Contact:            Joe Schuele      303-850-3360     jschuele@beef.org

Record-setting NCBA Trade Show draws cattlemen to Reno

DENVER (January 25, 2008) – The 2008 National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show, scheduled for Feb. 6-8 in Reno, Nev., will feature more than 270 exhibiting companies displaying the latest cattle industry equipment, products and services over a 200,000 square-foot exhibition hall. The cattle industry’s largest-ever trade show is being held in conjunction with the 2008 Cattle Industry Annual Convention.

A new feature of this year’s trade show will be a demonstration area featuring hands-on techniques in the use of border collies in cattle handling, cattle dog training, chute-side manners, and ranch horsemanship.

“The NCBA Trade Show just gets bigger and better every year,” said NCBA Chief Executive Officer Terry Stokes. “We have a record number of vendors exhibiting this year, and the new demonstration area will be a very popular feature with our cattlemen.”

Admission to the NCBA Trade Show is included in the registration fee for the Cattle Industry Annual Convention. But trade-show-only admission tickets are also available on-site for $35.00. At many exhibitor booths, cattleman can register for prize drawings – including a Feb. 8 drawing for a brand new Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab pickup truck.    

Opening day of the trade show will also serve as the backdrop for a taping of NCBA’s Cattlemen to Cattlemen, a weekly cattle industry news program on RFD-TV. Cattlemen to Cattlemen airs every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., with repeats on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday at midnight (all times Eastern). The program featuring the NCBA Trade Show will air February 19-24.

The NCBA Trade Show is just one of the featured attractions drawing a large number of the nation’s cattle producers to Reno. Almost 4000 cattlemen have pre-registered for the Cattle Industry Annual Convention, which means total attendance will be very strong again this year.

“We may not quite match last year’s attendance (over 6500) in Nashville, but that’s to be expected,” said Stokes. “With Nashville being so centrally located, it is always one of our best-attended locations. But our registration numbers are running very close to what we saw a year ago, so we will have an excellent crowd in Reno.”

Other featured sessions at the Cattle Industry Annual Convention include the annual Cattlemen’s College® producer education workshops, the Cattle-Fax Outlook Seminar, Beef Industry Issues Forums, and industry committee meetings. The convention concludes Saturday, Feb. 9, with meetings of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and NCBA Board of Directors, as well as the NCBA Annual Membership Meeting.

A complete schedule of events is available online at http://www.beefusa.org/convscheduleofevents.aspx or by calling 303-694-0305.

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The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is the largest organization representing America’s cattle industry.  Initiated in 1898, NCBA is the industry leader in education, influencing public policy to improve producer profitability and in preserving the industry’s heritage and future.  Efforts are made possible through membership contributions. To join, contact NCBA at 1-866-BEEF-USA or membership@beef.org.