OCA Vice-President, Dan Darling, is entering his sixth year as a cow-calf director to the OCA Board. Dan resides in the heart of apple country, in the Township of Cramahe of Northumberland County where him and his brother Van operate a cow-calf operation with 250 cows and background calves on 1,500 acres. They cash crop corn, soybeans and wheat and also sell freezer beef by the cut and side to local consumers. Dan represents Ontario beef producers provincially on the Cow-Calf and Government Relations Committees but also nationally at the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA). Dan sits as Executive on the Board of CCA and more recently was elected to the position of Officer in March of this year. As a cow-calf producer, Darling also sits on the Executive to the Canadian Cattle Identification Agency.
 

Bob joined the OCA Board of Directors in February of 2007 as a Director-at-Large and was later re-elected in 2009 as a representative of the cow-calf sector. Bob was born in Hastings County, grew up in Orillia and now resides in Mono Township of Dufferin County. Bob, a first generation farmer, operates a cow-calf forage based operation near Orangeville with his son Andrew. They background their calves in the summer to a target weight of 900lbs and sell in the fall.  Together the family owns 120 acres and rents a surrounding 700 acres. This father-son duo are also partners in a sheep operation. Bob represents Ontario beef producers as a member of the following organizations/committees: Ontario Director of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association and Canadian Cattle Identification Agency, Member of the OCA Cow-Calf and Government Relations Committees.
 

Paul Sharpe and his family farm in Wellington County where they co-own and operate a family feed mill, grain elevator, input supply business, and livestock and dry freight trucking business. They finish 1500 head of cattle per year. They also cash crop soybeans, corn, and wheat on 7000 acres. Sharpe is a current Director on the Ontario Cattle Feeders’ Association and served as Executive Director (1994-1998) and Treasurer on the Executive Board (1998-Present), at the Ontario Agriculture College, University of Guelph. Paul is also the Ontario Director of the Canada Beef Export Federation, Member of the Livestock Financial Protection Adjudication Board and the Toronto Stockyards Land Development Board and the OCA representative of the Feeder Finance Program.
 

Tom was elected to the OCA Board in February of 2010 as a Southern Director. Tom, along with his wife Linda and their two sons Doug and Derek run 2200 acres of corn, beans and wheat and finish 700 cattle a year into the Ontario Corn-Fed Beef Program. Tom was born and raised in Corunna, Ontario where he and his father, Keith, built their first feedlot in 1972 that is still in operation today. Tom and his family source age-verified and vaccinated cattle and have converted two other barns into covered feedlots utilizing funding through the Environmental Farm Plan. Tom currently sits on the OCA Government Relations Committees.

Entering his third year as representative of Northern Ontario on the OCA Board, Matt and his wife Elaine farm in Temiskaming with their two children, Leslie and Thomas. Operating a Charolais based cow-calf operation with 110 cows , they also cash crops 700 acres of oats, wheat, barley and canola.  Much of the barley and wheat is grown for seed production and is prepared in their own seed cleaning plant. To round out their operation they also have a small pick your own strawberry patch for the locals. On a national scale, Matt serves as representative of Ontario to the Beef Information Centre and to compliment his position on the OCA Research Committee, he also sits on the board at the National Beef Cattle Research Council.