NANA- A Historical Over view and Commentary
By Brian Toivola D. V.M.
For approximately 8 years the organization also registered a large number of half blood Normande females from members located in several states at the time, the active members were mostly commercial type cattlemen and were not active showing cattle at livestock exhibitions. This did hinder promotions of the breed to some extent but these operations proved the worth of the Normande breed in the beef cattle industry.
In 1982 Craig Ouverson, a member from Hanlontown, Iowa, became disenchanted with the American Normande Association because it would not register some of his full blood bulls because of an ownership dispute over some E.T. calves. Also he felt strongly that the association was not doing enough to promote the breed by having displays at major cattle shows and holding competitive Normande exhibitions.
He organized NANA in 1982 with the registry located in Ames, Iowa. The original by-laws required an 11-member board of directors that included current NANA members Keith Miller, Bruce Bolen and Ralph Reel. Personally at the time I had owned Normande cattle since 1981 and had joined the American Normande Association that year and was elected to their board of directors in 1984. That same year discussions began to possibly join the two organizations because there just were to few Normande breeders to sustain two separate organizations. In 1985 directors of the American Normande association agreed to disband and have all papers of record transferred to NANA.
Soon after the merger the NANA office was transferred to a breeders residence in Clear Lake, Iowa. The firm in Ames, Iowa doing registrations for several breeds had gone out of business. As a result registration papers began to be processed very slowly and soon dissention began to surface in the relatively new association. In addition President Ouverson had failed to call any board or annual meetings for almost 3 years. This necessitated a “board action” to call for a reorganization meeting to address the needs of many members desperate to have their registrations current and see the association move forward.
In 1988 a special membership meeting was held and the board of directors was reduced from 11 to 6 members, this number better suited the existing number of active members. At this meeting I was elected onto the board of directors and also voted in as President. At this meeting my wife Judy offered to take over the registry secretary position for the association. The board accepted her offer and the board also decided to relocate the NANA registry office to some available office space in my veterinary hospital in Hibbing, Minnesota.
My wife volunteered her services to the association for 8 years and drew a small salary for 6 years after that. Membership numbers increased during this time to as many as 60 members and at least two board meetings and one annual membership meeting was held each year.
In 1995 Bruce Bolen and I became interested in promoting the dairy aspects of the Normande breed to the U.S. dairy producers. We had heard they were crossing Jerseys and Holsteins on some Midwest farms. We felt strongly that the Normande could do as much for component values as a Jersey and would certainly add strength and improve the carcass value of Holstein crossbred steers.
In 1994 I was able to accomplish the first importation of Normande semen from France in over 20 years. In 1995 some of the top bulls from France became available with semen on the top French sire, Diametre, entering the U.S. that year. NANA in 1996 sponsored a display of Normande cattle at the World Dairy Expo. The display featured 5 head of full blood Normande cattle and a Normande/Holstein crossbred cow. Reception was very positive and display was again set up at the 1997 World Dairy Expo. The display that year featured a Diametre sired ET full blood heifer that went on to produce the first line of U.S. full blood Normande dairy females from top sires from France.
Jerome Chateau joined our association that year and was a part of our 1997 World Dairy Expo display. He had recently been able to convince his native countrymen to significantly lower the price of French Normande semen by over 60%. This improved the affordability of Normande semen for dairy producers across the country and fueled the explosion of Normande cross breeding in dairy herds starting in 1998.
This development fostered many discussions in our organization on how to best promote the Normande breed for both beef and dairy applications in the U.S. cattle industry.
NANA expanded the board of directors from 6 to 9 members to ensure adequate representation from both beef and dairy interests. Because most dairymen purchasing Normande semen were unlikely to register offspring and breed up to purebred status the board felt there would be to few Normande purebred breeders in the U.S. in the near future to support a separate organization for promoting dairy interests. In addition I feel the Normande breed will likely never become a major player in either the beef or the dairy sectors of the U.S. cattle industry. At best it will nicely fill the niche market for grass based organic dairy products and homegrown organic beef.
In 2002 my wife retired as registry secretary and the breed office was moved to Elroy, Wisconsin, Darline & Gary Nicholson are doing a good job of maintaining the registry and producing a noteworthy newsletter as well. Their dedication to the endeavor is very obvious and is very crucial to the success of our organization.
Association members feel strongly that the outstanding carcass qualities of the breed and the grazing ability of our efficient high component producing Normande cows can be adequately promoted by one organization alone. Interestingly the largest population of Normande cattle on the planet is in Colombia were the Normande are raised in both dairy and beef operations. If it’s worked there for over 100 years, the Normande breed should be able to survive in the U.S. as a multi purpose breed as well. In my opinion the current leadership of NANA has the diversity, commitment and pride to ensure a successful U.S. CINOR in 2006 and a bright future for the Normande breed across the U.S.