GCWA Purpose and Mission
Georgia Cattlewomen Association’s purpose is to educate, promote, and protect the Georgia cattle industry.
Specifically, our organization promotes beef as a product, shares its nutritional value and recommends how it can be used in day to day life. We are dedicated to educating the public about where food comes from, efficient beef production, land stewardship, and about an agricultural lifestyle and heritage.
We communicate goodwill and encourage youth development across Georgia.
Additionally, the group’s mission is to serve as a voice for Georgia’s female farmers, ranchers, family members, business partners, extension agents, teachers, and other industry professionals. GCWA is a volunteer based non-profit 501(c)5. Owning cattle is not a requirement for membership. Click here if you are interested in joining.
History
History In May of 1968, the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association requested information from the American National Cattlemen’s Association about forming the GCA Auxiliary. At that time, the Georgia Livestock Association had the Georgia CowBelles’ affiliation. GCA was given permission to start the Georgia Cattlemen’s Auxiliary. Brenda Rush served as the 1968 President. In 1974, the Auxiliary became the Georgia CowBelles and was affiliated with the National CowBelles Association. When NCBA decided to change their name, the Georgia ladies followed suit and became the Georgia CattleWomen’s Association in 1986.
The Georgia Cattlemen’s Auxiliary’s main goal was to work with the cattlemen and promote beef. Ever since the formation of this association, the ladies have promoted Beef for Father’s Day, Beef Month, provided beef demos, distributed beef materials, assisted with youth events, conducted Georgia Beef Cook-Offs, exhibited at fairs, and provided leadership to help keep the BEEF industry strong. Over the years, the association has provided scholarships, awards, donated monetary support to organizations to purchase beef, and provided agriculture and beef education programs for students and adults. The association continues to support the traditions of the cattlemen and cattle industry in their endeavors to supply the consumer with quality BEEF and providing a healthy farm life for their families.
Cattlewomen's Creed
Believing that the livestock industry is of basic importance to world existence, we, The American National CattleWomen dedicate ourselves to support it with our labor and finances; to promote it through information and publicity; to encourage its producers with our understand and love; to do all in our power to instill in the coming generation the love of the land and of life, the humility and awe before Nature, and the hope and faith in the future that is inherent in cattlemen and CattleWomen.
Mrs. Willard Sobak / Fairdale, North Dakota
What Makes a Cattlewoman?
The definition of a cattlewoman is a woman that raises or tends to cattle. While this is true however, a cattlewoman is so much more. She is a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend, and a co-worker. She is dedicated to her husband, her family, her friends, and her job. Cattlewomen are business owners, educators, industry leaders, innovators, producers, farmers, assistants, and students. She cooks, cleans, takes out the trash, and tries to keep up on the laundry. She is strong, helpful, determined, passionate, and resourceful. She is a jack of all trades and a force to be reckoned with. A woman that overcomes adversity, and when she’s down, she will put her big girl pants on and keep right on going. She is the glue and the support that holds her family together. Most of all Cattlewomen are great advocates for the Cattle Industry as well as for the Agriculture Industry. I could go on and on about all the things that makes a Cattlewoman. Each of us is unique and different in our own way. The one thing we all have in common is the farm. We love our cows and tend to them like they are our children. There is nothing like seeing a calf born, watching it stand up for the first time, and go to its mother’s udder for milk. It is Nature at its best. The Southern Women in Ag t-shirts says it best “Lots of folks can be cowgirls, few can be Cattlewomen”. Truer words were never spoken. It takes quite a woman to get out there and work cows, hay, and whatever else needs to be done on the farm. After all this is done, we come in the house and take care of our families. All these qualities and traits plus way much more is what makes us a Cattlewoman. Theresa Molle, GCWA President