March 1, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information contact:

Katie Allen, Angus Foundation marketing and public relations assistant, at 816-383-5100 or kallen@angusfoundation.org; or

Milford Jenkins, Angus Foundation president, at 816-383-5100 or mjenkins@angusfoundation.org

Widdowson Selected to Represent Angus at 2012 YCC

The Angus Foundation supports Widdowson’s representation at the conference.

John Widdowson of Lodgepole, Neb., has been selected by the Angus Foundation’s Board of Directors to represent the American Angus Association^® at the 2012 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC).

The Angus Foundation will sponsor Widdowson’s registration and travel expenses.

This is the tenth year the Angus Foundation has funded an Association member to attend YCC, which will take place May 31-June 7.

YCC allows young leaders the chance to see firsthand and further understand all aspects of the beef industry. Attendees participate in a nationwide tour of the beef production chain from ranch to feedlot to packing plant, through marketing and regulatory affairs, and finally ending at consumer foodservice. To qualify for participation, a man or woman must be nominated by one of NCBA’s affiliate members, be between the ages of 25 and 50, and be an NCBA member.

“As in the past, it is a pleasure for the Angus Foundation to offer the YCC opportunity to our young adult Angus members,” says Milford Jenkins, Angus Foundation president. “This annual investment in the education of our members further strengthens the Angus breed’s abilities to help advance the beef cattle industry. YCC participants share the knowledge they gained with their Angus and beef cattle peers afterwards, and it’s this exchange of information afterwards from producer to producer and producer to consumer, that is absolutely invaluable to our breed and industry as a whole.”

Widdowson, along with his wife Laurie, own and operate SandPoint Cattle Company, LCC, located on 13,000 acres in the southern panhandle of Nebraska. The operation, which is the largest Angus seedstock operation in the state, is home to about 3,200 registered Angus cattle, including 1,900 mother cows. The Widdowsons have been very active in supporting the Angus breed through the Angus Foundation, by donating and purchasing items at Angus Foundation fundraising events and financially supporting Angus Foundation programs.

"I am completely humbled and honored to represent the American Angus Association^® and its membership as its representative to the NCBA's YCC program and look forward to the opportunity of experiencing and learning more about the beef industry from the local level to Washington, D.C.,” Widdowson says. “Thank you to the Angus Foundation’s Board of Directors for this wonderful opportunity."

According to the NCBA, the tour will begin in Denver with a comprehensive overview of the industry. Participants will take an in-depth look at many of the issues affecting the beef industry and what NCBA is doing to address these issues on behalf of its members, and they will receive a comprehensive view of market information from Cattle-Fax. The group will then travel to JBS Five Rivers’ Kuner Feedyard, one of the nation’s largest cattle feeding operations, then tour the JBS Greeley facility, one of the nation’s largest beef packing and processing plants. Participants will then travel to the Chicago Board of Trade and OSI, Inc., one of the nation’s premier beef patty manufacturers. From there, the next stop will be the nation’s Capitol, where participants will get a chance to meet with their respective congressmen and senators and many regulatory agencies that make decisions affecting agriculture.

For more information about YCC, the Angus Foundation, or a list of previous Angus YCC representatives, visit www.angusfoundation.org.

The Angus Foundation was established in 1980 as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization to support Angus education, youth and research. To learn more about the Angus Foundation and the programs it supports, log on to www.angusfoundation.org or call 816-383-5100.

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