Posted on January 9, 2009 - by Russell

TLMA - Creating Good Will or Just More Controversy?

When the Texas Longhorn Marketing Alliance (TLMA) was formed I personally took a ‘wait and see’ position.  Let me first say that I think there are a number of good people in the TLMA-several are friends of mine and even founding members.  The publicized purpose and reasons behind the formation of the TLMA sounded like a pretty good one.  The announcement was as follows … “Purpose and mission of the TLMA, to preserve the dignity and integrity of the Texas Longhorn Breed and to serve as voluntary stewards of the Longhorn legacy, to sponsor an alliance among owners of Texas Longhorns that encourages respectful communication, fun events, and a positive environment, to promote, advertise, and market Texas Longhorns for the expressed purpose of enhancing their value and marketability. If you want to restore the fun and excitement of owning and breeding Texas Longhorn cattle you will want to be a part of the Alliance. Continue to register your cattle with the Longhorn registry of your choice while you enjoy being associated with breeders from all walks of life whose common goal is to create a stable market for their cattle”.  In theory, this all sounded good and would benefit the Longhorn industry and TLMA members.  My question was:  Could they execute all this without creating a division within the industry?  A few days after the initial announcement, I received the TLMA Membership Information listing the membership levels.  It stated:

“In its meeting on August 28, 2007, the Board of Directors authorized the following Membership Levels:

Lifetime Founding Member - Investment of $25,000 at inception
• Lifetime waiver of TLMA dues,
• Twelve free full-page ads in the TLMA magazine,
• A 10% discount on all future advertising in the magazine,
• Ownership of five shares of voting stock.

Founding Member - Investment of $10,000 at inception
• Waiver of dues for five years,
• Four free full-page ads in the TLMA magazine during year one,
• A 10% discount on all future advertising in the magazine,
• Ownership of two shares of voting stock.

Charter Member - Investment of $5,000 at inception
• Waiver of annual dues for three years,
• Two full page ads in the TLMA magazine in year one,
• A 5% discount on all future advertising in the magazine,
• Ownership of one share of voting stock.

VIP Lifetime Participant - Payment of $1,000 anytime
• Lifetime waiver of dues,
• Advertising in the TLMA magazine at standard rates,
• Subscription to the TLMA magazine for a period of time.

VIP Participant - Payment of annual dues

Notes:
“The TLMA will publish a quality monthly magazine in which any member, participant or affiliated business partner may advertise, Membership or participation at one of the levels listed above is a required before consigning or entering cattle in a TLMA sanctioned event, All members and current participants are entitled to annual subscription to the magazine, The board has authorized dues for year one of $100, and All persons investing $1,000 or more will receive a commemorative of their participation in the Alliance.”

After reading over the list of membership levels and the voting rights I started having doubts about the TLMA.  It seemed to not be about promotion of the Longhorn breed, but more about certain individuals having control of what was happening in the industry.  Especially, considering that several of the founding members had walked out of the August 20, 2007 TLBAA Board Meeting and some had resigned their positions with TLBAA only 7 days before the TLMA announcement.  I was present at that TLBAA Meeting and watched all this unfold.  Rather than discussing the issues and trying to work for the betterment of the association, this group staged a walkout because they were not getting their way.  Even after witnessing what happened at that TLBAA meeting and having my doubts after the TLMA formed, I still kept an open mind and a ‘wait and see’ attitude.

I had several TLMA members give me their best sales pitch…“The TLMA is going to create new and innovative ways to market and sell Longhorn cattle…It’s going to benefit all breeders, you’ll see.”  The TLMA has been around for over a year now and I am still waiting to see their new and innovative ways.

They produced The Longhorn World Championship in October, but this was not a new, original or innovative idea because two weeks later the TLBAA hosted their 8th Annual Horn Showcase and Sale.

The TLMA started publishing the Texas Longhorn Journal, but once again this was not a new, original or innovative idea because the TLBAA and the ITLA are both already publishing Longhorn magazines.  The TLMA says their magazine is mailed to all Longhorn breeders and enthusiasts, but this is not the case because as to date I have not received one single copy of their “official business publication of the Longhorn Industry”.   I am just one of many breeders who have not received the Journal yet.  So the publishers of the Journal have been misleading their advertisers.  If you are an advertiser and you think you are reaching all prospective buyers…You are NOT.

Next the TLMA started managing and producing sales under the leadership of ex-TLBAA employee Jim Curry.  Again this is not new, others have been putting on successful sales for years.  Not only was this not a new idea, but I also question their judgment of who they hired as their sales manager.  Mr. Curry was in thick with Mr. Don L. King; however he was not directly connected to Mr. King’s misappropriation of funds.   At the time of Mr. Curry’s heated resignation at the August 20, 2007 TLBAA Board Meeting the auditors report showed just a little more than $20,000 of undocumented payments to Mr. Curry.  He was also in on the falsification of the High-Selling lot (Delta Amber) at the August 19, 2006 Hill Country Sale.  

I no longer have a ‘wait and see’ attitude about the TLMA, because they have shown me that they do not intend to live up to their Purpose and Mission Statement.  If it wasn’t clear before, it became very clear after reading two recent letters.  One was the Chairman of the Board Message written by TLMA Chairman Johnnie Robinson, published in the December 2008 Journal.  The other letter was written by Mr. Charlie Buenger, TLBAA Executive Vice-Chairman which appeared in the December 2008 Trails magazine.  If you lay these letters side by side it is pretty interesting and revealing.  One is negative and one is very positive. 

The TLMA says it’s about ‘encouraging respectful communication, fun events, and a positive environment’ yet they are firing negative shots at the TLBAA and creating a negative environment.  Mr. Robinson’s letter is almost all negative with uncalled for shots at Dr. Fritz Moeller, the TLBAA Chairman of the Board and Mr. Charlie Buenger.  Mr. Robinson’s only beef with them seems to be that they will not cow down to the TLMA or let the TLMA call the shots for the entire Longhorn industry.  Why do you think Mr. Robinson thought this negative attack was necessary?  Does he think that is new and innovative?  Could it be that TLMA had no positive activities to write about?  Why does the TLMA feel the need to attack the TLBAA?  Do they think that is new and innovative? Why are they adamantly pushing for the TLBAA to accept them?  Do they think that is a new and innovative approach?

However, Mr. Buenger’s letter is about the positive activities that the TLBAA has been doing to promote Longhorns.  He wrote about the TLBAA having its logo on the Yates Racing Team No. 28 NASCAR at the November 2, 2008 Dickies 500 race at Texas Motor Speedway.  The logo was seen by tens of millions of Americans on ESPN and ABC Sports.  Now that is innovative!  He also wrote about meeting and visiting with television’s Food Network stars Rachel Ray and Iron Chef Mario Bitali and discussing with them the healthy and nutritional benefits of Longhorn beef.  Mr. Buenger promised to send them the TLBAA Lean Longhorn Beef brochure and some Longhorn beef for them to try out.  Now that is innovative! 

Early this year the TLBAA signed a contract with Tractor Supply to have the Trails on its magazine racks in their 683 stores nationwide.  Since May 2008, the Trails has increased its monthly distribution to over 8,000 copies making it the largest Longhorn publication distributor in the industry.  Now that is innovative!  The Trails magazine has also been online for Longhorn breeders and enthusiasts to read since March 2008.  Is this innovative—you bet it is!

As time has passed the effect of the formation of the “Alliance” is seen as creating a greater division within the industry.  It is even causing long time friendships to come to an end.  I guess I got the answer to my earlier question “could they execute all this without creating a division within the industry”.  The TLMA seems to be fighting to be accepted by the TLBAA; do they really think that will work?   I would say to the leaders of TLMA–either put-up, shut up or go away.  It is easy to get along with people who agree with you and share your agenda, but it takes work to get along with those who challenge you on issues or have opposite ideas.  If you want to succeed you need to stop attacking those who don’t agree with you and start living up to your own Purpose and Mission Statement…after all, actions speak louder than words.  Unless, of course that is not your real Purpose and Mission and you are working on your true Purpose and Mission–creating division within the TLBAA and eventually destroying the association.  Based on their actions one has to stop and wonder–could that be the true Mission of the TLMA?  If that is true then I would say to Dr. Moeller, Mr. Buenger and all the TLBAA Officers and Directors  ’ Thank You’ for fighting a good fight and please keep fighting for TLBAA, it’s members and the Texas Longhorn Breed.  The membership needs to stand firm behind the men and women who are giving freely of their time to help guide our great association.

Life is too short to be surrounded by negativity.  That is why I choose not to attend TLMA events or purchase cattle at these events for myself or on behalf of my clients.  My time and money are better spent supporting a TLBAA or an ITLA event.