Membership Update
On Monday, we sent an email to our Board Members that included very important information. To recap, we sent out the county assignments for each of the 12 regional vice presidents. We also included a membership count and are pleased to be at nearly 8,400 members. Kuddos to Clay County, who has joined Greene County in the ranks of “Over the Top.” Another bit of important information for our Board Members: it’s not too late to earn your red coat. The officers have gotten together and decided to extend the deadline to March 31! Email or call Jessica Kennedy for county membership lists. Know where you are so you can take advantage of the extension and reach out to those who haven’t renewed!
Certified Angus Beef
ACA Assistant Executive Vice President Erin Beasley is spending time today the Certified Angus Beef Specialist Seminar in Mobile as it features foodservice and retail specialists from around the world. The conference focuses on education about the product from Pasture to Plate. By gaining more knowledge about this product, we can improve our education programs with retail and foodservice partners who sell CAB.
AU Faculty Search Continues
On Tuesday, Dr. Billy Powell received updates from Dr. Wayne Greene at Auburn’s College of Agriculture about several open positions that ACA on search committee for. We have high hopes to hire two outstanding Extension Agents in livestock marketing and forages to replace the positions once held by Dr. Walt Prevatt and Dr. Jennifer Johnson. Stayed tuned for information on those hires in the future!
Monitoring the Legislature
The Ag Coalition met on Tuesday to continue monitoring legislative activity. There are very few bills that have been introduced that will impact the agricultural industry. This is great news, but we will continue to monitor this session on your behalf. On Thursday, ACA Executive Vice President and Lobbyist Dr. Billy Powell will be spending time in the State House as he talks to legislators about pending legislation and monitors activity in both the House and Senate Chambers. He’s hoping to gain more insight on the General Fund budget and two other specific items, CAFO and Garrett Coliseum funding, during his time on Capitol Hill.
YCLP Apps Out Now
We’ve got Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Program applications flying in
left and right! We are thrilled to meet all who are interested in this program and watch them grow in the years to come. If you want to apply, visit www.bamabeef.org/yclp.
Wrapping Up County Annual Meetings
We attended the Chilton County Annual Meeting on Tuesday night and are proud to wrap up another season of outstanding county meetings. We’re excited to work with new Board members in the year to come and we will see them all on May 9 at the Spring Board Meeting! Save the date!
Preparing for SLE Rodeo
The members and staff of the Southeastern Livestock Exposition are preparing for the big event headed to Montgomery March 16-18. Staff has kicked off social media, radio, television and outdoor advertisements and has started making on-air appearances at WSFA-12, WBAM 98.9 and WACV 93.1 so far this week. We hope to have hometown rodeo clown Trent McFarland joining us on the airwaves soon as Trent is excited to be part of the SLE Rodeo team this year! Events will kick off next week on March 9 with the SLE Livestock Judging Contest at the Garrett Coliseum. On a side note, our equine friends out there may be interested to know that the Alabama Horse Fair starts today at the Garrett Coliseum grounds.
We also have a great contest happening now on our Facebook page! now through Wednesday, March 8, interested vocalists can submit a video of themselves singing the National Anthem for a chance to win the opportunity to kick off the Friday, March 17 show off in true patriotic fashion. Enter Here
There’s so much going on, and you can find all the info you need by visiting www.slerodeo.com. Here’s a brief rundown of all you can expect:
- Thursday Night at 7 p.m.- Children 12 and under enter FREE
- Friday Night at 7 p.m.- Family 4-Pack (4 tickets for $40!)
- PRCA Freestyle Bullfighting will take place Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights with bulls from Hurricane Hookers Ranch in Louisiana
- WORLD-CLASS bucking stock from PRCA Top Stock Contractor Frontier Rodeo Company from Freedom, Oklahoma
- Stick Horse Rodeo for the kiddos each night at 5:45 p.m.
- Western Festival on Saturday from 10 a.m. until noon
Call us today to get your tickets! 1-888-2RODEO2
Thanks for reading this week’s post! We’ll be back next week- same time, same place. Until then, we want to remind you that you can stay in touch with us by following us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Have a great week and don’t forget to purchase your SLE Rodeo tickets!