Several cattle industry groups are supporting a Memorandum of Understanding that would increase the beef checkoff and make some changes in operation. At the Cattle Industry convention, the Federation of State Beef Councils, NCBA and Cattlewomen voted in favor of the proposal. South Dakota Cattlemen’s President Todd Wilkinson says it would increase in the beef checkoff to two dollars a head.
Wilkinson says there’s a definite need for an increase in the beef checkoff and statistics back that up.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, cattle producers would get to vote on whether to increase the beef checkoff before it goes into effect. The extra dollar would be assessed like the current fee with 50 cents going to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the state option to keep 50 cents for state checkoff efforts.