Pocketbook Issues Head Educational Offerings at 2004 Cattle Industry Convention

DENVER (October 10, 2003) – Cattle industry attention, leadership and expertise will be concentrated in Arizona at the Phoenix Civic Plaza this January when the cattle industry holds its 2004 Convention & Trade Show. The event will run from Wednesday, Jan. 28 to Saturday, Jan. 31.

Pocketbook issues will be examined in an effort to enhance producers’ profitability as part of the many educational and informational offerings at this year’s event. The Cattlemen’s College®, a trade show, entertainment and networking await the more than 5,500 cattle industry participants expected in Phoenix.

The annual convention and trade show will again be hosted by five organizations: the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion & Research Board, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the American National CattleWomen, Inc., National Cattlemen’s Foundation and Cattle-Fax.

The convention will begin Jan. 28 with one of its most popular programs, Cattlemen’s College®, a series of educational sessions sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health that examine various areas of the cattle industry and seek to keep cattlemen and women up-to-date on the many changes going on within the industry.  Included are sessions about selling on a grid system, process verification, how to detect and control BVD among your herd, how to boost profitability, and other timely subjects.

Always a highlight is the Cattle-Fax Outlook Seminar, which will look at trends, strategies and management opportunities for 2004 and beyond.  This year the Outlook Seminar is free with your paid registration to Cattlemen's College®.  Cowboy poet and humorist Baxter Black will be on hand to entertain folks at the Cattlemen’s College® Luncheon, also free to those registered for Cattlemen’s College®.

This year’s Opening General Session, sponsored by Fort Dodge Animal Health, features keynote speaker Gene Kranz, leader of the team of flight directors who brought the Apollo 13 spaceship safely back to Earth in 1970, as chronicled in the hit film “Apollo 13.”  This will be followed by presentations on checkoff programs that seek to build consumer demand for beef.

More than 250 companies and organizations will be showcasing their goods and services at the NCBA Trade Show, which is free with registration and runs through Friday.

Meetings on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 29-30, will cover all aspects of the cattle industry and address issues affecting all producers.  The open meetings will be used to review policy that protects the business climate for cattle producers and helps develop and build on checkoff programs designed to help improve the beef market.

For more information about the 2004 Cattlemen’s Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix, contact the Conventions Department at 303/694-0305.

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