to take the time to come into my meeting and get up with what I feel are my people and express himself as Warren Lee now what I'm really wanting to say is over in Corning that was probably one of the first things that impressed me if I was impressed at all when I initially came with this organization was the compatibility that everyone has to the member with whomever they want to talked with in Corning our it's a excellent rapport and it's a thing that you should take advantage of and it's a thing that you should encourage your members to take advantage of is this rapport thing I'm referring to we're starting to run out of time we're getting close to lunchtime I promised myself I was going to eat dinner bound 12 I have a man here in a corduroy jacket that went in Harry and I were discussing this transportation thing had his hand up and I'd seen Orly come in and I didn't intentionally ignore him did you have something in your mind sir that you wanted to discuss with us right here with a corduroy jacket did you have your hand up a while ago this this gentleman I let him into that I apologize Ken I knew who he was this fella is what's he stating Ron there you go he's from Maine Kenton has worked harder I guess than any one individual in this organization and before Kenton makes a statement here I want to say one thing very quickly in your hand Cindy when y'all came in gave you one of these that only discussed I didn't know he was coming over so I was going to fill in I'm not gonna have to go through it now I hope you understand how totally important this is to me and probably in my opinion less importantly to the whole organization because the cattle division of course the only one that counts and Corning you all know that automatically but I need this I really need your input when you leave here I would be totally embedded if you would have it filled out and if you would give it to Sandy as you exit down there at her table where she is Ken thank you for being here here's a man that has created a problem health-wise for himself because of 250 percent commitment to a cause this is a loyalty thing you're going to hear from now it's got nothing to do with salaries it's got nothing to do with personal gains it's strictly a cause and I have heard of him ever since I come with this organization I met him once back in the winter in Corning and I have heard all the stories that you can hear about a man that is totally committed Ken well I like to be involved in something with other people and I realize that if you are to succeed in anything that you do first of all you have to tell people what it is that you want them to get involved in and I've never been able to accomplish anything myself until I got other people involved in it and I like to set up in the back row rather than stand up here on the podium now this is probably contrary to what that gentleman down there from Kentucky thinks and what some of the rest of you think around here but we find in our area that it is demanding that you get people involved we're so far apart from our neighbors meaning right in the state that we live in we don't have very much production in any one County as farmers we need the National Farmers Organization in order to survive and so we spend time first of all selling the philosophy and then we go out and show the people what the mechanics are and then we get them to understand first of all if it's going to succeed all these things have to work together I've seen people try to sell the organization on the mechanics I've seen people try to sell the organization on just the philosophy and it always ends up failing it's putting the whole thing together we got involved in the national farmers organization in the spring of 1967 and milk holding action then the first time we got involved as far as the mechanics goal was when we started selling called dairy cows and Bob calves in May of 1968 we built it because we didn't have a milk program through 68 and 69 in in 270 and we had a pretty decent meat program but then it began to fall apart because we didn't have this word expertise we didn't have custodial accounts we didn't have those things and many of the buyers looked at us in the weak points and began to exploit those well a year ago July or August we started in rebuilding our meat program now remember I told you we aren't very big we like to sell humility we like to sell we need everybody else then your head doesn't begin to swell and get out of proportion with the rest of your body and you tip over and you find yourself laying on your back looking up because your head got so big give you an example we've always believed in the whole organization I believe as a dairy farmer that the meat program is an absolute must in order for the dairy farmer to enjoy success in the meat program I've learned and I've gone back and told other people I don't like using that word I even though you'll hear it because I'd rather say we and us because it's many many many times more powerful and more successful because if you get a lot of asses and wheeze in this organization the eye doesn't have to do so much if you start talking about the eye you build a program and it comes up to a pinnacle and then you wonder who the eye is we build it the other way around we put the eye down on the bottom and say okay I'll go out and get two more people and get those two more people to get four more people and those poor people to get ten more people and so forth and so on the next thing you know you're beginning to make progress I'll end this up with facts to show you how this works but anyway a year ago January I got to go back just a little bit farther than that in September of 1975 six of us farmers got together went to a bank and bought a gooseneck trailer in the truck to haul it and we had a program where we took all dairy cows and took him to a slaughterhouse ground of Absolem and you know through the NFL ground beef program and we heard people saying that's wonderful I'm getting 10 cents 110 cents a pound or $10 100 more my neighbor ha ha ha and if I was success well that's not success to me talking about how I'm getting more than my neighbor and what was the price well the price in January the 6th day of January I drove that gooseneck truck and went now and picked up some animals took them to a slaughterhouse I was the plant rat because the guy that drove the truck got the opportunity to read the plant rap we picked up the check at the plant sent it to the Rochester office they took it and spread it out over the people that had the animals on that truck and we got on the top side of animals cull dairy cows addressed 800 pounds on down to cull dairy cows addressed 400 and some odd pounds on the high side we got 12 cents a pound less than my father did in 1949 when I was a sophomore in high school and whoopty-doo now ain't that something you can stick your chest out you can pat yourself on the back and you can kick yourself in the rump while you push your nose on the grindstone a little bit harder and go broke a little bit faster that's not what n fo was designed to do we kept talking and working with some of the other people in the program checking with them how n fo was succeeding which it naturally wasn't because if the overall price doesn't come up and you don't make progress by getting more people involved and get more production you're going just one way and that's right straight down so sometime long in August we decided to become part of the whole organization again and in September of 77 we loaded up a possum belly load of cattle and calves and a few steers and a few dairy bulls and we send them out to Utica New York through the whole NF fall now let me show you the advantage of being part of the whole NF fall we got the advantage of having a plant rep we got the advantage of being part of the homie program by sending the meat through the money through the whole custodial count we little custodial accounts but you don't joy the advantage of having the protection of the hall if you're off here by yourself then we went down those country roads after we knew we had something that was good by saying a look we've got the part of the hall backing us and we again to begin to explain to people that the reason why the milk industry was predicting our tremendous drop in the price of milk this past spring was because last a year ago last fall the cull dairy price was so low but that was because the feeder price in Montana wasn't so good in a Missouri it wasn't so good and that was because the fed cattle price in the areas where they were converting green to meat wasn't so good now if you're going to make it work we all got to do our share and that begins with me doing my share now I'll step off the subject for just a second but be right on the subject there was a man once born in this world and he said when he left to go out and to love and to teach and most important was to do that meant I could ask you if I would show you an example of me doing because I have no right to ask somebody else to do something unless I'm willing to do it myself first so we went out and again I say I don't like I I like to say come on Walt come on gentlemen come on ladies let's go I'll take the first step in the second step and then you take the first second step in the second step and we'll get so many people marching in the right direction all together at the same time there's no way anybody can stop us I'm not out here as an nfo member or an NFL paid staff personnel or is anything else in nfo to destroy the meat industry the milk industry the grain industry or anything else all the consumer or any of the middle people in between I'm not against them I want them to make a profit but I have something else I want the farmer and the rancher to make a profit also I want to turn around a system that's built from the top down and build it from the bottom up so we all can survive I'm against something that's right it's a disease called low price ideas it grabs you in the checkbook in the wallet and back there on the farm and the ranch and it completely wipes you out as an individual well if I'm against something what am I going to do I want to replace an old system with a new system where farmers and ranchers can get involved and get equity full-fat cost of production plus a reasonable profit so we all can survive and the consumer can eat three times a day and that if that means that I is a farmer and an nfo member and a staff person has to give something a little bit extra to get it done so what that's what the people did that came