MARYSVILLE, Ohio – The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) already boasts a successful youth program. BEST (Beef Exhibitor Show Total) recognizes Ohio’s junior beef exhibitors for participation and placements through a series of sanctioned cattle shows that include showmanship competitions.

Hundreds of junior OCA members participated in the series. But the group was looking to add something different.

“We’ve always had a group of young individuals involved in our BEST series,” said Lindsey Hall, OCA executive vice president. “But we felt like we were doing a little bit of a disservice to those juniors not involved in the cattle shows.”

The official launch date for the Ohio Beef Youth Council (OBYC) is Feb. 1, 2025. OBYC is an education initiative serving the youth of Ohio from ages 8-21. This initiative, funded by the Beef Checkoff and OCA, provides youth with the tools to become more effective industry leaders and inspires them to continue engaging in Ohio’s beef industry as adults.

“We wanted to involve more kids, even if they’re not from a beef background, to have that exposure and the opportunity to learn more about beef,” said Morgan Hoppes, OCA manager of youth education and development programs. “We want to focus on beef as a whole, beef advocacy, education, and give them leadership opportunities.”

The idea for the youth council was in the works before Morgan was hired this past summer. “Elizabeth Harsh (OCA executive director) and Lindsey put that together and got that in the works, then we went full steam ahead with it,” she said.

The eight junior reps who head up the BEST series were approached about being on the initial OBYC leadership team. “The original eight have been through an interview process for the BEST series and they did a great job,” Hoppes said.

The leadership group includes Chair Tatumn Poff, Vice Chair Cheyenne Meyrs, Public Relations Director Taylor Poff, Leadership and Development Director Noah Lang, Riley Burtchin, Madi Dunham, Alexis Perry and Brock Perry.

The leadership committee will present at all industry events, including the annual meeting, and potentially travel to national events. “We’ve been meeting once a month or so with these guys, getting stuff put together,” Hoppes said.

Hoppes is the primary contact for the leadership board, setting meetings, answering questions, and providing clothing and apparel for them to wear. “I’m more of the planner and the person in communication with the kids,” she said. “I feel like at this point I’m the liaison between them and then getting things put together and getting it out to the other kids.”

The structure of meetings is still to be determined. A lot of it will be based on the total number of juniors that decide to participate. Regardless, the preliminary structure is to provide different opportunities for juniors who may not necessarily raise or show beef but are interested in different aspects of the beef industry.

“Until we see how many kids sign up and see what we have going on — that’ll determine what sorts of things we will provide,” Hoppes said. However, Hoppes did offer several examples of what has been discussed. “A youth day or an educational day, different contests that don’t revolve around the show ring as much, like a carcass contest, things that are more industry-focused,” she said.

There hasn’t been a heavy membership push yet but the OCA is building awareness about the program through school FFA programs and social media platforms.

“We haven’t gone crazy heavy yet just because it hasn’t been officially launched,” Hoppes said. “We’re trying to make sure that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves – but we’re super excited and I think the opportunity is definitely out there.

“I’ve had probably 15 or so people reach out and ask about it who I didn’t even know would have known about it,” Hoppes said. “That makes me feel pretty good. We’re just kind of figuring it out, seeing how it goes, but I think from everything that we’re hearing from all the feedback we’ve gotten so far, people are really excited about it.”

As part of the Feb. 1 launch, the current OBYC leadership board members will do a presentation that morning followed by a panel discussion with beef industry insiders. The panel will talk about the beef industry and how it impacted them and brought them to where they are today.

“They’re going to give their input on how similar programs that they were involved in as a youth, whether it was a breed association or something along those lines of a leadership council, got them to where they are today,” Hoppes said. “The youth council is going to help put that together and then they’ll direct that conversation with that panel.”

As with any new endeavor, there’s a lot of excitement over the possibilities.

“There’s a lot of different things that we have mulling over in our brains,” Hoppes said. “Really, we just wanted to provide kids in the state of Ohio, regardless of their background, with the opportunity to come in and learn more about beef, spread their wings, expand their knowledge, and grow in different aspects of their careers and lives.”