Proposed Merger of Northwest Co-op Breeders, Inc. and Evergreen Breeders’ Association

To: Members of NORTHWEST CO-OP BREEDERS, INC., and EVERGREEN BREEDERS’ ASSOCIATION:

For the past several months the mutual relations committee of the Northwest Co-op Breeders, Inc., and the Evergreen Breeders’ Association has been contemplating the possibility of a merger of the two corporations.

After careful study and consideration of all details, the committee has submitted such proposals to the board of directors of each organization, which boards have unanimously agreed to a merger of the two associations.

These two associations are the only cooperative associations in the State of Washington established for the purpose of artificial insemination of cattle.
The Northwest Co-op Breeders, Inc., was organized in 1941 and has its principal place of business just west of Burlington, Skagit County, Washington. Its membership now totals more than 12,000.

The Evergreen Breeders Association was organized in 1946, operates in Southwest Washington with offices at Chehalis, Washington, and has a membership of approximately 9,000.

In order to avoid a duplication of the effort of the two cooperative associations in the state and to prevent any possible competition between them, it is deemed to the best interest of the members of both associations that they merge and consolidate their activities throughout the State of Washington, and extend their operations into the neighboring states of the Northwest.

A few of the advantages to be gained by this merger can be set forth as follows:
1. One central office using up-to-date machine methods can do the necessary record keeping now done by two.
2. Fewer and more superior bulls can be maintained.
3. Feed costs for bulls can be reduced by nearly one half.
4. Taxes and maintenance on one set of buildings can be eliminated.
5. Present personnel can be used more efficiently, thus providing all members with better field service.

Decreasing semen producing costs will allow more efficient operation on a state-wide basis. These savings can be used for better bulls, better service and passing of profits back to members as patronage dividends or reduced breeding fees.

The new organization would be named EVERGREEN NORTHWEST BREEDERS, INC., and would be located at Burlington because the facilities of Northwest Co-op Breeders, Inc., are sufficient to handle the necessary bulls. Considerable new construction and expansion would be necessary at Chehalis, the location of Evergreen Breeders.

Bulls now owned by both organizations will be thoroughly evaluated and only the best retained. This is to be determined by a committee made up of three board members from each association, with a member of the Washington State College Dairy Science staff serving as the committee chairman.

Over two-thirds of the semen produced is now wasted because of too few cows in each association. The best bulls from both organizations will continue to be available as in the past with no extra delay in delivery to your inseminator.

1955 –

By 1955, the Evergreen & Northwest merger was complete and Evergreen Northwest was in full operation with Jay Harris as Manager, Robert Linton as Assistant Manager and Elwin Smith as Office Manager of the newly formed cooperative. With this merger, the stud now embraced a membership of nearly 20,000 and the first service rate within the state climbed to about 100,000. It would be nearly 20 years before another major change took place.

1955 Annual Meeting Notes –

Lawrence “Spec” Newman – President Cecil White – Vice President Ken Fredlund – Secretary Manager Harris reported that we now had 69 employees as of February 1, 1955 of which 54 were inseminators. We were selling semen to 17 subsidiary units. There were 23 Directors on the board representing 23 counties in the State of Washington.
• The Evergreen property was appraised at $30,000.00
• Sire Committees appointed: JERSEY – Frank Malleis, I.L Larson, Pete Henning, Jr.
HOLSTEIN – Russell Axelson, Iver Youngquist, Robert Eason
GUERNSEY – Cecil White, “Spec” Newman, Les Lancaster

Other 1955 Business –

• Semen Sales to Cuba were being looked into
• 20,000 cows annually were being bred within 60 miles of Spokane

 

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