Cattle Industry Convention Hosted in Houston

New host city welcomes thousands.

Thousands of cattle producers, industry partners and stakeholders gathered Feb. 1-4 in Houston for the 2022 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show. The event provided a platform for education, policy development and networking.

“This is the first time Houston has hosted convention, and this cosmopolitan city has a lot of charm,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Jerry Bohn. “With a great mix of education and entertainment, this year’s event has something for everyone.”

Stephanie Nash, winner of the 2022 NCBA National Anthem Contest, opened the event in patriotic style with the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Buzz Brainard, host of Music Row Happy Hour, emceed the convention and interviewed George Foreman, legendary boxer and famous griller, during the Opening General Session.

Convention participants gained insights on market trends during the CattleFax Outlook Seminar, heard a “State of the Industry” update from NCBA, learned about the beef business climate around the world, and wandered through the NCBA Trade Show featuring more than 350 exhibitors.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, American National CattleWomen, CattleFax and National Cattlemen’s Foundation hosted annual meetings during the event. In addition, the Environmental Stewardship Award regional winners were recognized at a special reception.

A new session Thursday morning included Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Under Secretary of Agriculture Robert Bonnie and British Ambassador Dame Karen Pierce, who provided an update on the beef business climate in the United States and around the globe. The Closing General Session celebrated the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program and BQA award winners and featured two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Theismann.

Additional educational opportunities included the Learning Lounge, which offered classroom sessions on the trade show floor. The Stockmanship and Stewardship demonstration arena featured live-animal handling demonstrations. The Chutes and Scales Showdown allowed producers to watch as cattle were worked through chutes, side-by-side, then get hands-on experience with the equipment. New this year was RanchHOW, a hands-on workshop offering a unique way to learn and network with attendees and trade show exhibitors.

Entertainment was plentiful throughout the event, including “Rocket to the Rustic” on Wednesday evening with live music, local food and a lot of fun. Convention wrapped up Thursday evening with the Cowboy Comedy Club featuring headliner Jim Gaffigan, a Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, best-selling author, Emmy-winning performer, and multi-platinum-selling recording artist who is known around the world for his unique brand of humor.

Cattle producers converge for education experience
Hundreds of cattlemen and women attended the 29th annual Cattlemen’s College^® in Houston, Texas, Jan. 31-Feb. 1, which was hosted before the Cattle Industry Convention. Cattlemen’s College, sponsored by Zoetis, is one of the cattle industry’s premier educational events and brings stimulating sessions that can help generate better returns for operations.

The first day of Cattlemen’s College included four workshops featuring hot topics such as global cattle industry trends, communicating continuous improvement, risk management resources and the beef-on-dairy trend. Live-cattle sessions explored balancing genetics and phenotype, and emerging genetic predictors of phenotype that can help producers achieve breeding objectives.

The second day featured 15 sessions within five educational tracks for producers to choose from, including protecting your bottom line, improving efficiency and herd health, practical nutrition management, trending now and sustainability applied. The event concluded with lunch and a panel discussion featuring Jason Osterstock, vice president of Precision Animal Health at Zoetis, and Jamie Kovicak, loaders commercial manager at Caterpillar. Panelists discussed the greatest threats facing the cattle industry, and how incorporating cutting-edge technologies provided by innovative companies can be the real solution for producers in the future.

“The content for Cattlemen’s College is driven by producers,” said Josh White, NCBA executive director of producer education and sustainability. “We work with producers throughout the year to identify important topics and industry leaders, creating a world-class education experience.”

On-demand videos from Cattlemen’s College will be available online for registered attendees, and for a fee to non-attendees, following the 2022 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show at https://convention.ncba.org/events-meetings/cattlemens-college. Look for coverage of the event and Cattlemen’s College sessions in the Angus Beef Bulletin and the Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA.

Editor’s note: This article is compiled from releases from NCBA. Photo by Kasey Brown.

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