Master Cattle Walt Hackney and Staff b

due to problems that have developed in the past this is something that is handled exclusively by the corning staff our constant market analysis our access to accurate and pertinent information and our professional rapport with the packing industry give us a decided advantage in dealing with these professional counterparts after a complete credit check and market study have been approved negotiations for a working agreement with Packers or Packers in the area are opened up when the working agreement is accepted the foundation is laid the next step is to establish a floor to build on a smooth floor will enable us to move easily from one part of the structure to the other a rough floor will result in stubbed toes broken heels and a lot of accidents the floor to this structure that we're talking about is the communication between the home office and the local leadership local market conditions change erratically and in order to properly market in any area we must be informed as to local prices and problems this feedback must come from the country efficient and competent transportation must be governed and selected by the membership that it will serve all the cattle we sell must be transported to market there's an interesting point to be made here the Teamsters Union is one of the largest and most powerful in this country they are large powerful and wealthy solely through collective bargaining transportation is always a bearing factor on any structure it must be readily accessible and adequate to suit your needs in addition to transportation we'll need a place to collect these cattle that were going to deliver in this new market area the competitively priced working agreement has been accepted local leadership has been contacted the foundation or a solid base has been completed up to this stage there have been relatively few people involved and all of those involved have been either professionals or experts in at least one phase of the dealings or another all the dirty work is done but the hard work has just begun now we must block our production so that collective bargaining is more than an idea so that it is a reality this phase will encompass every member of the organization this phase will take the most time the most work and the greatest number of people a complete and accurate inventory is taken to determine the quality and the quantity of the cattle we intend to deliver to the Packers in this new area every member is contacted for participation transportation is coordinated to ensure efficient delivery of marketable cattle each person is informed predetermined prices the blocking of production is the only sure way to cost of production plus a reasonable profit in today's market the minuteman system of communications is the only sure way to block production through the Minuteman system we know where every animal is who owns that animal and the approximate shipping date of that animal every successful attempt to block production in the national farmers organization has been accompanied by a working Minute Man system every failure has been accompanied by a weak or inactive system to be a member of the national farmers organization is to be a member of the Minuteman system without exception the mark the meant man's system is more than a marketing tool it's an information source and everyone knows that to be successful you have to be informed now are like a fine-tuned racecar setting at the starting line revving up our engines were ready to go we're ready to pass all competition and to finish in first place we have everything we need to succeed everything except one a working system we've got a system but is it going to work or is it going to fail throughout the history we have by this point a clearer picture of our efforts if we follow the guidelines will have a Minuteman system that can turn the flow of cattle on and off like a light switch we have a complete and accurate inventory we have informed producers we have key people to police our system of collection and dispatch we have a professionally negotiated working agreement and hopefully we have a block of production throughout the history of the national farmers organization at various times we've had all of the pieces of this structure different combinations of all of the pieces of this structure yet when it came to maintaining our production blocks we failed our Minuteman systems have deteriorated our collection and dispatch have fallen apart it won't return us anything to dwell on our past failures it will however benefit us greatly to analyze these errors and adjust our programs to guard new and complete marketing strategies a market study of the type I've just discussed was started earlier this year about spring by the home office staff in Corning our target area was the northeastern United States specifically New York Vermont and Maine our interest there was not coincidentally we were at that time making tremendous headway with our cold cal blocks in the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota the Northeast is saturated with dairy farms it was these dairy coal cows the bread and butter of the cattle industry that attracted our attention we learned from that study in short order that our membership in the Northeast was both dedicated and resourceful but we also learned that it was dwindling we learned from that study that party back in Utica New York with whom we have a unique and adequate working agreement was the largest of its kind in that marketing area we learned that the volume capacity of the producers in those three states that are members of the national farmers organization was sufficient enough to supply a major portion of that Packers kill and we found that the attitude of the packing industry in the Northeast toward the national farmers organizations program for marketing cattle had like the national farmers organization itself shifted and drifted into a new era of professional marketing volume was then and still is the primary concern of every Packer in the Northeast but the help of Kent and Bailey of Maine Herald Adams of Vermont Duke tingle Brecht of New York and some others we set out to block production in the Northeast for our National Coal Cowell movement the members blocked 450 called dairy cows for that movement the market slipped and the date for delivery was postponed our block began to crumble another date was set and deliveries scheduled over a three day period the Packers in New York told me at that time that delivery according to my three-day schedule was impossible in the state of New York three days later I was inclined to believe them because we were delivering less than 10% of our cattle according to our daily schedule into the Packer but that experience is going to prove to be the most positive thing that has happened in the cattle department or division in a long long time it's positive because it generated activity among our membership it's positive because of a renewed awareness of both the problems and the potential of an area we thought to have been lost to apathy it's going to be positive because it showed the Packers in the Northeast that this so-called new nfo we've been talking about was here and it was serious and it was potentially disastrous to the present for German programs used by those Packers the results of that cold cow block were won and improved working agreement to the rejuvenation of the Minuteman system three increased demand for national farmer organization cattle including one Packer who requested from me 100% supply of national farmer organization cattle fourth and most important we had a revival of the leadership and the staff in that area to succeed the north northeast is unique and that the only two major commodities there are dairy products and beef our success there is imminent and it's restricted only by participation of the members in the cattle department we've tried to govern our expansion in order to develop each area completely before moving into a new area for the last several minutes I've talked only about the tangent factors involved in developing a new area I've done that deliberately because the next thing I'm about to touch on is the most crucial of all I'm going to talk about people people consume our products people price our products people come in a variety of sizes and shapes no two are alike the dairy producer in the Northeast his needs have nothing in common with the wheat farmer in Kansas those two men are as different and their needs are as different as the men themselves our entire system of marketing is dependent on people our effectiveness in blocking our production is dependent on people my job in the cattle division is to find solutions to problems the only problems that we can't solve in cattle vision are those that deal with people we will never never accomplish our goal if we allow personality conflicts to govern the flow of cattle we must all work together all the time everywhere we are it's essential that we do that the best marketing system in the world is going to be worthless to us unless we have people working together all the time everywhere to accomplish one single goal blocking that production in the past year I've seen the most incredible change in personalities I've seen in my life I am supposed to be representative of what can be done in a personality change because I'm not from an agricultural background and I'm in the agricultural business I've seen the people in the nfo spend hours and hours on end trying to find ways to improve the programs I've seen people who hated each other's guts forget about their differences and forget about the past and work together to better their position in the marketplace I've seen a virtual melting pot of personalities molded into one voice now if an Okie and an Archie and a cowboy and a truck driver and a marginal lunatic like the one we've got back home can work together anybody in the world can key people key people with the knowledge and expertise to develop working systems and solve problems are essential to the cattle program and to every other thing that you do statistics and experience show us that we're now on the threshold of accomplishing our goal the cost of production plus a reasonable profit thank you I do very much run that's some more of the example I've been trying to express here today of the question that is becoming more and more in my mind I wonder how many more are in this audience that have that expressed talent that you just heard here express himself to you I'm sure you learn from what he told you I'm sure you had to be impressed with a simple fact that this man came with your organization one year or less ago absolutely no conception of what this organization was or stood for and was able to stand at a National Convention and express himself in the manner that he did I wonder how many more of you are restricting me your friends and neighbors and more importantly yourselves by not coming forward with that kind of a talent we had to set up this program precisely as Ron Shaw has expressed himself to you we had to find an area that was primarily local on the area and that had good potential as he expressed an area that had the packing power and freight proximity to the source of supply and a state that became more prominent at each survey was the state of Wisconsin so we decided that would be our pilot project now in Wisconsin you met Orleans try we had Vic Ballmer up there numerous other good men but their time was so restricted urban runs three collection points by himself Vic Ballmer farms and runs a big collection point in Rock County we had to find a young man that had vitality but also had at least a working background of what your and my objectives were in collective bargaining last winter we were having a series of young farmer meetings in Corning Iowa these young men came from all States they came in large numbers it gave us a chance as department heads to kind of look over the crop so to speak and a fella that kept coming and he kept coming to the surface he kept asking questions he had a certain infantile curiosity if that's the correct term about marketing cattle he had an eagerness to learn about marketing cattle that really impressed me I found out that in fact he was a farmer a dairyman had a truck for sure hauled cattle for the national farmers organization and through some contact I got to him express my need and he accepted the challenge as a salaried employee and expressed himself to me that he was interested enough to take on the state supervisory ship of the state of Wisconsin this fellas name is Joe song he's from western earth he's from Potter Wisconsin that's up in the eastern area his responsibility is to block cows and when we're all done here today I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you a little bit of what he's done most recently but for now I would like for you to welcome Joe song to give you an indication of what this program that Bobby Cox laid out for you what this program as it now is currently in application is doing for you physically it's not an if come thing ladies and gentlemen it's in your hands today it's not a thing that will come if it's a thing that is currently in production and while we up here are at this convention that program is on automatic and is in running condition and is operating and we're blocking cattle this very minute to Packers in this country so with that Joe I would like to have you say some words I'd like for you to welcome Joe song from Wisconsin Thank You Walt ladies and gentlemen for the past three years I've been sitting where you're sitting today listening to speakers tell us what we should be doing to make the National Farmers Organization a success well I'm not going to stand up here and tell you what we should be doing but in fact I am going to tell you a success story of what we are doing in the state of Wisconsin with our coal coal program I've been employed by the national farmers organization slaughter cattle division since January of this year and for the first three and a half months we ran our call--call program as we had done in the past I'm not going to dwell on the past because I don't think the past is important but for those first three and a half months we ran our call--call program in a helter-skelter manner by that I mean we would book our cattle with the packing companies and if we were within 75 to 100 head of what we booked for a week we would consider ourselves lucky but more importantly for those first three and a half months I was out in the country getting people who would work with me as cattle coordinators these people had to be positive they had to be energetic they had to be able to communicate with the members and non-members of life they had to be able to coordinate cattle with me now on the 15th of April I got a call from the Home Office telling me to put a cow block or a cow sell-off together in the state of Wisconsin I did this with the help of my new cattle coordinators collection point reps County meat committees the dairy staff from the state of Wisconsin and our national directors these people help me contact every member in the state of Wisconsin for that sell-off we put together 2,200 collars knowing me we sold these cows to a local packer in Green Bay we sold them for 8350 flatten a beef this Packer bought these cows with a little reluctance because he had no faith in the national farmers organization but through a professional job of selling by our people in the home office he bought these collars on a week at a fifteenth of me we delivered these cows through this Packer all 2,200 just as we had scheduled over Memorial Day weekend Walter Hackney director of slaughter cattle received a call from this fire from this packing company and this buyer told him he couldn't believe that accuracy in which we delivered that block of columns this is a quite a tribute to the national farmers organization and its membership now in June another sell-off was put together this time 12 150 collars were blocked the only difference is this time we had every major call killer in the Midwest trying to buy these collars we sold them and delivered them 1250 just as we had scheduled in July a sell-off was put together 950 collars and I think at this time it was a turning point for a call call program in the state of Wisconsin we put together these 950 cows and I think at this point the packing companies were anticipating this sell on the yellow sheet dropped $10 per hundredweight across the board and the reason why I see this was the turning point is because I received a call from the Home Office telling me to put a hold on this cow sell-off I contacted my cattle coordinators and my collection point reps they in turn called every member who had cattle book for that sell-off we held these 950 collars after our August 3rd meeting in Des Moines the yellow sheet responded we delivered all of our 950 cows as we had booked now in September it was decided we would go twice a month and from this point on we called them call blocks on a 15 to September steve bore assistant director of slaughter cattle sold a block of 450 cows to packer land packing company in Green Bay and the corporate buyer told Steve Bohr this and I quote I can't believe how you people organized deliver the delivery on that large a number of cows with that many owners a couple of years ago I wouldn't even have bought a block of cows a block of 200 cows or more because I couldn't depend on them having been delivered the way the national farmers organization conducts its business now is a difference between night and day as you can see we have now gained the confidence of the packing companies after the after September it was decided we would go once a week with our cow blocks since that time we have been averaging a block of cows a week of 5 to 600 head of collars now the reason why we went once a month then twice a month and now to once a week is because we had a condition our membership in to blocking their production as they should have been doing since the national farmers organization was organized what has this program this call Kyle program meant to the national farmers organization and its membership it has meant a 30% increase in production in our caucus this year compared to last even though according to state statistics are called cow kill in the state of Wisconsin is down 17 percent so in all actuality we have increased our production by 47 percent it has meant an increase in membership I've had my own non-member neighbors call me and asked what they had to do to get involved in the National Farmers Organization call Kyle program I have it I have had collection points from Michigan and Minnesota call me and ask what they had to do to get involved in Wisconsin's call Kyle blacks I simply tell them to be professional give us an accurate description of your cattle and accurate numbers and accurate delivery deeds it has meant more net dollars in the farmers pocket and right now I'm going to show you what I mean in the column in the left is what farmers received for their cattle by going through sale barns and local terminals outside of the national farmers organization this is on all grades of collars I got these figures from the Wisconsin statistical reporting service in Madison Wisconsin now the column on the right is what our national farmers organization membership has received for their production by going through our Col Col program as you can see all through the months we have been ahead but more importantly look where we have come from at $29 and 40 cents per hundred week in January to 42 dollars and eighty-eight cents per hundredweight in November ladies and gentlemen this is success right now I'm going to tell you how we conduct one week's business in our call call program in the state of Wisconsin on Thursday after the cattle have been or the cows have been delivered for that week I call my cattle coordinators and collection point reps telling them of our next week's call block telling them to contact every member in their respective areas they have from Thursday through Monday at noon to contact their membership and get the total number of cattle in their area back to me at noon on Monday I call the home office giving them the total number of cows we have for the state of Wisconsin they sell our cows by 4:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon for us they tell me where to deliver the cows and at what price we're going to sell them for I then call a packing companies or the packing company where we have sold them give him the delivery schedule on these cows when we're going to have them there after this has been completed I call my cattle coordinators and my collection point reps telling them where to deliver the cows and at what price we have them sold they then have from Tuesday through Thursday to deliver these cows now what does Walter Hackney expect from me as slaughter cattle supervisor for the state of Wisconsin he expects me to conduct myself as a professional or as a businessman he expects me to accurately describe our blocks of cattle by that I mean that total number of cows the types of cows he expects me to accurately describe our average weights live and rest are actual grades on our last week's block of cows this enables him to more effectively bargain for our next week's block of columns right now I'm going to give you an example of what effect of blocking and bargaining of the college has done for us the week before last Steve Bohr called me and told me to put together a block of a thousand collars and at this time I didn't think it could be done we didn't put together a thousand collars but in fact we put together 1,200 collars and with that block of cows we made history in the National Farmers Organization we sold this block of cows for ninety cents flatten a beef ladies and gentlemen this is success in closing I'm going to tell you the two key factors that have made us successful in the state of Wisconsin with our colic aisle program they are communication and coordination just remember communication and coordination and I think if every state and union took these two key words back to their states and counties and put them to work they too can come back to our next year's National Convention and tell the same success story thank you very much thank you very much Joe it seems like I have to continue to repeat myself because Joe did not come from industry but Joe could go to industry Joe could go to those Packers with that description that he gives me each week and buy as accurately and as as stupidly for that Packer as any man that that Packer has and he's come to this position in probably 10 months he was a member he had a desire he wanted to do it he asked to do it and we give him the opportunity I hope you noticed in Joe's presentation the one word that we have omitted now from where I was a year ago today it's a we organization now Walt Hackney didn't sell and Steve bore didn't block we said that we would do it we did it and we made history last week for this organization I think that's highly commendable and I complement the organization for it but you know the thing that probably bothers me more than any one thing it's foolish that we got a brag about last week making history you've had the potential for 20 years you'll have the potential for the next 20 years I hope the neck twenty years we'll have a success story to it comparable to what Jose expressed he has experienced in that state of Wisconsin there's other states to thank there's other states to brag on I picked Wisconsin simply because it happened to be the initial pilot program that we put out it's worked it's working elsewhere I had to have more help though than then Jo song I had to have more help than Ron Shaw I needed an individual in our office that was energetic that was young and flexible minded enough to learn hopefully take some direction from me and I couldn't find one that I felt like would fill those requirements but I had a state supervisor over in the state of Nebraska running around single chasing girls and raising Cain all night and I needed to bring him in where I could hold him down a little bit so I invited Steve Bohr to come over to Corning Iowa he walked in there looking like John boos Hawk just crawled off a bronc somewhere in Oklahoma City but he has turned himself into as qualified bargainer of livestock for this organization as you will need to have he has commanded and gotten the respect from those individuals we do business with on a daily basis they don't call for Walt Hackney anymore they call for Steve because they know that what he expresses has got my endorsement because I have total full confidence in what he does as a bargainer for your product I want you to welcome Steve he works hard he's totally sincere and committed to your cause I think you deserve him I think he deserves your support I'd like you to welcome Steve Bohr the assistant director ladies and gentlemen Bobby Cox from Montana give you a very basic description of the initial concept of collective bargaining Ron Shaw from the home office described to you in detail the national farmers organization collection dispatch and delivery system you also heard Joel Psalm give you the first-hand facts on what these programs along with the marketing system you now have available to you has accomplished many of you probably recognized these as being the same system you've had available to you for quite a number of years yes it is the same and I might add the very best complete saturation program that exists over the past year we've had to develop a rapport with a packing industry that would allow us to move them cattle other than on the grade and yield programs we have devoted most of the past year to overcoming this before we could put a complete Marketing System into effect this was more of a problem than what many of you may realize the reputation this organization had for marketing cattle was totally unacceptable we in the home office had to use our own Rafi tations and in fact hang our own carcasses on the line to get this system started well that paid off and now the industry has confidence in this organization for supplying them the kind and quality of cattle needed for their requirements another serious problem we have overcome in the past year is to gain confidence of the farmers and ranchers without participation and cooperation from cattle feeders and cow-calf people there isn't a system available in the country that will ever achieve you your cost of production plus a profit we're doing our best to cooperate with you you asked us for a more flexible marketing system because of these requests we have set up for you the most lucrative marketing system available to the farmers and ranchers today this graph shows you that at this time one year ago 96% of the cattle being marketed to the national farmers organization system were sold on the grain yield programs at the present time sixty-three percent of the cattle marketed are on the grain yield and the remaining 37 percent are either so flat in the beef or on a live basis what this means is that we had to prove to the packing industry that we had people who were professionally qualified to the point that we could sell them cattle using our own descriptions we have also through our much better rapport with the packing industry over the past year been able to greatly improve those grading yield formulas this shows you that in January of this year we have