Annual Meeting

The 2007 Annual Meeting of the Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Registry is scheduled for Saturday, February 24, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers at 803 W. Holland in Alpine, Texas. Our meeting is held in conjunction with the Alpine Cowboy Poetry Gathering at Sul Ross State University. You may find a schedule of events for the Gathering at http://www.cowboy-poetry.org/. The agenda for our meeting is in this newsletter. All members are invited. Any member may introduce topics for discussion during the New Business: Items from the floor session of the meeting. Our fiscal year runs from January 1^st through December 31^st, so all memberships are now due. Active 2006 members may renew their membership at the Annual Meeting and still be eligible to vote. All new members must have been active for 60 days prior to the Annual Meeting to be eligible to vote. If you are unable to attend this year’s meeting, we ask that you mail in your membership renewal. Exceptions to this are new members that joined in the last quarter of the year 2006. Those memberships are prorated to include 2007. There is a form in this newsletter members may use to update contact information. Most of our correspondence is sent through email, so please include your email address. After the meeting, a complementary lunch of longhorn beef will be served at the same location. Please contact Debbie Davis 830/562-3650 or email debwd@dwdlonghorns.com by Friday, February 16 if you plan to attend the meeting so we can notify the caterer of the correct number of persons for whom to prepare food.

President’s Letter

Dear Members:

As most of you are aware, ImmGen, Inc. closed their doors on December 15, 2006 after twenty-three years of service. They have been staunch allies to the CTLR and we owe them gratitude. We wish Faye Caldwell a happy retirement and all the staff a bright future in their new endeavors. Dr. Jim Derr from the Veterinary Pathobiology Lab at Texas A&M University was instrumental in getting Texas Longhorn cattle included in the Bovine Genome Project at Baylor College of Medicine. The Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center has been hard at work analyzing data from twenty-four CTLR longhorns submitted for inclusion in their Bovine Genome Project. We have a verbal commitment from Dr. Richard Gibbs they will analyze 10,000 markers per animal to determine which are specific to our breed. From there, they should be able to tailor a testing procedure that looks only at those markers. They are not able yet to determine how much additional funds the Cattlemen’s Texas Longhorn Conservancy will need to pay for the development of such a test. We will at some time in the future call upon our members in possession of cattle that have already been blood tested by ImmGen, to submit new blood samples to build a DNA database that defines the Texas Longhorn. We hope to receive grant moneys to fund this project so it doesn’t come from the pockets of our membership. We are waiting on a budget proposal from Baylor before we begin our grant application process.

Due to the lack of a genetics lab capable of detecting evidence of impurity, the CTLR is unable to register any new initial registrants or any bulls that have not been blood tested. Subsequent heifer registration will continue as before and animals that were previously blood tested prior to their second birthday may still be submitted for visual inspection and registration when they come of age. We recommend in the mean time until a DNA test for evidence of impurity is available, that members use CTLR registered bulls or bulls whose parentage is verified by a DNA identification test confirming his sire and dam are CTLR registered cattle. Any private livestock genetics lab can perform parentage verification with samples from the offspring, the dam and all possible sires. However, the CTLR cannot make an exception to register offspring without an evidence of impurity test.

The Board of Directors is writing a new strategic plan of accomplishments our Registry will complete in 2007 and over a longer range. This plan will be announced at the Annual Meeting on February 24. All members are encouraged to participate in implementation of projects.

I look forward to seeing you in Alpine.

Debbie Davis

Email Mailing List

We have accumulated sixty-three members’ email addresses. If you would like to receive notification of late-breaking news, please send your address to Debbie Davis debwd@dwdlonghorns.com.

CATTLEMEN’S TEXAS LONGHORN REGISTRY

ANNUAL GENERAL MEMBERSHIPO MEETING

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2007, 9:00 A.M.

ALPINE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS

803 W. HOLLAD • ALPINE, TX

9:00 1. Welcome and call to order – Debbie Davis

1. Read minutes from previous meeting – Betty Detmer

2. Report from President – Debbie Davis

3. Report from Treasurer – Shelby King

4. Report from Registrar – Debbie Davis

5. Committee Reports and Old Business

a) Breed Standards & Inspection Manual – Frank Sharp

b) DNA Project – Debbie Davis

c) Promotional Projects completed in 2006 – Frank Sharp, Sonny Detmer, Schuyler Wight, Fred Balmer,

d) LHI Progress – Debbie Davis, Sonny Detmer

e) Honorary Memberships and Awards

6. New Business

a) Approve New Members – Debbie Davis

b) Report on herds: Fort Robinson State Park, Big Bend State Park, and Ft. Griffin State Park, Medicine Mound – Debbie Davis

c) Presentation of CTLR Strategic Plan – Debbie Davis

i) Brainstorming from membership for promotional projects

ii) Committee assignments for projects

d) Discussion of alternatives to branding for methods of identification – Debbie Davis

e) Items from the floor

7. Election of Directors

8. Coffee Break for Membership and Executive Session of Directors to Elect officers

9. Reconvene and announce 2007 Officers

12:00 Adjournment

In the same room, a catered lunch of longhorn beef will be served to the membership complements of the CTLR. Please RSVP to Debbie Davis debwd@dwdlonghorns.com 830/562-3650 by 2/16/07, so we may plan for enough servings.

The following shows current terms served by each Director:

2004-2007 2006-2009 2005-2008

Don Davis Fred Balmer Debbie Davis

Jeff Mannix Sonny Detmer Frank Sharp

Schuyler Wight Ken Pelt Ben Tanksley

Don Davis indicated he would like to serve another term and is willing to perform jobs he is assigned. Jeff Mannix said he would like to remain active by assisting with committee work, but wishes to move off the board so he may be replaced by someone able to attend meetings more frequently. Schuyler Wight said he would also like to remain active through committee work and indicated he is willing to serve another term. Ken Pelt is resigning from the board due to time constraints of other board duties, so we have two positions to fill this year, one term 2007-2010 and one person to complete Ken Pelt’s term in 2009. These members have indicated their willingness to serve on the board or chair committees: Gil Dean, James Farr, Billy Jack Rankin, and Monroe Sullivan. The board will recommend persons for these positions after a meeting of the directors on February 23.

The Board elects offices of President, Vice President, and Treasurer every year at the Annual Meeting. Directors Emeritus are elected by the General Membership at Annual Meetings upon the recommendation of the Board to serve in perpetuity with full Directors’ voting rights. Directors Emeritus are not counted when forming a quorum of current term Directors.

Advertising in this newsletter is available to members at the rate of $25 per year for your business card ad to appear in each issue printed within that calendar year. Your advertisement helps offset printing and postage costs. Our website hosting fee is $135 per year. You may sponsor our www.ctlr.org website by placing a $25 ranch listing on the Resource Index page with links to your email and/or personal website. To place your ad, contact Debbie Davis (830) 562-3650 or email: debwd@dwdlonghorns.com