DEWITT, Mich. – A step has been taken in Michigan to help young beef producers in the state become more successful and actively involved in the industry.

The Michigan Cattlemen’s Association has launched the Michigan Cattlemen’s Foundation, a fund to be used for furthering the development of young producers in the association.

The foundation was created in memory of former MCA President Brian Plank, 50, who died in a tractor accident in Montcalm County in November 2021.

MCA Executive Vice President Sara Horton-Flokstra said the foundation reflects a priority of Plank to help young people get started in raising cattle and, eventually, become leaders in the industry.

“Brian was a very large advocate of getting young producers in the state involved whether that was on their local level or even at the national level,” she said.

Alex Heeg represents what’s hoped will be accomplished with the foundation.

Heeg, 41, with help from Plank, has gone from showing cattle in 4-H to currently having her own small herd of beef cows in Fowlerville and now holding a seat on the MCA board of directors and its executive committee.

“That was Brian’s goal and wish just to help young cattle producers further the industry,” she said.

Heeg said Plank was “always just a phone call away” when she wanted answers to questions beginning as a youth.

“We were pretty close friends and he helped me out quite a bit,” she said.

Plank raised 75 SimAngus cows and marketed breeding bulls along with club calves.

In 2014, he produced what was then the highest indexing and selling Simmental bull as station manager of the MCA and Michigan State University Bull Evaluation Program.

“He was always very big into helping the young people learn,” Heeg said.

Horton-Flokstra said the foundation was started with an undisclosed amount of money from a financial contribution by the Plank family and proceeds from the sale of a cow and calve painting ordered by Plank before his death.

Initially, she said the interest earned from the money will be used to send one member of the MCA each year to the annual Young Cattlemen’s Conference sponsored by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

The conference lasts nearly two weeks and starts with visits to farms around Denver, Colo., where the NCBA is headquartered.

The conference ends with a trip to Washington D.C. where participants meet with federal lawmakers from Michigan to discuss issues related to beef production in the state.

Horton-Flokstra said a young producer coming back from the trip is better positioned to run their own livestock operation more effectively from what they learned and contribute to the MCA and industry, in general, as a better leader.

“It’s starting them out young to get them to a point where we would feel more confident to send them to Washington D.C. to speak on behalf of our association, which would then bring them back to our state with more knowledge and more of an investment into our program,” she said.

She said the goal is to grow the financial base of the foundation to where other educational offerings of some type can be provided to more young MCA members.

“We have been looking into different scholarship opportunities in the future,” she said.

Horton-Flokstra said her husband, Drew, once worked on a farm with about 100 head of registered Hereford cattle near Grand Rapids.

The couple, after recently marrying, relocated further south to Marshall and started their own small herd of beef cattle on a farm owned by her father.

They help him run the farm, which includes more than 4,000 acres of corn.

“We think the creation of the foundation is going to have an incremental impact on our young producers and cattlemen, in general, in the state,” she said.

All monetary contributions to the recently federally designated not-for-profit foundation are tax deductible.

Donations can be made by contacting the foundation at info@micattlemen.org or 517-347-8117. Future fundraising events will be included in upcoming MCA publications.