Posted on December 10, 2008 - by Russell
TLMA & TLBAA Have Private Meeting
On Friday December 12, 2008 an unofficial secret meeting was held between the TLMA leadership and a hand-selected group of TLBAA Directors. I do not have all the details yet as to how the meeting went. The TLBAA directors who attended were Mrs. Lana Hightower, Mr. Maurice Ladnier, Mr. Ty Wehring, Dr. Zech Dameron and Horn Showcase Chairman Mr. Brent Bolen. I learned of this meeting only a few days before it was to take place.
I contacted two of the directors, Mrs. Hightower and Mr. Wehring and they both confirmed that they would be attending this meeting. Mrs. Hightower stated she was going as a TLBAA member, not as a director and without any power to negotiate a deal with the TLMA. She just wanted to hear what they [TLMA] had to say. She also commented that she was being pressured by some individuals to attend. Mr. Wehring stated that he would not be giving in to TLMA or making any kind of concessions. He too said that he just wanted to hear what they had to say.
I would encourage all TLBAA members who want to know what happened at this meeting to contact their directors. Ask your representative to tell you exactly what was discussed at this meeting. Remember they work for the members and we have the right to ask them tough questions and to know what is going on in your association. I will post additional information about this meeting as soon as I receive it.
I believe this meeting was totally unnecessary. None of the TLMA members have been expelled or banned from the TLBAA. There is nothing to be negotiated. They are still TLBAA members, they are welcomed at TLBAA events and they can advertise in the Trails magazine just like any other member. So what is there to negotiate?
In spring of this year the TLMA presented a list of demands to a couple of the TLBAA Directors. If these demands were met they would come back to TLBAA. They would bring back their advertising dollars and start attending the TLBAA events again. Some of the demands included on this list were: the removal of several board members (even though these directors were elected to the board by the members, the TLMA wanted them removed), having certain TLBAA staff members fired, the TLMA wanted to control the TLBAA sales and they also wanted the Trails magazine to be replaced with TLMAís Texas Longhorn Journal. In other words, the TLMA wants to control the TLBAA even though they were not elected by the TLBAA membership to do so.
If the TLMA truly wants to resolve the conflict within the industry they need to cease and desist with all their negativity against the TLBAA and anyone that is not willing to let them take over the industry. We do not need to continue to have secret meetings with a handpicked group of TLBAA Directors. If TLMA has something to say or present then they should stand before the entire TLBAA Board and Membership and state their case. If they canít do this then they do not truly want to resolve the conflict that they have helped create in this industry. Let the board and members decide if the TLMA should control our Longhorn market and our association. Should the industry be controlled by an elite few?
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February 26, 2009
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I received an e-mail from Joe Gaddeys a few days ago. He forwarded an e-mail from Ben Gravett. I am going to forward it on to Dr. Fritz Moeller. Gravett basically slammed Dr. Moeller and the TLBAA finances. He strogly suggested things were in better shape finacially when he was chairman. Gravett and his sellect few have had to much control for to long. They have taken their support and advertising away from the TLBAA and given it to TLMA. Their the ones that have hurt our association. I think now that we have our association back we need to boot the sellect few out. They have controlled the longhorn market for the last ten years or more. They are manipulating the longhorn market through their adds and their sales. They are strictly big horn breeders period. They only want to market large horned cattle. They have done a pretty good job pulling the wool over some breeders eyes. The sales they sponcer are big and advertised big. But, they are buying from each other[ you buy mine and I buy yours, then at the next sale, I buy yours and you buy mine] They like to hear their name announced by the colonel behind the block and the attention they attract, plus the publicity in the Trails or TLMA. Their the ones that has hurt the association more than any one thing since the associations existance. They like power and lots of it. Seriously, the TLBAA needs to make some new bylaws or amendments to boot these sorry individuals out. They like the word NASTALGIA. A longhorn breeder without their huge horn genetics is not in their click. In fact if your not a member of the sellect few you are a nobodyin their eyes. Back to NASTALGIA. This is huge horns in the sellect fews apinion. Back in the day of the trail drives cowboys indured hardtimes,bad weather, stampedes, indians, thirst and hunger, and sometimes even death. Through all this their knowledge and skills got the herd to the rail heads. What was the purpose of this. Our sellect few would have you think it was the nastalgia of the large horns. Well, it was’nt. It was the BEEF. Yes, the BEEF! TLBAA members have a poduct they could be marketing GLOBALLY. That is exciting but the sellect few are manipulating us through their actions. They are selling us their product, HORN. We have a product that is possibly the most healthy meat in the world. AND WE ARE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT MARKETING IT.
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February 26, 2009
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This would be a good time for TLBAA to go forward and pursue the health food market with our longhorn beef. CERTIFIED TEXAS LONGHORN BEEF. Sounds good do’nt it. As an association we need to set some goals and this would be one of the best ones I can think of. Lets not let the sellect few dictate the direction this great breed is to go. Their forsight for this breed is hollow. Eventually it’s a dead end. Then where will the association be. The true cattleman members of this association will agree with me on this. I praise the breeders and youth who have taken this breed to a new and improved level. They have done this in our TLBAA cattle shows. This is the right direction not horn.
Sincerely,
Mike Bilberry
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February 26, 2009
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Mike,
You bring up some great points. We need to look at all markets for Longhorns. I would encourage you to speak with your TLBAA Directors about your ideas and concerns. We now have what I feel is one of the best group of leaders we’ve had in my 29 yrs in the TLBAA. But they want and need the input of the membership. Thank you for sharing your thought with us.