The Cattlemen’s Congress is a stock show for cattlemen and women managed by cattlemen and women. The Cattlemen’s Congress is an opportunity for breeders across North America to showcase their top genetics and connect with fellow beef producers in a central location, in the heart of cattle country. Set for January 4 – 16, 2025, in Oklahoma City, the event is not one to miss.
Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is catching up with Chairman of the Board for Cattlemen’s Congress Tyler Norvell in this episode of Beef Buzz, talking about the fifth annual Cattlemen’s Congress and the great success it has become in the five years since its inception.
To Norvell, the success of the show five years later is unreal. “I am sitting in the same chair I was in when Bob Funk and Jarold Callahan called me in the fall of 2020 and told me that we were going to try to do this deal, and I thought there was no way it would ever happen. If it did, it would be a one-year deal, but five years later, here we are.
“It has been awesome to be a part of. It’s been incredible for the cattle industry, and incredible for our state.”
According to Norvell, the first and second events held in 2021 and 2022, respectively, were two of the largest cattle shows in the history of the United States. The entry numbers experienced a slight reduction for the next couple of years, but the upcoming show is promising to be bigger.
“This tells me that we are here to stay,” Norvell said.
Even with the reduced numbers, the Cattlemen’s Congress remains the largest cattle show in the world by a significant margin, although Norvell was sure to note, the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky, is the largest purebred livestock show.
The impressive numbers are not only garnered by the number of participating cattle breeders or numbers of cattle but also the increasing number of diverse cattle breeds that are exhibited at the premier event.
“I’m really proud of Bray Haven, who is the executive vice president of Cattleman’s Congress, and the job he has done recruiting new breeds,” Norvell said. “That is where we continue to grow. The Angus, Hereford, Simmental, and Shorthorn – they stay strong, but we continue to get calls from other breeds that are trying to grow by getting in new markets and exposing their breeds. Those have increased each year.”
The Cattlemen’s Congress is the only show of its caliber that offers a Supreme just for the American breed division. Norvell shared, “This year, we have seen our American cattle grow, and the diversity that we have brought here has been awesome for the cattle industry and for those particular breeds that may not get the traditional exposure that other breeds have.”
As a show for cattlemen and cattlewomen and put on by cattlemen and cattlewomen, the diverse breeds exhibited at the event only have one qualifying requirement – that they are beef cattle only.
“There is no other show in the world that brings the cattle industry together like we do here, and I think that is why people look forward to it,” Norvell stated. “Not that they don’t love other species and the people in those species, but they do love a gathering of cattlemen only. It makes it pretty neat.”
With the collection of beef breeds, the Cattlemen’s Congress also features several purebred cattle sales – nineteen to be exact!
“The amount of sales that we have here and the amount of money that changes hands, whether it be genetics or live cattle are second to none,” Norvell said. “We want to continue to grow that. I took for granted how important that was to the industry until the fall of 2020, and Jarold Callahan made it very clear to me that this is vital. It’s not optional to put this on. It has to happen for the backbone of the financial well-being of the purebred industry. We are going to continue to be committed to that to make sure cattle producers have the opportunity to market their genetics here each year at the Cattlemen’s Congress and that we do our part each year to try to get buyers here.
“That’s why I’m super excited about the commercial heifer sale that we are going to have this year, that Matt Sims is heading up and Bray has done a lot of work on. The interest in that has been sky-high, and I couldn’t be more excited to be adding that event this year.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
