Whirlwind is the word in our office as we head into a very busy convention and rodeo season. You’ll hear us say that a lot until both of those events ride off into the sunset for 2020, so hang in there while we work to make these events great! Like last week, our post may seem a bit short and uneventful but that is certainly not the case in the office. Like bees in a hive, we are buzzing around the office with convention and rodeo prep— everything from magazine articles and convention videos, youth contest organization, vendor packets, meetings with convention center staff, creating agendas, designing the programs, taking registration, building the trade show map and many many more fun tasks that are keeping us on our toes. While you hold down the fort on the farm, we’re here in Montgomery creating a shindig you’re sure to love…oh, and keeping up with all the regular day-to-day tasks that keep us busy throughout the year. Keep reading to learn what’s going on at the ACA this week.
2020 ACA CONVENTION & TRADE SHOW
The countdown is on! We are just weeks 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. ONLY FIVE HOTEL ROOMS remain on our block at the neighboring Staybridge Suites, so get those rooms booked lickety-split.
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 host NCBA CEO Colin Woodall as our Cattlemen’s Luncheon featured speaker. 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!
This week, ACA Director of Rodeo Programs Lauren Wilson met with the sponsorship committee to discuss what has been covered, and who still needs to be reached out to. We’ve also booked our acoustic entertainment for the hospitality tent, and we’re excited to featured the vocal talents of Ed Whatley on Thursday night, Brandon Self on Friday night and Charity Bowden on Saturday. The SLE Rodeo website has been updated to feature information on the Alabama Stock Horse Association Show and Clinic and the SLE Team Roping events. Coming soon is information on the NBHA Barrel Race.
USMCA: SIGNED!
Today, representatives from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association 
gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. for the signing ceremony of the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA). NCBA President Jennifer Houston, who attended the ceremony, released the following statement:
“This is a great day for America’s cattle producers, and we were once again honored to participate in another great victory for our industry. Of course, the ratification of USMCA comes on the heels of a game-changing new trade deal with China, a new bilateral agreement with our largest export partners in Japan, and much-improved access to the European Union.
“Add that to the new waters rule that was finalized last week, new proposed grazing regulations, and new proposed rules that would provide much-needed relief the National Environmental Policy Act, and it’s easy to see that 2020 is off to a truly historic start for U.S. beef producers. I want to thank the President and his entire team for listening to our producers’ concerns and for working with us to find real common-sense solutions.”
Membership Update
To date, our ACA membership count is up to 5,622 and counting as county meetings are still in full swing. This week, staffers and officers will be on the road to attend the Lee, Crenshaw, Monroe and Chilton county meetings. Next week will being the Henry, Dale and Chambers meetings. County leaders, be sure to send Jessica Kennedy those meeting dates, times and locations and officer updates following the meeting!
Convention Youth Contests
This year the Alabama Beef Checkoff Program is sponsoring THREE educational contest for Alabama’s youth involved in agriculture. These contests are FREE of charge and provide educational opportunities. We will be offering quiz bowl and public speaking for juniors ages 9-21. Youth ages 17-21 are invited to compete in a career development contest to prepare their interview skills for the future. The link to register for these contests close this Saturday. www.BamaBeef.org/Contests
At the Super Speedway
ACA Director of Education & Outreach Ali Cantrell was able to drive the track
of Talladega Speedway on Tuesday to discuss promoting Beef at the races. Ali discussed with them some standard advertisement with the track but they also discussed a relatively new event that the ACA could be a part of. “Driving STEM at Talladega Superspeedway ” started this past fall and the 2.66-mile venue hosted 550 students from five different schools in October to learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and its relation in the sport of NASCAR at the most competitive track on the circuit. This program has the potential for ACA to come out and show how by-products from the cattle industry impact the sport of NASCAR by creating fuel, tires, and etc for the sport.
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. Click here to apply » www.BamaBeef.org/YCLP
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!
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