Fellow board members elected Marshall Ernst, Windsor, CO, as the new Certified Hereford Beef (CHB) LLC president. Ernst has served on the CHB LLC and American Hereford Association (AHA) boards since 2006.
He owns Ernst Herefords and has more than 30 years of experience in the meat industry. Marshall has worked for many notable companies in the meat industry such as Smithfield Foods, Johnsonville Sausage, Sara Lee Meat Group, ConAgra Beef Co., and Swift and Co. He has managed both hog and cattle harvesting facilities as well as further processed and cooked meat operations.
During his career he has been responsible for 35 meat processing plants in 20 states. He has experience in manufacturing, engineering, sales, food quality and safety, planning, scheduling, and transportation as well as profit and loss and strategic planning.
Marshall says the goal for the CHB program continues to be to drive demand for Hereford genetics through the promotion and sales of CHB®.
“We are expecting CHB LLC to continue gaining momentum in 2009,” he says. “A lot of ground work was laid last year that should generate sales early this fiscal year. The Nuestro Rancho brand, which is one of the first brands in the U.S. that focuses on the Hispanic customer, is doing nicely after its introduction this past summer. Additionally, CHB is getting its ground beef program going and will have sales from that for the entire fiscal year. Several of the distribution channels that were started last year are seeing growth and have interest in expanding to new markets.”
While working in the meat industry, Marshall and his family stayed active in the Hereford business, starting their own herd in 1977. Marshall served as Wisconsin Polled Hereford Association president twice and as a director for six years. He was a member of the planning committees for the Junior National Polled Hereford shows that were held in Wisconsin in 1982 and 1992. Additionally Marshall was co-chairman of the 2007 Junior National Hereford Expo in Denver.
Marshall’s career moved him from Wisconsin to Ohio , where his family was active in the Buckeye Hereford Association, and then to Colorado . Marshall and his wife, Barb, have four children — Melissa, Stephanie, Katie and Kevin. All four have been active in junior Hereford events, exhibiting at every junior national since 1990.
