Region I

Rick Carlson
Plattsburg, Mo.

Wife, Rosemary; daugther, Rachael

Rick Carlson was raised on a livestock and grain farm in central Illinois. He is currently involved in a purebred Shorthorn and Maine-Anjou breeding operation where he has bred a national champion Shorthorn heifer and a reserve national champion Shorthorn heifer.

Throughout his lifetime he has served some prestigious terms. He was on the Blackhawk East and University of Illinois Livestock Judging Teams. He has served as the vice president of international business for Farmland Foods of Kansas City, Mo. There he developed marketing strategies to position Farmland beef and pork products worldwide. He also managed foreign offices in Mexico City, Geneva, Tokyo and Moscow. He has also served as the senior vice president of operations for PM Beef Group, Kansas City, Mo., where he was responsible for all fresh beef operations, sales, marketing, plant production and cattle feeding.

Rick is currently the president of Summit Food Group where he is involved in cattle feeding, marketing niche beef products domestically, and exporting beef, pork, chicken and turkey products worldwide.

Rick chose the Maine-Anjou breed because of their commercial acceptance. He believes the cattle are one of the few breeds that fit all segments of the beef business making excellent mothers, having excellent rate of gain, feedlot efficiency and cutability. He also enjoys their disposition which affects cutability and feelot efficency; their diversity of color - black or red - fits various environments, regions and conditions; and the people and families involved in the breed. They are dedicated to improving the breed, not only in the show ring, but in the commercial business as well.

"I believe in maintaining a strong junior program, focusing on a strong commercial base by using genetic markers to determine value and continued commercial acceptance and a strong association creating value for its membership through creative programs," says Rick.


John Dickerson
Martinsville, Ind.

Wife, Diana; son, Casey; daughter, Courtney

John Dickerson was raised near both sets of his grandparents and raised livestock with each. John raised his college funds by working daily with his grandparents as well as his parents. His two grandfathers rank as the most influential people in John's life and he feels priveleged to be named after both of them.

In the fall of 1992, John met Miles and Kim DeJong at the recommendation of a work associate of Diana's. The first exposure to a working Maine-Anjou operation conviced him the breed would exceed his families needs for a team hobby and business. "My work in the animal health industry requires a lot of travel, and if we are going to raise cattle, they have to have predictable temperment, positive reproductive and mothering abilities and show ring potential. Maine-Anjou cattle have fit the bill!" says John.

John will never forget the first time he heard this bit of sarcasm, "beauty is only skin deep...but goes all the way to the bone." He feels this statement may be humerous, but it applies to the industry. John feels Maine-Anjou show cattle have a powerful presence in any exhibition across the United States. Breed influenced steers are standard today. "I believe a next positive step is to take this success and transfer it further to the "center of the plate." As a member of the Maine-Anjou board, I will work to gain our breed identification to consumers as we deserve more recognition than "black hided" cattle," says John.


Region II

Larry Rademacher
Loup City, Mo.

Wife, Karen; sons, Scott, Wayne and David

After growing up on his family farm where he was involved with raising both beef and dairy cattle, Larry Rademacher started his own commercial cow calf herd in 1964. He started dealing with the Maine-Anjou breed in 1986. At present Larry owns over 300 cows and bulls registered with the American Maine-Anjou Association (AMAA), with another 150 being registered this year.

Larry strongly believes Maine-Anjou cattle work for both the commercial man and in the show ring. They have good dispositions, tremendous thickness and lots of hair. For the commercial cattleman, they are outstanding feeding cattle delivering a carcass that works on the grid system, a good rate of gain, feed efficiency and excellent maternal traits.

"The future of the breed is ours for the taking," Larry says, "I believe the time is here right now. The expansion of herds is on. Our breed has to offer as much or more than any other breed. Each and everyone of us has to go out and sell our fair share."

Larry Rademacher & Sons have been awarded with both the Seedstock Producer of the Year and Breeder of the Year awards. They have also been among the top five in the Cornerstone Dam program, both breeder and owner, for the past eight years. They have been involved in the AMAA National Steer Feeding Trial every year it has been held and have come out with outstanding results.

The Rademachers will hold their 10th consecutive production sale in 2006.


Region III

Matt Elliott
Chester, Okla.

Matt Elliott grew up on a cow/calf operation and continues to operate a herd with his parents, Glen and Judy. He attended Connors State College for two years on a livestock judging scholarship. He then received his BS in Agronomy from Panhandle State and a Masters in Ag Education from Oklahoma State University. He currently works for the NRCS in Taloga, Okla.

Matt has been very involved with the breed from a young age. He served on the national junior board for three years. For fourteen years, he has showed cattle and participated in the contests at the national junior show, also helping others along the way. He has had the high gaining and selling bulls at both Panhandle and Connors state bull tests.

The main reason Matt chose the Maine-Anjou breed was for their temperment, predictability in the genetics and their maternal characteristics.

He believes the future of the breed lies in its junior popluation as well as its marketablity to all aspects of the cattle industry. "With the ability to gain and grade we can not only market our cattle to the feedlot producers, but also to the commercial producer," says Matt. "Our breed appeals to the club calf man because of the thickness and design of the Maine cattle as well as their docile disposition. We need to continue to address the positive benefits we have to offer our juniors and keep the junior program going because they are the future of our breed.

Matt says it would be a privilege and honor to serve on the Maine-Anjou board.


Bill Thorne
Dalhart, Texas

Wife, Nina; son, Billy and wife Susan; daughter Kelly Bateman and husband John; granddaughters, Katie and Jordan

Bill Thorne graduated from the University of Missouri where he was on the livestock judging team. Throughout his life, he has held some prestigious positions in the cattle industry. He was a cattle buyer for Wilson Packing Company for seven years; he then moved on the the beef department manager at Wilson Packing Company. Bill spent 13 years as the manager of XIT Feedyard, where they fed 40,000 plus head of cattle. He has now been self eimployed for 18 years order buying, grazing stocker cattle, feeding cattle, raising show steers and raising Maine-Anjou cattle.

Bill likes the Maine-Anjou breed because they are superior in their muscle pattern, bone and disposition. "They have the ability to produce a high quality lean carcass very efficiently," says Bill. "They also cross well with other breeds to produce quality show steers."

"The future for this breed is good if we continue to promote and produce lean, high quality carcasses," explains Bill. "The cattle need to be solid colored, efficient gainers and have acceptable birth weights. If we can accomplish these goals, the commercial cattlemen will be more and more interested in our cattle."


At-Large

Don McLain

Wife, Viki; daughter Shannon and husband Jason Farmer; granddaughter Payton; daughter Katie; gradson Kaleb

Don McLain grew up on a 400 acre cow commercial ranch south of Denver and began raising club calves in the mid 1970's. He then moved to Gill, Colo., in 1985 and started crossing cattle with Maine-Anjou genetics. "We were so pleased that we are presently developing into a Maine program," says Don. "We liked the results in the 1980's when we started crossing our club calf operation with Maines. We felt that Maine-Anjou cattle had the best economic traits and the look we were desiring."

Don feels there has been more positive changes made in the Maine breeders and association in the last 10 years than any other breed. "Since my involvement began, I see more contracts with commercial cattleman and new seedstock producers everyday," explains Don.

In the past three years, He has seen what the goals of the association and the breeders have done and can only imagine what the next three years will bring.