The fourth meeting of the Northeast Chapter of ARPAS was held on Wednesday, November 12, 2014. This was held in conjunction with the Penn State Dairy Cattle Nutrition Workshop at Grantville, Pennsylvania. There were 59 ARPAS members and guests in attendance. A total of 67 had preregistered via the Penn State Extension Dairy Cattle Nutrition Workshop venue. A short annual meeting was held to nominate candidates for the upcoming year. The nominees for president-elect were Tom Nauman and William Sutliff and for secretary–treasurer were Dane Schoenbaum and Thomas Hickley. Two directors are needed to fill vacancies. Nominees were David Kirk, Alden Bowman, and Dorothy Pastor. Daryl Maulfair was nominated from the floor for director. A closed ballot election for all officers was held during the meeting.

Mark Wagner reported that as of November 3, 2014, the NE Chapter of ARPAS has 100 dues-paying members. This would include membership paid either in 2014 or prepaid for 2015. This list was provided by Jeremy Holzner from the national ARPAS office. The current NE Chapter balance is $1,799.60. This would include $5 membership fees, the sponsorships of past mini-symposia, and outright donations to the chapter.

Kenneth Cummings, ARPAS executive VP, discussed the membership requirements, standard code of ethics, annual CEU requirements and dues, exams, and a new national ARPAS program to attract student membership. Cummings stated that the national survey among ARPAS members to determine the location and affiliation with either ADSA or ASAS national meetings will be released soon. There were approximately 500 responses to the survey, and they were equally split between joint membership holding ADSA or ASAS membership. The national ARPAS membership is strong, with approximately 400 members in the northeast USA area. Cummings will be proctoring ARPAS exams during the entire conference, and there appears to be good interest with attendees registering to take their appropriate exams.

A mini-symposium was held after the short meeting, and the presenter was James D. Ferguson, VMD. Ferguson is a professor of clinical nutrition in the Department of Clinical Studies at the New Bolton campus of the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine. He presented his paper on the topic “Chromium and Potential Benefits to Reproduction.” This was a clinical trial conducted during 2013 in a southeast Pennsylvania dairy herd. The results were most interesting and thought provoking. This was the second year to hold a mini-symposium with our annual meeting. The sponsors of the symposia were Diamond V Mills, Old Mill Troy, and Kemin Industries. We appreciate these companies supporting our program. 

The results of the election were Tom Nauman, president-elect; Dane Schoenbaum, secretary–treasurer; and Alden Bowman and Dorothy Pastor as directors. Thanks to all who expressed their interest in ARPAS by consenting to be considered for an officer position.