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Ohio cattle producers will vote Jan. 12 through 14 on whether to increase the statewide check-off in the event the national check-off is ruled unconstitutional. The vote dates were announced after a hearing at the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) offices in Reynoldsburg about the referendum.

Ohio’s cattle producers will be voting on whether the state’s check-off should be increased from 50 cents to $1 per head of cattle marketed. The current national check-off is $1, but the U.S. Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of that check-off next month. If that national program is declared unconstitutional, Ohio’s check-off would go into effect to fund promotion, research and education efforts on behalf of Ohio’s cattle producers.

Voting will take place at county Ohio State University Extension offices. Eligible voters are anyone who marketed cattle within 2004. Ballots can also be mailed.

Ohio Farm Bureau’s Director of Commodity Relations David White testified at the ODA hearing on behalf of the organization in support of the referendum.

For more information about the vote, contact the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association at 614-873-6736. To obtain a mail-in ballot, contact ODA’s division of markets at 800-282-1955.