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SolancoNews.com (Quarryville, Pa.) – Monday –
September 8, 2008
Impromptu
Meeting with Amish Generates Interest in R-CALF USA
WATERFORD, OH—
R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri
veterinarian, said he had an impromptu opportunity to speak about the National
Animal Identification System (NAIS) to a crowd of more than 200 Amish and 35-40
R-CALF USA members at the Owl Creek Produce Auction south of Waterford on
Tuesday night, solely under lantern light. Thornsberry already was in the area
to speak to livestock operators.
The Amish were in the process of conducting a fund-raiser for children in the
state who have health-related challenges, according to R-CALF USA Region VIII
Director Dave Hutchins, of West Mansfield, Ohio, and owner of Mill Creek Angus
Farm.
“The way this worked out was simply a stroke of luck, and I think the hand of
God was involved in making it happen the way it did,” Hutchins said. “You
couldn’t have planned it any better. Dr. Thornsberry didn’t get to speak until
9:30 p.m., and when he was done, I set out a stack of membership applications,
and they were gone in seconds. After the meeting wrapped up, Dr. Thornsberry
spent a lot of one-on-one time answering questions and actually got another
meeting set up for the very next day with some of the Amish leadership.”
“We’ve been working for awhile to built a little rapport with the Amish, and
(R-CALF USA Ohio member) Larry Queen had told one of his Amish friends I was
going to be in the area, and next thing you know, some of their leadership let
us come in, and we had a very good meeting,” Thornsberry said. “I have
determined that the R-CALF members I have been privileged to meet are strongly
loyal and openly proud of R-CALF and its member-established policies.”
Queen, an independent feeder from Mount Gilead who also does custom lime hauling
and spreading, said during meetings with the Amish two years ago, they would
just listen to R-CALF USA’s concerns about NAIS, and at last year’s meeting,
again, they would just listen.
"Now, they want to hear everything about it,” Queen said. “After the meeting,
several of them asked ‘What can we do?’ They were very receptive. At least three
of them decided to go listen to Dr. Thornsberry the next day when he spoke in
Polk, Ohio, and a few of them suggested that Dr. Thornsberry contact the head
Amish leader in Pennsylvania. At the next meeting, we’ll have a little more time
to talk about our other issues, too. We couldn’t have planned it any better if
we’d tried to work out the details ahead of time.”
http://www.solanconews.com/Farm/2008/080908_rcalf.htm
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