Someone turned on the A/C on full blast this week, folks! It is a chiller out there. Thank goodness these icy temps won’t stick around too long, and we can stop busting ice so early in the morning. While you’re chasing wintertime farm work, your staff in Montgomery is busy behind the desk and on the roads as we attend annual meetings and keep our heads down planning the best events we can for 2020. With convention and rodeo so rapidly approaching, you can say those are the themes around the office. There’s a lot of back end work that must be done so you can enjoy a great trade show, convention and rodeo. Keep reading to find out a little more about what’s going on with your state staff.
2020 ACA CONVENTION & TRADE SHOW
The countdown is on! We are officially less than a month away from convention. Registration is still open for the 77th annual ACA Convention & Trade show 
to be held February 14-15 at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Convention Center. What better way to say “I love you” on Valentine’s Day than to bring your darlin’ to our Friday night event, the Sweetheart Shindig? Not to mention all the fun and excitement around our General Sessions, featuring Donnell Brown of R.A. Brown Ranch and a CattleFax update, informative Cattlemen’s Colleges and Alabama’s biggest cattle industry trade show. We’ve also confirmed our Cattlemen’s Luncheon speaker, NCBA CEO Colin Woodall. Don’t miss this exciting event!
You can register online today by visiting www.BamaBeef.org/Convention or you can call us at the office and we’ll take your registration by phone! Be sure to have your credit card handy and have an idea of what you and your’s would like to attend by checking out our mail-in form in the January issue of the Alabama Cattleman magazine.
SLE RODEO- TICKETS, GET YOUR TICKETS!
Buck on over to www.SLERodeo.com/Tickets now to secure your seats at the greatest show on dirt! This year’s show is sure to please as we’re featuring freestyle bullfighting, the best stock in the PRCA, all kinds of children’s events and hometown rodeo clown, Trent McFarland! We’ve got some awesome ticket deals available for you to take advantage of, so don’t wait. Get on over to www.SLERodeo.com to learn more about all that SLE Livestock Week offers and to purchase your tickets today!
Last week hosted a very productive Board meeting while a week full of meetings regarding sponsorships, partnerships and advertising have kept staffers busy this week!
Junior Update
The AJCA Board of Directors have hit the county meetings this year. They 
have enjoyed meeting cattlemen and juniors from counties in their district. Last night Jewel Thompson spoke at Bullock County on the upcoming events AJCA is hosting, while last week Will Meadows his the Houston and Mobile County meetings.
AJCA will be having their annual field day on April 18th at Quail Valley Farms in Blountsville, AL. The schedule for this event will be released at the beginning of March. The junior board has voted to add a few new things to this years spring field day. We look forward to a full day of fun and education for our juniors of Alabama. Another event to go ahead and mark off on your calendars is our 14th Annual Round-Up will be July 16-19th at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, Alabama.
Convention is less than one month away! This year the state beef checkoff is sponsoring three youth contest to be held at convention. Public Speaking and Quiz Bowl are open to juniors 9-21. Seniors ages 17-21, we invite you to sharpen up on your interview skills in our Career Development contest. All contest are free of entry and awards presentation will be done at the conclusion of the Quiz Bowl on the main trade show stage. For more information visit www.BamaBeef.org.Contests.
County Meeting Chaos…and Fun!
Just like the Juniors, your ACA staff and officers are out and about attending county annual meetings! Last week closed out with a trip to Coffee County for Kayla Greer and Lauderdale County for Ali Cantrell. On Tuesday of this week, Morgan Pounds stopped in at the Bullock County meeting, and staff will go in all directions on Thursday as Kayla Greer heads to Marion County, Lauren Wilson heads to Washington County and Morgan Pounds stops in at Mobile County. The fun doesn’t stop there, though, as Saturday night has Ali Cantrell heading to Jefferson County, President Chris Langley to Jackson County, Sabrina McKinney to Russell County and Erin Beasley to Colbert County. Whew- what a busy week!
If you haven’t let us know about your upcoming county annual meeting, contact Jessica at our office at (334) 265-1867.
YCLP
Our sixth class of the checkoff-funded Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Program (YCLP) will graduate at Convention in February. We are now accepting applications for our seventh class of YCLP. Applications for this program close on February 29. The YCLP consists of six meetings dispersed across Alabama over the course of a year. The class will be selected by a committee based on applications submitted. Preference will be given to those nominees who are between the ages of 20 & 40, but do not be discouraged to nominate yourself or someone else who falls out of that range.
The YCLP main focuses are to build on leadership and networking skills. If you are an alumni of this program we are excited to say we are starting a YCLP Council for alumni. The meeting introducing this idea will be held at convention on Saturday at 3:00 pm. We invite all alumni to this meeting to discuss the future of this program and it’s alumni opportunities to come!
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
As of today, the membership total is up to 5,236 and counting as county annual meeting season is in full swing and staffer Jessica Kennedy continues to receive mail-in and online membership submissions. County leaders, reports are good to go and are ready for download on the i4a system. Be sure to refer to these as you head into your annual meeting. Following your meetings, please provide Jessica with county leadership changes and contact information. We need everything including phone, mailing address and email!
Board members, Board Memos went out in the mail last regarding our Winter Board Meeting held at the ACA Convention. A luncheon will follow the meeting. As a reminder, Board members will be provided a meal ticket, but additional guests, including spouses, will need to purchase a Board luncheon ticket. This can be done by calling Jessica Kennedy at (334) 265-1867.
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