Getting To Know Your Beef Checkoff Leaders – Wesley Grau, Vice Chairman
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Suggested Lead: During the 2011 Cattle Industry Annual Convention in Denver, Colo., Wesley Grau, cow/calf and seedstock producer from Grady, New Mexico, was elected as Cattlemen’s Beef Board vice chairman. The Grau ranching operation of Grady, New Mexico began 1907. Wesley has been involved in the family cattle business since 1963, and in 2009, was honored by being named New Mexico Cattleman of the Year.
Wesley says he is here to serve others. He tells us what it means to him to be elected to serve as Vice Chairman.
Grau 1: “I am truly humbled that the Board would select me as Vice Chairman, and I’m pleased that they believe there is a black and white in the Beef Promotion Act. And that the CBB is, or are, the trustee for the national checkoff. Our job is to make all checkoff dollars transparent for all 750,000 producers. Currently, about 3 out of 4 producers approve of the checkoff program – that is higher than it’s been in 17 years. Producers are very positive about the checkoff program and I think this will continue if we do our job.” (34 seconds)
New to the leadership team, we asked Wesley what his goals were for the coming year.
Grau 2: “One of the first, and most important goals is trust. To make sure every producer trusts that his checkoff dollar contribution is being utilized to its fullest potential. The second thing is to do a good job. To make sure there are no duplications in our spending and to make sure that all of our contractors are getting the most bang for our buck. We are a very limited organization on funds, and that brings me to our third point…funding. At some point, we the producers have to decide whether an increase in the checkoff is warranted. If we had more funding, could we persuade this food shopper to eat beef one extra time per week? Could we persuade all 134 countries that accept U.S. beef now, to order more beef? This year is the first time we’ve ever exported more beef than we’ve imported. And the reason is, the numbers of cattle are down in Australia, they’re down in Chile and Argentina, they’re down in the major cattle-producing countries of the world. It’s going to be really exciting. The price of beef is going to be higher than it’s ever been, and we need to produce enough beef to keep this beef from being a caviar.” (1:08 seconds)
Wesley says that with opportunity also comes challenge.
Grau 3: “Well, I think the biggest challenge we have is the cost of promoting beef, and beef business and beef products. Our checkoff today can only buy about 1/3 as much advertising as it did 20 years ago. We need to keep beef on the minds of consumers when buying food, especially in big cities and places we can’t be. They need to know beef is a wonderful, healthy protein, and it tastes great. Our cattle numbers are down and our budget to promote beef is down, and that, is the challenge to me.” (29 seconds)
Wesley and his wife, Elnabeth, have three children and five grandchildren.
To learn more about Wesley and other Beef Board leaders, as well as to get information on efforts being funded with your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Funded by the Beef Checkoff.
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