American Hereford appoints new leaders, directors

Chad Breeding of Miami, Texas, was named the new president of the American Hereford Association (AHA) during the Annual Membership Meeting on Oct. 26, in Kansas City, Mo.

Breeding was raised on his family’s registered Hereford operation, B&C Cattle Co. After graduating high school in 1988, he attended Texas A&M University. Breeding returned home to the family operation, which markets about 100 Hereford bulls and 50 replacement females annually, where he started breeding cows and working in the show barn.

The B&C brand uses artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) to produce sound, functional cattle that work in the showring and in the pasture, according to the news release. While B&C sells a few show heifers, the majority of their cattle are sold to the commercial producer, mostly to Brahman cattlemen who produce the F1 tiger stripes, known as the maternal queen of the South.

Breeding is an active member of the Texas Hereford Association, serving on the board since 2011, including stints as president in 2016 and 2017.

Snedden selected vice president

Austin Snedden, a fifth-generation rancher in Maricopa, Calif., was selected to serve as the 2024 AHA vice president. His family has been raising cattle at Snedden Ranch in southwest Kern County since 1867. Snedden graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 2005 with a degree in business administration. He operates Snedden Ranch along with his wife Sarah and his parents, Richard and Susie.

Related: Oregon State researchers to study feeding seaweed to cattle

Snedden Ranch consists of 350-400 commercial cows, 120 Hereford cows and 40 Red Angus cows. The family raises bulls for their commercial herd and their annual production sale, and they market a select group of commercial replacement females every year. Their steer calves are merchandised at weaning or yearling age and sold off the ranch through auction and video markets.

Snedden has been involved with the Kern County Cattlemen’s Association for many years and served as president from 2014 to 2015. Additionally, he was recognized as the Kern County Cattleman of the Year in 2020, and Snedden Ranch was recognized in 2013 as California’s 18th Senatorial District’s Small Business of the Year.

New directors elected

During the AHA membership meeting, delegates elected three new directors to serve four-year terms on the 12-member board: Jim Williams, Kearney, Neb.; Danny Fawcett, Ree Heights, S.D., and Grant McKay, Marysville, Kan. Completing their terms on the AHA board were outgoing president Wyatt Agar, Thermopolis, Wyo., and directors, Jerome Ollerich, Winner, S.D., and Bob Schaffer, Spotsylvania, Va.

Related: New learning program to alleviate critical need for veterinary entomologists

Fawcett and his family own and operate Elm Creek Ranch (FECR) in Ree Heights. His wife Kyla owns Focus Marketing Group, which specializes in livestock marketing, and she helps FECR market their seedstock and brand the ranch.

FECR calves around 1,000 cows each year, mostly registered Herefords. FECR is currently working to develop yearling heifers to be sold as bred heifers using Hereford and Angus genetics in this process. Fawcett said the goal of FECR is to continue to stay relevant in the Hereford breed by producing genetics that can be used by seedstock and commercial producers.

Fawcett studied animal science and agricultural journalism and marketing at South Dakota State University. He held a position on the South Dakota Hereford Association board of directors for six years. Currently, he sits on the South Dakota Beef Breeds Council where he helps to promote beef in South Dakota.

McKay owns and operates GLM Herefords in Marysville with his wife Linda and daughter Bailey and also works for Ag Sale Day. While growing up in Canada, he gained industry experience working for several Canadian Hereford breeders. Two years after moving to the U.S., he started GLM with the purchase of one Hereford heifer in 1993.

Related: Precision livestock technology elevates NC State research

GLM Herefords currently runs approximately 100 head of registered cows alongside diversified crops and forage acres. Since its start, GLM has relied on the collection and use of performance data tools, using an extensive AI and ET program in raising high-quality seedstock cattle. GLM sells bulls through private-treaty sales and sells all its females and steers privately.

McKay earned his associate’s degree in applied science from Cloud County Community College in Concordia, Kan. He is an active and past member in Hereford associations both in America and Canada and in multiple livestock and cattlemen’s associations. In the past, he served as a board director for the Nebraska Hereford Association.

Williams and his wife Sheila raise registered Hereford cattle at their Kearney operation, Valley View Cattle Co. He also is the head of cattle procurement and a member of the senior management team at WR Reserve in Hastings, Neb.

Williams majored in animal science at The Ohio State University and, after graduation, spent eight years between Lone Star Hereford Ranch in Texas and EE Ranches in Mississippi. During the 1990s, he worked closely with Olsen Ranches in Harrisburg, Neb., to develop a process to quickly recognize Hereford sires with genetic merit. That initial data collection laid the groundwork for the National Reference Sire Program. He also has had stints at Certified Hereford Beef and Greater Omaha Packing.

The American Hereford Association, with headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., is one of the largest U.S. beef breed associations. The not-for-profit organization, along with its subsidiaries – Certified Hereford Beef LLC, Hereford Publications Inc. and American Beef Records Association – provides programs and services for its members and their customers while promoting the Hereford breed and supporting education, youth and research.