California Chapter Report
Tim Riordan, California Chapter Representative

Congratulations to our newly elected National ARPAS officers, Dr. Randy Shaver and Dr. Andy Cole. Thank you for providing the opportunity for the chapter representatives to interact with the National Board.

The California ARPAS chapter currently has 75 members in good standing. The current California ARPAS chapter Governing Council members are:

• President: Matt Kelly


• President-Elect: Dr. John Miller


• Secretary/Treasurer: Sonda Sibole


• Directors-at-large: Dennis Ervin and Travis Taylor

The California ARPAS chapter held its annual Continuing Education Conference on October 25-26, 2007 in Coalinga, CA with 117 attendees. The focus of the conference was on the impact of antibiotic usage in animal production and its potential effect on antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria.

The chapter business meeting was held on October 26, 2007. The treasurer reported that the chapter currently had $18,934.38 in the checking and money market accounts. The liquid cash reserve total was $67,348.00. The Alex Kutches Memorial Fund total was $27,265.00. The Los Angeles Grain Scholarship Fund total was $61,644.00.

The Environmental Stewardship Committee, with Dr. Marit Arana’s assistance, set up a feed management workshop prior the California Animal Nutrition Conference (CANC) on May 20, 2008 at California State University, Fresno. Dr. Joe Harrison, Washington State University, outlined the "five step" process for development and implementation of a feed management plan. Mr. Bob Fry from NRCS opened a discussion with the attendees, many of which were Industry consultants, concerning how NRCS might assist in the implementation and monitoring of the plans.

The Scholarship Committee awarded two undergraduate scholarships from the Los Angeles Grain Exchange to Kim DeLaPeza and Andrea Greiler, both animal science/pre-vet students at Cal Poly, Pomona with impressive community service involvement. The Alex Kutches Memorial Scholarship went to two very deserving graduate students. Kimberly Livingston, attending University of California Davis, presented her research, "The Effects of Vitamin A deficiency on B Cells." Scott Hamilton, also a student at the University of California, Davis, presented his research, "The Effects of Rumensin on Greenhouse Gas and Volatile Emissions in Lactating Dairy Cows."

The Mid-Year chapter meeting, held on May 20, 2008, provided an update by Dr. Carl Old on the status in the development of a NiR process to measure the quality of alfalfa hay based on total tract digestibility. The By-Products Committee Chairperson, Dr. John Miller, reported on the recent completion of a project conducted at California State University, Fresno, in conjunction with the Pacific Ethanol Group, on the changes in nutrient composition and shelf-life of Wet DD6 and Korn Plex with and without the addition of an enzyme product. 

Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska Chapter Report
Terry Engle, Chapter President

Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska ARPAS Chapter Officer Names and Positions

• President: Terry Engle, Colorado State University


• President Elect: Gary Tibbettes, Zinpro Corp.


• Secretary: Shawn Archibeque, Colorado State University


• Treasurer: Bob Brown, Private Nutritionist

Brief Overview of the Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska ARPAS chapter activities for the year:
The Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska ARPAS chapter holds two nutrition roundtables each year (March and September). The title for the nutrition roundtable held on March 22nd, 2007 (Location: Laramie, WY) was "Managing through high corn costs: Cow-calf and feedyard prospectives." The speakers were: Rick Funston, University of Nebraska; Harvey Freetly, USMARC; and Daniel Loy, Iowa State University. The title for the September 27th, 2007 Nutrition Roundtable (Location Fort Collins, CO) was "Natural Beef: Perceptions vs. Realities; Production vs. Problems and Possibilities; Science vs. Hype." The speakers were John Scanga, Colorado State University, John Lawrence, Iowa State University Beef Center, T. G. Nagaraja, Kansas State University, and Michael Brown, West Texas A&M University. This spring (2008) the Nutrition Roundtable was held in Lamar, CO on March 27th, 2008 with the title being "Emerging Issues in the Feedyard Industry." The speakers were: Judson Vasconcelos, Texas Tech University: Cal Ferrell, USDA Meat Animal Research Center; Andy Cole, USDA-ARS-CPRL; John J. Wagner, Colorado State University Ivan Rush, University of Nebraska 

During the March nutrition roundtables the Colorado/Wyoming/Nebraska ARPAS Chapter also hosts a graduate student poster competition in conjunction with the Roundtable. The graduate students are required to submit an abstract prior to the meeting and the posters are evaluated by academic faculty and industry representatives. During the evaluation, the poster presenter is questioned about the research and the poster is evaluated by the evaluation panel. At the end of the Nutrition Roundtable prizes are presented to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. 

The Pacific Northwest chapter of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists meets annually in October at the Pacific Northwest Animal Nutrition Conference. This past year the chapter met in Portland, OR. A business meeting was conducted followed by a guest speaker, Dr. Galen Erickson from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln who gave a presentation on distillers by-products. At the meeting, the following officers were elected: president, Tim Bodine; vice-president, Judd Higgins; treasurer, Mike Mehren; secretary, Bill Sanchez. The following issues were discussed at the meeting: the resumption of the undergraduate scholarship, the need to encourage both undergraduate and graduate attendance at the meetings, to encourage graduate student participation in the graduate student poster competition, to offer ARPAS exams to both undergraduate and graduate students at the meetings, to pay for the exam, the possibility of paying for the first year of national ARPAS dues and the first year of PNW ARPAS dues, to meet and visit with the department heads of the involved universities to facilitate these ideas, and to further encourage ARPAS membership and participation on the PNW ARPAS chapter.

Pacific Northwest chapter
Tim Bodine, Chapter President

The Pacific Northwest chapter of the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists meets annually in October at the Pacific Northwest Animal Nutrition Conference. This past year the chapter met in Portland, OR. A business meeting was conducted followed by a guest speaker, Dr. Galen Erickson from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln who gave a presentation on distillers by-products. At the meeting, the following officers were elected: president, Tim Bodine; vice-president, Judd Higgins; treasurer, Mike Mehren; secretary, Bill Sanchez. The following issues were discussed at the meeting: the resumption of the undergraduate scholarship, the need to encourage both undergraduate and graduate attendance at the meetings, to encourage graduate student participation in the graduate student poster competition, to offer ARPAS exams to both undergraduate and graduate students at the meetings, to pay for the exam, the possibility of paying for the first year of national ARPAS dues and the first year of PNW ARPAS dues, to meet and visit with the department heads of the involved universities to facilitate these ideas, and to further encourage ARPAS membership and participation on the PNW ARPAS chapter.

Southern Great Plains Chapter
Andy Cole, President

The organizational meeting of the Southern Great Plains chapter of ARPAS was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Plains Nutrition Council (PNC) on March 30, 2007 at the Marriott Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, TX. Seventeen members and an equal number of potential members attended.

Our second annual meeting was held on April 11, 2008 at the Marriott Plaza Hotel in San Antonio, TX in conjunction with the PNC. Twenty two members and potential members attended. The breakfast was graciously provided by Pfizer and Novus. 

The following officers were elected:

• President – Andy Cole (USDA-ARS) 


• President-Elect – Gerald Horn (Oklahoma State University)


• Secretary /Treasurer – Nathan Elam (New Mexico State University, Clayton)


• Director – Chris Reinhardt (Kansas State University)


• Director – Lionel Lane (Lane Resources Limited, Inc.)


• Immediate Past President - Mike Brown (WTAMU)

Director Lionel Lane and president-elect Andy Cole attended the annual Mid South Animal Nutrition Conference in Arlington, Texas, sponsored by the Texas Animal Nutrition Council (TANC) April 8-9, 2008 and provided information about the new chapter to those attending. 

The chapter has scheduled a breakfast meeting sponsored by BioMin in conjunction with the ASAS/ADSA meeting in Indianapolis for members of PNC and TANC. Dr. Ursula Hofstetter will discuss mycotoxins in distiller’s grains. 

At last count, our membership was approximately 26.