Baker County rancher Bill Moore of Unity wraps up his two-year term Saturday as president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association.

In his last official role as president, Moore is presiding over the

OCA annual convention this weekend at the Riverhouse in Bend.

“This convention is the opportunity where producers weigh in on our

policies that direct the OCA in the coming year,” Moore said. “Whether

that is water, issues in the Oregon Legislature, branding laws, wolf

issues or land use, we are setting policies that will address concerns

and policies set during the annual convention.

“We are trying to set policies and prioritize the interests of cattle producers in Oregon.”

OCA presidents serve two-year terms and then the president elect takes over. The president elect is Bill Hoyt of Cottage Grove.

The OCA convention agenda today started off with an OCA stewardship board meeting followed at 8 a.m. with the opening ceremonies, officer nominations and a speech by Katy Coba, state agriculture director.

Committee meetings throughout the day include water, public lands, wolves, marketing, climate change and other committees. There’s afternoon sessions on cattle pricing strategies, beef improvement and a 5 p.m. Western Fun night.

Saturday’s morning agenda includes a meeting of the Cattle political action committee, an 8 a.m. discussion about merging the Oregon State University animal science and rangeland ecology and management departments, meetings of the private lands, legislative, animal health and resolutions committees.

During the noon hour the agenda includes the steer-a-year presentation, scholarship awards and a beef replacement presentation.

Saturday afternoon the agenda includes the OCA business meeting, including a financial report, committee reports and voting on resolutions, political reports and election of officers. There will be a social at 5 p.m. and the silent auction will close at 5:30 p.m.

The Presidents Banquet will get under way at 6 p.m. with featured speakers including Gary Voogt, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

That concludes the regular convention agenda, and on Sunday the OCA executive board meets at 7:30 a.m.

Moore said his two-year term as OCA president “has been a very rewarding experience,” as well as time consuming.

“You are trying to represent people, who in my opinion are the best folks in the world – people who work hard to produce food and fiber in a very human and sustainable way,” Moore said.

While he was away from the family ranch near Unity taking care of OCA business, Moore said his wife, Nancy, and 28-year-old son, Nate, took over most of the responsibilities.

“My wife kept me on target and kept me out of trouble,” Moore said. “Nate took on a lot and grew a lot as a rancher and as a young man. Nate also owns his own ranch at Hereford, so he was busy running his own ranch, in addition to picking up the slack on ours.”

One of the things Moore said he is most proud of accomplishing during his term is the production and funding of the “Lands of Contrast, Ranching’s Commitment to Oregon” DVD, which received a second round of funding totaling more than $30,000 from the Oregon Beef Council during the OCA’s mid-year summer meeting in Baker City.

“I am very proud we have committed a significant amount of money promoting our positive image,” he said.

He said the DVD, which features several prominent Baker County ranchers, educates the public about the humane animal handling practices and good stewardship of land, water, fish and wildlife habitat practiced by Oregon ranchers.

“Private lands provide 70 percent of the wildlife habitat,” Moore said.

Ranchers who own woodlands also do a good job of sustainable management of the forests, thinning out sickly, overcrowded stands so the forests can grow strong, healthy and resilient to wildfire, he said.

“As the state’s No. 1 agricultural industry, with more than $640 million in direct sales of cattle and calves, ranchers make a huge contribution to the state economy,” Moore said.

“Green is in,” he said, and the OCA’s DVD and other educational programs are designed to educate the public about just how “green” ranchers really are.

“With the DVD, we are trying to get people reconnected to the land, by telling them what we do and how we do it,” he said. “This will probably have the biggest impact of anything we do.”

Moore said farmers and ranchers make up less than 2 percent of the total population, so they have to do a good job of educating the public to win their support.

Nationally, Moore said ranchers enjoy a 70 percent approval rating, and research shows that after watching educational programs the approval soars to better than 80 percent – a figure he said is almost never attained by politicians.

One of the messages the OCA has been spreading the word about is the EPA’s finding that agriculture contributes less than 7 percent of all global warming, and of that, the cattle industry’s contribution is well under 3 percent. That compares to people driving cars, trucks and other transportation, which he said contributes about 95 percent of all global warming gases.

As OCA president, Moore said he has spent a lot of time talking to people around the state, in schools, at chamber of commerce meetings and in presentations to community service groups such as Rotary clubs, Lions clubs and others, educating people about how ranchers operate and how they enhance the environment and contribute to the economy.