A3O-Lancaster Fanning. Saturday, February 18, 1995
Atlantic Breeders
VERNON ACHENBACH JR. in Intercourse for members of Dis-
Lancaster Farming Staff trict f - P ave Zimmerman, mana-
INTERCOURSE (Lancaster ge«’for the cooperatives Region 1
Co.)-A possible merger told the group that, at the behest of
between Atlantic Breeders directors, about 73
Cooperative and two other artifi- <pstions were posed by coopera
cial insemination cooperatives was Uv ® directors, re^ource managers
discussed to some extent during and employees about a proposed
the cooperative’s annual banquet- |" er | er Lancas A l^
meetings, though final details are headquartered ABC, Eastern AIC
not completed. based in Ithaca - N - Y - and lhe
The last of the cooperative’s Louisiana Animal Breeders
annual banquet-meetings were Cooperative, in New Orleans,
held this week, several after press- diree die p o °pemtives
time. However, the nature of the currently cooperate in business
annual meetings is to inform through Federated Genetics. The
cooperators directly with informa- merger would create one coopera
tion about their association, to tive, as of yet, unamed (ideas are
elect representatives, and to dis- being welcomed),
cuss issues of relevance to mem- Using a prepared slide program
bers well-being. The financial out- to present the questions and an out
line and management message is bne the answers, Zimmerman
usually repeated at each meeting, said he didn’t intend to go ovpr all
The meetings are also held to 73, but highlighted what most peo
recognize high producing pie had asked concerning the prop
member-herds that exceed the osed- merger,
state’s average breed production Of the highlights of his presen
by 10 percent or more, and of tation, Zimmerman said that vot
which at least 65 percent have been ing on the merger wasn't ready
bred by sires owned by the until more details could be worked
cooperative. out by the board of directors
At a Tuesday afternoon meeting between the cooperatives. Howev-
From the left, Pat Arnold, Atlantic Breeders Cooperative
technician presents production awards to Curvin Good (for
himself and wife Dawn), Nelson Sensenig (for his Meadow
Spring Farm), and Aden Carper (for Jay Good).
From the left, recipients of Atlantic Breeders Cooperative
production awards are Tom Krall (for himself and his wife
Shirley), Eric Williams (for Mike Arnold), Lamar and his
father Ezra Martin, and Raymond Martin, while Pat Arnold,
technician, presents the awards.
From the left, receiving production awarde from Atlantic Breeders Cooperative are
Charlotte Clowney, Tom Clowney, Charlotte's husband Bob Clowney, and JoAnn
Clowney, and from Jo-Jen Holsteins, Jo Hess Risser, John Hess, Joy Hess, and Bon
nie Hess, and technician Robert Stratton. Not present are representatives from Roy
Weaver Farm. ,
Cooperative Considers Merger
From the left, in the front row, Atlantic Breedere Cooperative technician Naaman
Stoltzfus present* production awards to Carl Landis, Charles Neff, and Joe Garber. In
the back row, from the left, are award recipients Harry Ranck Jr., Parke Ranch Jr.,
Nevin Hershey, and technician Glenn Geib.
er, Zimmerman said that members
were assured of a one-member,
one-vote procedure in the eventual
decision. The amount of member
ship vote necessary to carry a
referendum one way or the other
wasn’t discussed, but should be
contained within the cooperative’s
bylaws.
Prior to giving the full presenta
tion, however, Dave Landis, direc
tor for District 4, gave a report on
the cooperative’s financial state of
affairs, which was very good, he
said.
According to Landis, the
cooperative met or exceeded
income goals in every area except
in member sales because of last
year’s severe winter storms. How
ever, the budgeted income from
member sales was met, and all
other sales incomes were strong.
At the same time, less was spent
on conducting business than was
projected and the cooperative
experienced additional income
from savings.
Given that good report, Zim
merman said members may be
questioning the need for a merger
at this time. The answer, Zimmer
man said, is that the merger is to
position the members of the
cooperative for the future, so that
the benefits of belonging to a
breeding cooperative would not
diminish.
All three artificial insemination
cooperatives have been working
together under Federated Gene
tics. After talks and discussions
about assets and member goals, it
more or less has become apparent
to some that a merger could well
position members from all three
From the left, Steve Pallis, Atlantic Breeders Cooperative
Unit 7 technician, presents a herd production award to Neil
Moyer of Moyers Village Farm, in Dublin, while Todd Gulick,
technician coordinator, helps with the presentation.
Mr. and Mrs. Ty Long and son receive a production award
from Bob Keen, Atlantic Breeders Cooperative technician.
cooperatives to continue to do
good business, rising sales of
cooperative-owned semen to
reduce the member-cost of using
artificial insemination, allowing
competitive operating costs for
dairymen and other breeders.
“We are looking down the road
to compete in an ever-changing
dairy industry and AI industry,”
Zimmerman said.
He said some of the reasons for a
merger are to spread the cost of
maintaining an adequate AI prog
ram, including semen collection,
bull aquisitiOn, proving, and mem
ber services; maintain existing
programs; make it easier to adapt
to new technologies; and reduce
the overhead of unecessary
employees.
On this last matter, Zimmerman
said that he really didn’t see much
of a change for employees of ABC,
except that there could be more
opportunity to reward outstanding
work.
Efficiencies in decision-making
and operations are also a goal of
the merger, however Zimmerman
said that ABC is not guilty of
duplication of effort within its own
organization, but some duplication
of effort that occurs between the
now-partners under Federated
could be eliminated and result in
savings.
Control of member-business
within the proposed merged
cooperative would remain with
members, as well as would mem
bers continue to control coopera
tive business with non-members.
In explaining how the merger
could better position ABC’s mem
bers for the future, Zimmerman
said that in light of a changing
industry and a changing world, and
with a trend toward increased herd
sizes and a decrease in total cow
numbers, along with pressure from
sales df imported semen, the mem
bers of cooperatives would be bet
ter able to remain viable dairy
farms.
Zimmerman said that the new
cooperative would be divided into
six major divisions; genetics;
semen production; sales and ser
vice; member relations, communi
cations; finance; and research.
(Turn to Pag* AM)