Beef Buzz News
Cattlemen's Congress: The Show by Cattle Producers for Cattle Producers
Tue, 14 Jun 2022 10:08:27 CDT
The third annual Cattlemen's Congress stock show will be held again on January 1-14 in Oklahoma City, Okla. Senior Farm and Ranch Director, Ron Hays visits with Executive Secretary and CEO of the American Shorthorn Association, Montie Soules, about the upcoming livestock show created to allow cattlemen and women to showcase and market their elite cattle genetics.
Soules was one of the individuals involved in the conversation when the Cattlemen's Congress first came up during the COVID-19 pandemic. When other livestock shows shut down, Cattlemen's Congress rose up to give exhibitors a chance to display the hard work they have put in over the past year to prepare their cattle for the show ring.
"There was a group that got together, and we were very supportive and very aggressive in trying to help them make sure that all the breeds would participate," Soules said. "There was total positivity with having this."
The state of Oklahoma was supportive of Cattlemen's Congress, Soules said, and provided hope for exhibitors who might not have had a chance to showcase their cattle otherwise.
"Those that were wanting to promote their product in our industry, the beef cattle industry, didn't have a place to go and show anymore," Soules said.
To solve this issue, cattle industry professionals quickly came together and organized the first Cattlemen's Congress in 2020.
"The board understood that because we were dealing with people that had exhibited cattle previously, we knew we needed to make this an exhibitor-friendly atmosphere," Soules said.
The exhibitor-friendly atmosphere created at Cattlemen's Congress is what Soules said he believes has made the show so popular in a short span of time. In the Shorthorn breed, for example, Soules said the show received significantly more entries the second year than the first, which shows tremendous growth.
"I think that is a testimony to what the industry was really looking for to have a show like this, managed like this, with the exhibitor's interest being the number one priority," Soules said.
Cattlemen's Congress has created a reputation of being a show put on by cattle producers for cattle producers.
"You have got cattle producers that are on that board, and they are involved and have the same interest as the exhibitors, which is totally unusual," Soules said. "It is not managed by the same type of personality that you would see at the other major stock shows."
One of the compliments Soules said the Cattlemen's Congress show receives is that there is plenty of parking and it is free. Getting into the show is also free, Soules said, so if a breeder has customers wanting to come to take a look at livestock, they don't have to pay to get inside.
For exhibitors, Soules said all they have to do is pay an entry fee. There are no additional fees such as parking passes or badges, he added.
"As these exhibitors start entering livestock shows, it is not a cheap process," Soules said.
Many shows become very expensive for exhibitors, Soules said, because all of the small expenses add up. An example Soules mentioned is that most shows require exhibitors to purchase a permit to put up a chute to fit their cattle. Cattlemen's Congress takes out those extra factors to make life easier on the exhibitor.
To see information about Cattlemen's Congress, coming up on January 1-14 in Oklahoma City, click here.
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to Ron Hays and Montie Soules talk about the upcoming 2023 Cattlemen's Congress.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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