St. Louis, Missouri

Present: Steve Moeller, Jack Dekkers, Tom Rathje, Maynard Hogberg, Steve Price, Rodney Goodwin, Rick Pfortmiller, Ron Bates, Randy Bowman, and Ken Stalder.

A board of directors meeting was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel, St. Louis Missouri on Friday December 7, 2001. President Moeller called the meeting to order and for a review of this year’s conference and activities. The consensus of the board was that the conference was a success and that everyone enjoyed the group activity held on Thursday evening. Secretary – Treasurer Stalder confirmed the Nashville location for the 2002 Conference. Board members suggested that a downtown hotel in Nashville might be an exciting venue. Stalder expressed some concern over getting competitive prices for conference facilities, equipment and food. Rodney Goodwin suggested that National Pork Board event planning staff might be a valuable resource in this regard. Stalder indicated he would follow up with Ken and solicit their assistance in planning the 2002 conference.

Old Business

Two items table at the December 6^th, 2001 board of directors meeting was then discussed. The first was reports from various committees.

Committee Reports:

Certification: Steve Moeller reported that the dates for Ultrasound Certification would be either May 6^th and 7^th or 13^th and 14^th. The certification will take place in Ames, Iowa. Moeller estimated that there would be 25 technicians that would need to re-certify. Moeller suggested that the draft of a certification manual would be completed in the first quarter of 2002. The board suggested he work with the National Pork Board to get the document published. Additionally, it was suggested that the manual could be placed on any CD produced by the organization.

Membership: Ken Stalder asked for any comments regarding the draft of the new NSIF brochure and the new member information letter. The board indicated their satisfaction with the letter and brochure. It was suggested that we go ahead with printing the brochure after the web site domain name has been resolved. Stalder indicated that he would check into brochure printing prices. He also asked that the board of directors send him names of companies, their addresses and phone numbers, and a contact persons they feel might be interested in becoming NSIF members. He indicated that this information is needed to personalize letters and gives him a contact to call and personally invited groups to join our organization.

Guidelines: Steve Moeller and Ken Stalder led discussions regarding an update of our guidelines. It was indicated that several items needed to be included in the guidelines. The latest formulas to estimate lean, leg soundness pictures, new indices, particularly those used by the National Swine Registry, quality standards and pictures for the lorn, belly and ham, and contemporary group structure were a few items mentioned to include in an a revision of the guidelines. Stalder said he would contact the chairman of the guidelines committee to indicate the board’s encouragement to update the guidelines.

Rick Pfortmiller reported back to the board of directors regarding the tabled discussion of web site issues. He reported that it costs $35 to register a domain name. This is a one-time fee. He also indicated that it would cost approximately $35 monthly to have the NSIF site located on a Server that is commercially operated. He indicated that this did not include posting of any new information on the site. He said the commercial site could be something as simple as a site for the NSIF.org domain that links to the North Carolina State University site where everything is presently located. The board directed Stalder to attempt to register the NSIF domain name, explore commercial alternatives, and report back at the organization’s summer board of director’s meeting.

New Business:

The board of directors was asked if they preferred on-site summer board meeting held in conjunction with the World Pork Expo or a conference call format for the 2002 summer director’s meeting. Most preferred a conference call. (Stalder indicated that a conference call was a little cheaper than the on-site meeting. Moeller indicated that he thought he could originate a conference call at less expense than what we were charged for the 2001 conference call. Moeller was instructed to explore the costs through Ohio State University.) A late may (28, 29, 30, or 31) conference call was suggested. Stalder said he would confirm the date and get an agenda to board members approximately one month prior to the meeting.

Maynard Hogberg suggested that we investigate the possibility of assigning ARPAS continuing education units for attending the Organization’s conference and Annual meeting. He indicated that this could be a benefit to some of the attendees of our conference. Many board members indicated they have listed the NSIF conference on the ARPAS CEU reporting form and have had no problem receiving credit. Moeller indicated he would contact Bill Baumgerten regarding this issue and report back at the summer board of director’s meeting.

It was moved by Steve Price, seconded by Rick Pfortmiller, and passed unanimously that the meeting be adjourned.

Respectfully Submitted,

Ken Stalder

Secretary - Treasurer