The 81st annual San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association event was held at the Paso Robles Event Center Thursday night.
Public officials, ranchers and others in the community gathered to speak about issues affecting the beef, cattle and agricultural industries.
The San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen's Association is a non-profit organization representing ranchers and beef producers in legislative and regulatory affairs.
Robert Boykin owns Sidebar Omega Ranch and is a member of the organization. He says he came to the meeting to get information but that's not all.
“It's more or less a reunion,” said Boykin. "And when a group of people that have something in common can get together, we can get a lot more done as a group than as an individual.”
The annual meeting touched on the bird flu affecting dairy animals in the state, how ranchers can mitigate the risk of wildfires on their property, and the California Beef Council working with school districts in California on incorporating beef into school menus.
Congressman Jimmy Panetta from District 19 told KSBY News this meeting allows him to understand the challenges local ranchers and cattlemen are facing in the community.
“You go to realize as people in agriculture, be it farming or ranching, cattle, dairy, they're facing challenges every single day,” Panetta said. “And the least that we can do as representatives at the city, county, state, especially at the federal level, [is] make sure that we understand those challenges, but also not just listen and learn, but to work together and provide solutions, hopefully on a bipartisan basis so that they can continue to flourish, especially here in northern San Luis Obispo County.”
Jesse Trace, the groundwater community organizer for the Community Alliance with Family Farms, says he came to the meeting to speak with others regarding groundwater in the area.
“I'm here to connect with local ranchers regarding groundwater,” Trace said. “The Paso basin is currently being over-drafted, and so just meeting folks to see how their wells are doing, how their springs are doing, and things are changing.”
Royce Larsen covers Rangelands in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Monterey counties through the University of California Cooperative Extension and says this meeting allowed him to listen to the problems other cattlemen are facing.
“Well, I hope to gain, as I like to hear what's going on from the Cattlemen's point of view and some of their issues, what they're faced with that helps me develop a plan to either get workshops and or research projects,” Larsen said.
For more information about the San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen’s Association, click here.
