KLA Members Elect Perrier, Clawson to Officer Positions
A Greenwood County seedstock cattle producer and a Clark County rancher and farmer have been elected to serve as officers for the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA). Members chose Matt Perrier of Eureka as president and David Clawson from Englewood as president elect during the group’s annual business meeting December 4 at the KLA Convention in Wichita.
Perrier represents the fifth generation of his family’s registered Angus and ranching operation. Dalebanks Angus started as a sheep farm in 1867. It has continuously maintained a registered Angus herd since 1904. Today, the seedstock cattle operation focuses on producing genetics for the commercial cow-calf producer.
The list of industry leadership positions he has held is lengthy. Perrier is a past chairman of the KLA Stockgrowers Council. He has served on the KLA Executive Committee and KLA Board of Directors. He currently is on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Board of Directors and is a member of the NCBA Ag and Food Policy Committee.
He attended the NCBA Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC), serving as chairman of the group in 2007. Perrier also has attended the KLA Leadership Conference.
Perrier has served on the Kansas Animal Health Board. He is a past member of the U.S. Premium Beef Nominating Committee and Kansas Angus Association Board of Directors. Perrier is a past president of both the Greenwood County Cattlemen’s Association and Greenwood County Farm Bureau. He previously served as vice president of the Greenwood Preservation Society, which helped restore the historic Greenwood Hotel.
He graduated from Kansas State University in 1996 with a degree in animal sciences & industry (AS&I). Prior to coming back to the family business, he was director of retail and foodservice programs for the Pennsylvania Beef Council and served in several staff capacities, including as a regional manager, for the American Angus Association.
Perrier and his wife, Amy, have four children: Ava, Lyle, Hannah and Henry.
Clawson is a fourth-generation rancher and farmer with ties in various family partnerships. The Clawson Ranch Partnership, with his brother, Dan, includes a cow-calf business and an irrigated and dryland farming operation. The stated purpose of this partnership is to “sow, nurture and grow” not only food for the world, but also people. Clawson is a part owner in High Plains Dairy at Plains and has a partnership in Plains State Bank. His farm and ranch holdings are located in Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.
The list of Clawson’s leadership involvement is extensive. He currently serves on the KLA Executive Committee and the KLA and NCBA boards of directors. Clawson is immediate past chairman of the KLA Dairy Council and is a past chair of the KLA Stockgrowers Council. He previously has chaired the KLA Tax Committee and served as vice chair of the KLA Policy & Resolutions Committee. Clawson currently is a member of the NCBA Tax & Credit Committee. He attended the NCBA Leadership Institute in 1997 and YCC in 2002.
Clawson sits on the K-State Livestock and Meat Industry Council Board of Directors. He served four years on the board for Southwest Kansas Groundwater Management District #3. Clawson is a past member of the Cimarron Basin Governor’s Water Advisory Board. He has served 16 years on the Ashland School Board and is very active in his church and its youth ministries.
He graduated from K-State with a degree in AS&I in 1986.
Clawson and his wife of 28 years, Jeanne, have three grown children. Layne graduated from the Air Force Academy and now is a pilot in the Air Force. Ann, a K-State graduate, is a high school English teacher at Southwestern Heights High School in Plains/Kismet. Carl is a senior in AS&I at K-State.
KLA is a 5,200-member trade organization representing the state’s livestock business on legislative, regulatory and industry issues at both the state and federal levels. The association’s work is funded through voluntary dues dollars paid by its members.
