The officers of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association got casual this afternoon at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. Here they are with Presidential Candidate Herman Cain who will be our opening general session keynote speaker tomorrow.

I spoke with Bill Donald, President, NCBA, to get a preview of this year’s conference. He’s the one with a hat. Bill says this is the meeting where “a lot of planning is done.” On the Beef Checkoff side they look at funding requests and on the NCBA side it’s about policies, with both focusing on the coming year. There will also be a progress report for the Beef Industry Long Range Plan (pdf). Bill says that he wants cattle producers to know that a lot of progress has been made through conversations between the officer team at the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the NCBA. He says they are viewing their relationship like a partnership and they want cattlemen to be able to trust that their Checkoff dollars are being spent wisely.

You can listen to my interview with Bill here. Bill Donald Interview

Photos from the conference will be posted to this photo album: 2011 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album. Check it often as we add to it over the next several days.