Although Ohio’s cattle industry was unable to celebrate in person at the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association’s (OCA) Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet, the 2021 award winners, scholarship recipients and Top Hand recruiters are still being celebrated for their achievements.
Each year OCA awards seven distinguished individuals and organizations for their achievements and leadership within Ohio’s cattle industry. Those awards and their respective recipients are as follows
Commercial Cattleman of the Year Shugert Farms, St. Clairsville
The Commercial Cattleman of the Year Award is presented to Ohio farms who have demonstrated success through their commercial cattle operations. These farms utilize performance information and the latest technologies available to increase the predictability of the cattle they raise, in addition to maintaining a continued focus on meeting and exceeding the expectations of beef consumers.
arsenisspyros/iStock/Thinkstock A look at a Dealer Statutory Trust, help for small meat processors, Livestock Mandatory Reporting extension and animal health funds.
In the over 5,500 pages of the recent approved appropriations and COVID-relief, there are several nuggets important to those in the livestock sector including certainty that producers can recoup payment losses by establishing a dealer trust, funding for agriculture quarantine inspection services and an extension of Livestock Mandatory Reporting.
Small meat processors
The bill offers expanded resources for state-inspected meat processors through inclusion of the Requiring Assistance to Meat Processors for Upgrading Plants Act, which assists meat and poultry slaughtering and processing facilities with making improvements to allow for interstate shipment.
President Trump signed the coronavirus relief and government funding bill Dec. 27.
Late into the night on Dec. 21, just before their return home for the holiday, Congress passed its version of an early Christmas present to many in America who have been affected by COVID-19.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate Amendment to H.R. 133, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of Fiscal Year 2021, which not only offered up $900 billion in COVID-19 relief to Americans, but also appropriated $1.4 trillion for fiscal year 2021. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-OK, said in a statement, âThe package passed today provides Paycheck Protection Program loans helping the hardest hit businesses, delivers additional federal unemployment aid, and gives individuals and families ore direct stimulusâall a bridge through the next few months until mass immunization occurs.