As the beef industry prepares to meet in Orlando for the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show today through Friday, the policy playbook is top of mind. Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association Michael Kelsey shares what the discussion will cover based on conversations with ranchers in his state.

“We’re going to have some discussion about animal disease traceability. The National Animal Disease Traceability Task Force has finished their work and are bringing some policy that will consider how to institute a disease surveillance program on a national level that includes not only older, more mature cattle, 18 months and older, but also younger cattle. So, we’re going to have a discussion about that and see kind of where that shakes out at the end of the day. I’ve seen some of those draft policies, they’re pretty long and pretty complicated, but they need to be because that’s not an easy issue” 

Aside from disease traceability, Kelsey says there may also be discussion regarding beef sustainability.

“Yeah, the long range plan, beef sustainability, the Beef Checkoff, those types of things are very, very important to our membership and our group, but you’re absolutely right, to make sure we’re part of those conversations, wherever those conversations might occur. If they’re at the state level, if they’re the national level, even if they’re at the international level we need to make sure that beef is positioned positively, and so sustainability, whether we like it or not, it’s a topic and it’s a topic that some interest is there by some folks who don’t have our best interests in mind, and so we’ve got to be at the table, advocating for our industry.”