Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming to meet Sept. 10-11, Casper

ICOW (Independent Cattlemen of Wyoming) will be holding their annual conference, September 10-11, 2021, at the Clarion, in Casper. Plan now to attend and listen to the great line up of speakers. Larry Bentley, Ellie Cushman and Taylor Haynes will host the Friday morning forum. Friday afternoon, Bill Bullard and Karina Jones will speak on behalf of R-Calf regarding several national events that affect ranchers in Wyoming. Karina’s name and face are new to many folks in Wyoming, but she ranches with her husband, Marty, and 3 daughters near Broken Bow, NE. Growing up in western NE, with roots also in southwest SD, her passions are the cattle industry and raising kids. Watching the cattle industry go the path that it has gone, she could no longer sit quietly at home checking cows, fixing fence, and doing all the everyday tasks wondering when someone else was going to make it all better. As she became more active and outspoken on industry issues, she was asked to join R-CALF staff in September 2019 as the Checkoff Petition Campaign manager. That position transcended into her current role as full time Field Director for R-CALF USA. Cattle producers are her people. She will meet you at the county fair, at the sale barn, or anywhere the dusty trail leads. But for now, she will meet you at the ICOW convention, at the Clarion, on September 10.

Following them, Marti Halverson will give a legislative update and Dennis Hermesch, DVM will speak on vaccines. Marti Halverson came from Philadelphia to Star Valley, Wyoming, 25 years ago. Having always been active in politics, she jumped right into the Wyoming political scene. In 2012, she was elected to represent HD22 in the state House of Representatives, and to represent the Wyoming Republican Party on the Republican National Committee.

Dennis Hermesch, DVM, MS of Mountain Vet Supply, Fort Collins, will present “Modified Live Vaccines or Killed, which is better and why?” on Friday and “Beef Calf Disease Management”, Saturday morning. Dennis practiced in Nebraska for 26 years and has taught variations on these programs in the 80s.

After the banquet, Daron Little will provide some musical entertainment to close Friday’s events. Daron is a working ranch cowboy for the TA ranch in SE Wyoming. His award-winning music celebrates the ranch cowboy and American Horseback culture. Daron has made appearances on RFD-TV, the Cowboy Channel and the WRCA World Championship Rodeo as well as most notable Cowboy Poetry and Music Gatherings.

In addition to Dr. Hermesch, Lucy Pauley, from the Wyoming Department of Ag, will speak Saturday morning. Lucy is the Coordinator of the Wyoming Agriculture and Natural Resource Mediation Program. The program provides mediation and other alternative dispute resolution services to individuals and organizations. Lucy grew up in Cheyenne and Rawlins and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a B.S. in Animal Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She has worker for the Dept of AG since 1996.

For Wyoming ranchers to have a voice on issues ICOW will fight for in the next year, attend the annual business meeting, Saturday afternoon. Each voice counts. For more information, please contact Joyce Menke, ICOW annual meeting chr., at joymenke@gmail.com

–ICOW