Bill Braman, PhD, PAS 

It is a distinct honor to serve as your ARPAS President this coming year. ARPAS is a very robust and dynamic organization and my goal is to continue to make ARPAS relevant to your needs as a member. ARPAS has gone through a major transition the past few years as several new regional chapters have formed that have increased the “grass roots” support for our ARPAS organization. Under past-President, Randy Shaver, several initiatives were started in 2009-10 which we will continue through my term as President.

A major initiative is completing the Strategic Planning process which included a survey of the on-line membership survey. We were encouraged with a membership response rate of over 30% to the survey which is indicative of the interest amongst the membership regarding the future direction of ARPAS. Sincere thanks to past-past President Marit Arana for her leadership of the Strategic Planning process and survey. These results will help lay a foundation for the future sustainability and growth of our organization.

New regional chapters are forming in the Northeast and Midwest based upon “grass roots” support. ARPAS By-law changes implemented this past year will allow members freedom to join a regional chapter outside of that member’s contiguous geography. It only takes 15 members to start the process of forming a local/regional chapter.

The ARPAS sponsored Symposium at the Joint Annual Meeting in Denver with the topic “Nutrition Models –Where Are We Going In The Next Decade” drew over-flow attendance. ARPAS wants to thank Dr. John Metcalf, Nutreco-Canada; Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University; Dr. Mike Hanigan, Virginia Polytechnic University; Dr. A. Bannick, Wageninen University, The Netherlands; and Dr. Richard Grant, Miner Institute for their outstanding and relevant presentations. Sincere thank you to Dalex Livestock Solutions and Venture Milling for their financial support of this Symposium. President-elect, Dr. John Wagner and the Program Committee will organize the 2011 Symposium

The ARPAS Foundation became official and received additional funding in 2010. Under the leadership of Darrell Johnson, a Foundation Committee was established which developed the Governing Council and member approved Foundation By-Laws. The Foundation Committee will focus on fund raising and supporting educational activities this coming year.

I want to thank those of you who are serving in leadership positions and ARPAS Standing Committees. There was an overwhelming interest in serving on these committees and we appreciate your willingness to serve. There will be special projects throughout this next year which will require additional members to serve and the opportunity to “give back” to the industry. The list of standing committees can be found at the ARPAS web site at http://www.arpas.org/.

Finally, I want to thank past-president, Randy Shaver, for his outstanding leadership this past year. Many of the initiatives earlier mentioned begun under Randy’s tutelage.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your ARPAS President this coming year. Please feel free to let me know your suggestions and ideas of how ARPAS membership can be more relevant to your job and career. I can be reached at (414) 607-5739 or by e-mail at uswbr@chr-hansen.com.

Executive Vice President's Report 2009-2010 

ARPAS has had a great year. Our membership is growing, progressive, active and willing to serve. Being mid-way through my third year as your Executive VP, I can use past experiences to guide me on routine tasks which allows me to focus more efforts on new programs, new chapters and membership growth.

Your capable leadership headed by President Randy Shaver and Past-President Marit Arana, have done an outstanding job of orchestrating the activities and programs of ARPAS. I want to thank them and all the members of the Executive Committee for their commitments of time and talent on your behalf. The Governing Council members also deserve recognition as they have chaired the committees that actually do the work so necessary to support our organizational structure.

I also want to thank Debbie Seymour for her helpful and conscientious work as interim Administrative Assistant for ARPAS. Debbie and the rest of the FASS staff continue to be essential to our administrative and business affairs. The new ARPAS booth is the result of the creative people at FASS. Special recognition is due to Yvona Vlach, our capable FASS administrative assistant. Yvona started with ARPAS in October 2009 and quickly got up to speed. I want to publically thank her for her efforts on our behalf. Yvona handles the routine issues regarding membership, testing and CEU’s so efficiently that I seldom get involved, while constantly and courteously pointing out ways to improve our administrative functions.

Steve Schmidt, Examination Committee Chairperson, with help from other ARPAS members, continues to update our ARPAS exams and study guides which are essential to growing membership. Editor Wayne Kellogg keeps the “Professional Animal Scientist Journal” consistently high in quality. It is now available on “Highwire” and our recognition by readers outside of our membership is greatly enhanced.

Historian Bill Price continues to record our past but he can always use input from ARPAS members. Please review the history section on our website and give your input to Bill.

A special thanks to Steve Emanuele, to ARPAS members serving on his committee and to Yvona Vlach for the informative ARPAS newsletters they created in 2009-2010. Member input is also always welcome.

You will soon see the results of the member survey, a vital component of our Strategic Plan. Past-President Marit Arana and her committee worked diligently to develop this survey and will have to work even harder to compile the information and develop our plan. This work-in-progress will be our guide to the future direction for this organization. Please continue to provide input to this process.

ACAS (American College of Animal Science) is growing. Thanks to President Dr. Bill Sanchez and the executive committee of ACAS who have provided superb organizational leadership. You can help identify those highly qualified individuals that should be board certified members of ARPAS through our alternate certification program. The incoming President is Dr. Benjy Mikel.

Our Treasurer, Dr. Carl Hunt, has done an outstanding job in keeping ARPAS is in good financial condition. The only area where we are lagging prior years is our Corporate Sponsor program. Members can help us identify and encourage companies to support ARPAS.

The ARPAS Foundation Committee, headed by Past-President Darrell Johnson, has developed some guidelines for educations endeavors to use Foundation earnings. They also provided ideas to grow the assets of the Foundation. The ARPAS Foundation is always willing to accept gifts, grants and donations from ARPAS members.

The “Distinguished Professional Animal Scientist Award” initiated in 2008 has selected the honorees for 2010. Past service to this organization coupled with outstanding careers in Animal Science are the criteria for this award. President Shaver will announce the honorees.

Meetings I attended on behalf of ARPAS included the PAACO Board, Arkansas Nutrition Conference, Mid-Atlantic Nutrition Conference, Joint ADSA/ASAS/CSAS, Cornell Nutrition Conference, Pennsylvania Dairy Nutrition Conference, Pacific NW Nutrition Conference and Tri-State Nutrition Conference.

ARPAS exams were given at most of these meetings and sponsors were cultivated. I am very dependent on ARPAS members to proctor ARPAS exams, individually and at conferences. Thanks to all the ARPAS and ACAS members who worked on behalf of this organization in 2009-2010.

It is very rewarding to be associated with ARPAS. I look forward to working with incoming President Bill Braman and new and old members of the Governing Council in 2010-2011.

Thank you for this privilege.

Kenneth R. Cummings, PhD, PAS, Dipl. ACAN
Executive VP, ARPAS

Carl Hunt, Treasurer 

This report reflects the financial status of ARPAS at the time of the last finance report which was May 31, 2010. To begin it is a pleasure to report that ARPAS remains on solid financial fundamentals with income and expenses to date generally on track with that which was budgeted for the current year. Revenue from membership is at $118,315 which is 95 percent of what was budgeted for the year. Currently the revenues from the journal outpace journal expenses by more than $11,400 for the year so there is reason to be optimistic that our journal expenses will be covered by journal revenues for the year. In addition to journal expenses, the expense for “administration and governance” is our other big ticket expense category (about 55% of the annual budget). With 42% of the budget year expired as of May 31st, our expenses to-date for administration and governance is 33% of that budgeted. In summary, I do not foresee a reason that ARPAS will not complete the current fiscal year with expenses in balance with revenues.

The organization’s reserve funds continue to be managed such that approximately 75% of reserves are in fixed income investments with the remaining 25% in equities or non-fixed income investments. During this fiscal year a total of $40,000 was transferred from ARAPS savings (FASS savings account) to Stifel Nicholaus to establish an ARPAS Foundation account with the same 75/25 investment strategy split. Also in the current year, Washington Mutual bonds were traded for Country Wide Mortgage bonds which will yield a 6% return.

All is well on the financial front for ARPAS!

Distinguished Professional Animal Scientist Award 2010 

The ARPAS Distinguished Professional Animal Scientist award is bestowed annually on one or more emeritus members of ARPAS that have made significant contributions to the Animal Sciences during their active career and served in a leadership position within ARPAS.
Nominations may be made by any member of ARPAS. Final selection will be made by the ARPAS Executive Committee with conformation from the ARPAS Governing Council. The number of awards each year will not exceed 0.2% of the total ARPAS membership.

Recipients of this award will be recognized with an article in the Newsletter and the PAS Journal and with a tribute at our annual meeting. A suitable award will be presented to them on this occasion. They will also be granted lifetime membership in ARPAS with emeritus privilege.

The selection criteria are:

1. Must have been an active member of ARPAS for at least ten (10) years prior to retirement from active membership.
2. Must have served in a leadership role in ARPAS during their active membership. Leadership positions are defined as officers, directors, representatives and committee members at the national or chapter level.
3. Must have made a significant contribution to the Animal Sciences through teaching, research, service or industry during their active professional career.

4. Must have acquired Emeritus membership in ARPAS and maintained this status for a minimum of three (3) years.

Recipients of the
2010 “DISTINGUISHED PROFESSIONAL ANIMAL SCIENTIST AWARD”

Dr. Irv T. Omtvedt-President 1986-87
Dr. James L. Williamson-President 1987-88
Dr. Walter R. Woods-President 1984-85

Foundation report 2009/2010 

The ARPAS Foundation is now official. An amendment to the ARPAS bylaws was just passed by the Governing Council and ratified by the ARPAS membership setting up the Foundation and establishing the ground rules for its operation. Article XV is included at the bottom of this report.

We now have $40,000 in the Foundation account and an additional $20,000 is expected to be added in early 2011. This money was directed to the ARPAS Foundation from funds not utilized by the Executive Committee for partial salary and expenses of the Executive VP.

Earnings from the assets of the Foundation will become a funding source for worthy educational activities for ARPAS members. It is now time to include ARPAS members in growing the assets of the Foundation through tax deductible gifts and fund raising and to decide how to best utilize these funds. Your ARPAS Foundation Board (currently the Executive Committee and headed by Past-past President Darrell Johnson) has been meeting to discuss activities for fund raising and to refine ideas for using the money earned by the assets of the Foundation. The committee will be eager to review member comments from the strategic plan survey and incorporate these ideas into reality. We also need members to volunteer to serve on the Foundation Committee.

Article XV. ARPAS Foundation
The American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) has established a Foundation hereafter to be known as the ARPAS Foundation.

Section 1. Purpose.
The purpose for the ARPAS foundation is to provide a funding source for educational efforts and developmental activities of members independent of the ARPAS annual budget for funding. This Foundation will have tax exempt status under the charter of ARPAS and will be able to accept gifts and grants that are tax deductible from its members and supporters.

Section 2. Reporting Relationship.
The Foundation will still be a function of ARPAS, report to ARPAS and utilize the non-profit status of ARPAS for tax purposes. This Foundation is organized separately from the ARPAS financial structure and is not funded as a part of the ARPAS annual budget or any current ARPAS reserve funds. A Governing Board will be established to conduct the business of the Foundation.

Section 3. Use of Funds.
Only the earnings from funds directed to the ARPAS Foundation will be used to further the educational efforts of the ARPAS Foundation.

Section 4. Establishment of the Governing Board.
The initial governing body for the Foundation will be the ARPAS Executive Committee until such time that the president of ARPAS shall appoint a board of directors for the foundation.
The Board will consist of five ARPAS members and the current Executive Vice-President of ARPAS as an ex-officio member.
Appointments shall be for a three- year term except for the initial appointments which shall consist of two members being appointed for a three-year term, two members appointed for a two-year term and one member appointed for a one-year term.
The Executive Vice-President shall be the moderator for the Governing Board but have no voting privileges.

Section 5. Duties of the Governing Board.
The Governing Board will have the responsibility for:
• Developing and coordinating the fund raising efforts of the Foundation.
• Recommending and overseeing investment of the funds of the Foundation
• Providing guidelines for the expenditure of earning from the Foundation consistent with the stated purpose for the Foundation and review proposals from members for such activities.

Section 6. Termination of the ARPAS Foundation.
In the event the ARPAS Foundation shall be terminated, any remaining funds will revert to ARPAS.

Colorado Nutrition Roundtable 

Thursday, September 16, 2010, at CSU ARDEC
Fort Collins, Colorado

“Carbon Balancing Acts: Green Cows and Carbon Footprints”

The Roundtable will be held at the Colorado State University Taylor Conference Center at ARDEC (Agriculture, Research, Development, and Education Center), Fort Collins, CO, County Road 56, East of I-25.

ARPAS member can earn 5 CEUs for attending this meeting!

The Colorado/Nebraska/Wyoming ARPAS Chapter will hold its Business Meeting at 9 AM at the conference. (Taylor Conference Room at ARDEC, Coordinated by Gary Tibbetts, President of the Chapter.)

Contact: Dr. Jack Whittier 970/491/6233 (Jack.Whittier@Colostate.Edu)
Nancy Weiss 970/491-7604 (Nancy.Weiss@Colostate.Edu)

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION DINNER AND TRAP SHOOT 

CALIFORNIA ARPAS
“BANG FOR YOUR BUCK!”

Sept 23, 2010
Kingsburg Gun Club, 2246 Gilbert, Kingsburg, CA 93631
Shoot Starts at 5pm, Dinner at 7pm

Questions? Contact: John Miller

Pictures from the Annual Meeting