Goes Receives Gelbvieh Association Member of Year

Mark Goes of Odell, Neb., was named the 2012 American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) Member of the Year. The AGA Member of the Year award is presented annually to an outstanding member who gives their time, talent, and dedication to further the improvement of their state and national association. This year’s honoree has selflessly given his time and talent on each level, exemplifying the qualities and attributes of the award.

Mark has been very active in the Gelbvieh breed and the livestock industry. He has been a member of the Gelbvieh Association in Nebraska (GAIN) since 1987 and the American Gelbvieh Association since 1988 as owner of M&P Gelbvieh, which he owns with his wife Patti and daughter Tricia.

Mark has served on the Board of Directors for each association, lending his time and input to shape the direction of both associations. He has been a director for seven of the past eight years with GAIN, where he worked to create the GAIN field representative position. Currently, Mark serves on the AGA Board of Directors, and was recently elected as the 28^th president of the American Gelbvieh Association. Additionally, he has chaired numerous AGA committees including productivity, finance and national show and has written six published articles in Gelbvieh World.

As a champion for youth, Mark and Patti have been junior GAIN sponsors for the last ten years. Moreover, Mark has played an instrumental role in developing and carrying out the American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) live carcass evaluation contest. His efforts brought the contest from a concept to a reality. Recently, Mark and Patti served on the AGJA Twister Classic host committee which planned and carried out a very successful national show for more than 150 AGJA exhibitors and their families.

M&P Gelbvieh has built a reputation of raising high-quality and showring-competitive cattle. M&P Gelbvieh has exhibited cattle at the National Western Stock Show (NWSS) for ten years and taken home many purple ribbons. In 2005, PMG Pegasus 01P, a bull bred and raised by M&P Gelbvieh, was named champion of the Breeder’s Choice Gelbvieh Bull Futurity. They have also exhibited cattle many times at the American Royal, and in 2010 showed the reserve grand champion Balancer® female.

Outside of M&P Gelbvieh, Mark is an instructor of livestock production at the Beatrice campus of Southeast Community College located in southeast Nebraska. In 1999, Mark was responsible for adding a registered Gelbvieh and Balancer herd to the beef program at SCC. Southeast Community College has hosted multiple Gelbvieh tours with a variety of guests including representatives from the Canadian Gelbvieh Association. As an instructor, Mark has been a mentor to SCC students by helping them to exhibit and market Gelbvieh and Balancer cattle at state sales as well as the NWSS and the National Gelbvieh Sale.

With a desire to stay on the forefront of issues influencing the beef industry, Mark has attended multiple Beef Improvement Federation meetings, and represented AGA at the National Beef Cattle Evaluation Consortium meetings. Mark served as a member of the steering committee for the Nebraska Grazing Conference and is a member of the Nebraska Cattleman’s Association. He was the first certified ultrasound technician in Nebraska and has been performing ultrasound services to Gelbvieh breeders since 1997.

The American Gelbvieh Association was honored to recognize Mark as the 2012 Member of the Year during the AGA “Blazing New Trails” annual convention held January 4-7 in Denver, Colo. His countless hours of time and dedication to Gelbvieh organizations set a remarkable example for all AGA members to follow.

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Photo caption [2012 AGA Member of Year_Mark Goes]:  Mark Goes (center) of Odell, Neb., was the 2012 American Gelbvieh Association Member of the Year. Pictured with Mark are his daughter Tricia (left) and wife Patti (right).