BILLINGS, MT – From ranching to feedlots, that operational expertise will be brought by the newly elected president and vice president of R-CALF USA.
Brett Kenzy, Gregory, SD is the new president. A former Region III Director, Kenzy operates Kenzy Backgrounding, a 3,000-head feedlot and maintains a commercial cow herd in south-central South Dakota with his family. Kenzy and his wife have seven children.
“R-CALF USA is the organization that fights for competition, transparency, and honesty for independent livestock producers.” Kenzy said adding, “I believe that it is one of the very few organizations actively resisting the now global push for full vertical integration of our beef industry. Cooperation is a good thing; control is a different story.”
Elected to the VP’s role is Eric Nelson, Moville, IA. Nelson, the former Region VII Director is a fourth-generation farmer/feeder and rancher from Moville, Iowa. Along with his wife and family, he operates two feedlots, a cow-calf operation, raises crops and operates a commercial farm seed business in a three-county area.
Nelson is also an individual plaintiff in the national class action antitrust lawsuit that R-CALF USA first filed against the four largest beef packers in 2019.
“R-CALF USA is steadfast on its work on competition, country-of-origin labeling (COOL), and total transparency. A vibrant cattle industry is vital to all of agriculture, rural communities and to the entire nation,” Nelson said.
Outgoing president, Region II director and cow/calf rancher Gerald Schreiber, Woodrow, CO., served the maximum of two, three-year terms and served as president since 2015. Judy McCullough, a cow/calf rancher from Moorcroft, WY, was elected to replace Schreiber as the new Region II director by R-CALF USA’s cattle-owning members in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.
