By Betty Jo Gigot Publisher
Photo courtesy KLA
Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) members met in December in Wichita, Kan., for their annual meeting. More than 850 members elected officers, attended council meetings and were updated on the current state of the industry by Greg Doud, former chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and CattleFax CEO Randy Blach. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Senior Executive Director of Scientific Affairs Mandy Carr Johnson presented an analysis of the latest research on the factors impacting beef purchasing decisions, why this information is important to the beef community and how NCBA and state beef councils use it to help keep beef at the center of consumers’ plates.
2023 NCBA President Todd Wilkinson thanked members for their support.
“I quickly identified with an organization like NCBA that stood for something and would get into the trenches to fight,” he said. “KLA is a mover and a shaker. You are the gold standard, and you should be proud of that.”
2024 KLA Leadership
Photo courtesy KLA
KLA will be headed up by President Philip Weltmer, a Smith County rancher, and President-Elect Troy Sander, the chief operations manager for Heritage Beef, which operates feedyards in Haskell and Labette counties.
Leading the KLA Cattle Feeders Council (CFC) Executive Committee are Chairman Shane Tiffany with Tiffany Cattle Company and Vice Chairman Daniel Berg with Gray County Feed Yard of Cimarron. Keith Bryant with Cobalt Cattle Company in Garden City is serving on the CFC Executive Committee as past chairman.
Daniel Mushrush from Strong City will serve as chair of the KLA Stockgrowers Council, with Clint Sturdy of Lyndon holding the position of vice chair. Gene Barrett from Grantville is the immediate past Stockgrowers Council chairman.
The KLA Dairy Council chair is Ole Johnson with J7 Dairy LLC in Tribune. Vice chair of the council is Jason Shamburg with Kansas Dairy Development LLC in Deerfield.
