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ABBA Recording Secretary – Armelinda Ibarra The Fall ABBA Board of Directors Meeting was held in conjunction with the National Brahman Show in Dallas, Texas. Thanks to the State Fair of Texas and the Pan American Livestock Committee all meetings, show and activities went very well. A very Special Thanks to our own Nancy McKenney, Carol Hawksley, Kathy & Jerry Wood, Kim Hewett and Renate Paroline for all their hard work and efforts in helping us organize these events. Below is a summary of Committee Reports presented at the ABBA Board of Directors meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORT – George Kempfer George Kempfer reports that as of September 30, 2014 ABBA’s financial position looks good. Not much has changed since his last report in Baton Rouge, LA. Registrations are still behind last year but there is an increase in Memberships and Activity Fees. It is expected that this is an indication that the registration numbers will increase by the end of the year. Year to Date income is $63,000. The Chilton Investment account shows positive returns of about 3.68 % compared to CD’s at about .86%. George Kempfer presented the 2015 Proposed Budget. This is a deficit budget of $18,000, however this is pretty much the same budget that has been approved over the last three years and we ended up with a profit at the end of each year. The Finance Committee is optimistic that we will end up with a profit once again. There are a few changes from the previous year’s budget. Registrations are expected to pick up in 2015 which comes with increased expenses for processing. Salaries will stay the same as if we had the position of Director of Communications/Youth filled. The Show Committee will put on Judging Seminars and a total of $5000 has been added to the budget for expenses surrounding these events. An Affiliates Council will be formed and expenses for this have also been included. A Better Beef Program has been approved and expenses have been added under Research & Breed Improvement for this project.

COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE - Kelvin Moreno

In the absence of Rachel Cutrer, Communications Committee Chairman, committee member, Kelvin Moreno presented their report to the board. Although their meeting was short, the committee approved the Advertising Budget for 2015. Kelvin reported that there are no changes to the budget and plans are underway for their proposed advertising plan. The committee also reviewed their progress of social media, email blasts, and press release efforts.

SHOW COMMITTEE – Gerald Young

The Show Committee is planning to host four Judging Seminars in Kissimmee, Florida, Warner, Oklahoma, Brenham, Texas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After that, they will have one a year and possibly rotate in different areas within the United States. Invitations to attend the seminars will be sent. For those who do not receive an invitation there will be an application process. Also people who do not want to be on the judges list but would like to attend these seminars are welcomed to attend. The Show Committee is working on developing a Questionnaire that will be disseminated to Brahman breeders, exhibitors, non-breeders and spectators. Questions regarding the show ring, the judges’ comments, etc. will be included. The goal is to make sure that people who judge

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Brahman cattle, know Brahman cattle, know the history of the breed, know what the Standard of Excellence is and what it means and to make sure that all ABBA Approved Judges understand the breed in order to do a good job of judging our cattle. The committee has already begun to identify breeders, exhibitors, and spectators that will be receiving those questionnaires within the next 30 days. The committee reviewed the Code of Ethics and recommended the following change to Section D, Guidelines #10: Change: “A replacement judge must be on the Approved ABBA Judges List”. They will also develop Guidelines to be used by the Color Committee when classifying the color of animals.

RESEARCH & BREED IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE – Loren Pratt

The Research and Breed Improvement Committee is very excited to report that guidelines for the Cooperative Bull Test have been determined. His subcommittee has worked very hard in assembling the guidelines. Bulls will be delivered January 5-9, 2015. There will be a 60 day warm up period, at the end of the warm up bulls will be sifted for docility and structural soundness. There will be a 120 day full feed test. A nomination fee of $150 has been set. At the end of the test there will be an internet sale held in October or November for the top 40 bulls. Three awards will be presented: Overall High Indexing, Top Gaining (ADG) Bull and Top Scanning Bull. Guidelines can be downloaded from the ABBA website. Plans for the “Better Beef” contest to be held at the 2015 All American was reviewed. Heifers and bulls will be ultrasound on a voluntary basis with prize monies being awarded to the top scanning animals. The guidelines and the six awards that will be awarded were reviewed and determined. The following awards will be presented: High Marbling Bull and Female $250 each, Top Retail Product Bull and Female $250 each and Top Scanning Bull and Female $250 each. After reviewing available data the committee recommended to add a Docility EPD to the ABBA pedigrees. The committee plans to award a “Max E. Hammond Performance Award”. A subcommittee of Glen Ruschhaupt (Chairman), Jim Bob Trant and Steve Wilkins will set the parameters for this award. The committee recommended that the following topics be included in the 2015 Membership Convention: “BHIR Overview” and “Bull Test and Carcass Highlights”. The committee appointed Dr. Joe Paschal, Dr. Jim Sanders and Loren Pratt to serve on the International Technical Committee to help set guidelines. This is in response to a request from the International Genetic Evaluation Committee.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE – Dr. Craig Fontenot

The ABBA Youth Activities Committee recommended that the AJBA Board of Directors select the judges (Junior Show Judge and Bred and Owned Judge) for the All American and then the Youth Activities Committee approve the judges after the AJBA Board selects them. They also recommend that the 2015 All American Show be moved from Lufkin, Texas to Texarkana, Arkansas due to several major issues with the facility in Lufkin. They appointed a subcommittee of David Miller, Sara Allen and Ricky Hammons to look into future locations for the 2016 and 2017 All American Shows.

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They have reported that the 2015 foundation heifer will be donated by Kelvin Moreno of Moreno Ranches. The committee is working on leadership activities for AJBA members, Hall of Fame and the program for the All American Show. These are a work in progress and will be discussed further at the next scheduled meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

MARKETING COMMITTEE – Arnold Saunders The Marketing Committee reports that the ABBA F-1 Certification Program continues to do very well. In an effort to provide guidelines for future ABBA Approved Sales, the committee will be working on developing and finalizing a document for ABBA Approved Sales. This document will be named, “ABBA Suggested Guidelines for the Sale of ABBA Cattle”. These guidelines will be applied to the ABBA F-1 National Sale in Caldwell, ABBA Select Sale and the International Brahman Sale in Houston. These guidelines will also be available for other sales who want to be listed as an ABBA Approved Sale. The committee reports that an F-1 Field Day will take place in Georgia in the spring of 2015. Glen Ruschhaupt, President of the South Texas Brahman Association invited everyone to the STBA Field Day and Meeting to be held Saturday, October 25, 2015 at Granny D’s Restaurant in Pleasanton, Texas. The committee approved to hire Milton Charanza to serve as Sale Manager for the 2016 National F-1 National Sale. The 2015 Spring Select Sale will be held in Opelousas, Louisiana with Broken Triangle to give back 1% of the proceeds to the ABBA.

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE – Larry Barthle

The International Committee reported on the ABBA International Field Day to take place October 17 at Santa Elena Ranch in Madisonville, Texas. Over 50 international guests have confirmed attendance and Larry Barthle encouraged ABBA members and Directors to attend this international event. He reported on the schedule of events to include Tony Clayton as featured speaker, Fun Auction and plenty of food, drinks and entertainment. He informed everyone that all proceeds from the Fun Auction will go to International Committee funds to be used for international marketing. He reported on the seven semen lots and many other items that will be in the auction. A special presentation to Claudio Suarez of the Dominican Republic will be presented in recognition of his continue support and work on the development of the Brahman breed in the Dominican Republic. Countries that will be represented are: Australia, Botswana, Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela and the United States.

MEMBERSHIP/MEMBER SERVICES – Dean Burkhardt

The Membership/Membership Services Committee selected Ft. Worth, Texas as the site of the 2015 Membership Convention to take place in the month of November 2015. The committee will work on the formation of an Affiliate’s Council. This group will provide assistance to state and area associations and help the ABBA stay in contact with these affiliates. The committee is working on other items to better serve the ABBA membership and provide future online help forums. The committee recommended that ABBA develop a "Brahman Proud" logo and make this logo available for download from the ABBA website.

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT – Ricky Hughes

The Executive Committee continues to work with the Finance Committee in monitoring ABBA’s finances. We are currently in a sound financial position with a $63,000 profit to date. We should end the year with a $25,000-$30,000 profit. The 2015 Proposed Budget was approved by the Executive Committee. This is an $18,000 deficit budget but a very realistic budget and includes all of the committee’s requests and provides ample funds for promotion and planned activities. Now is the time to put our best foot forward and plans are underway to do so. The Executive Committee went into Executive Session. The Executive Committee reconvened with the following motions: 1) To hire an out of office consultant to determine how to handle a personnel issue. 2) To review the ABBA Policies and Procedures on issuance and release of A.I. certificates. The Committee approved 26 new ABBA members, a processing fee of $25 per download for Animal data generated by the ABBA for Sale Catalogs, approved to hire Cattle in Motion to provide, pictures, video of sale lots and put on an Online Auction of the ABBA International Brahman Sale. The Committee approved to allow The Brahman Journal to include the International Brahman Sale catalog in The Brahman Journal magazine. They will also produce loose catalogs to be handed out prior to the sale. An African Safari Hunt donation was approved to be sold at the International Brahman Sale with all proceeds to go to the Research and Breed Improvement Committee. The committee heard an update on the 2014 Membership Convention. This was a successful event with 140 paid attendees. This was the biggest and best convention so far. Plans are underway to host the 2015 convention in Ft. Worth, Texas in the month of November. They approved the Winter Board Meeting schedule to be held in San Antonio, Texas in February 2015. The committee agreed to present the ABBA Friend of the Year award to Sam Kane Beef Processors. Although the Committee had agreed to develop the ABBA Membership Directory in house, under the current circumstances, the committee agreed to provide ABBA membership information to The Brahman Journal. They have agreed to publish the ABBA Membership Directory in the December issue of The Brahman Journal, they will include additional information as in the past and all information will be printed together with members listed by state. The committee heard and approved the Bull Test and Sale guidelines from Jim Bob Trant. The committee feels that this is a very worthwhile program that will help us collect more performance data on ABBA registered bulls.