Summertime is in full swing here in Montgomery, and while the year 2020 has offered anything but normalcy, we are doing our best to seek out new and exciting ways to promote beef and work on your behalf! With the AJCA Round-Up approaching quickly and summer grills firing up, it is a time of beef promotion and youth education around here. We’re also continuing on with normal tasks like protecting you on the Hill and putting out our monthly magazine, the Alabama Cattleman. Keep reading to check out what is happening around the ACA this week.
YCLP CLASS VII KICKS OFF
Class VII of the Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Program (YCLP) kicks off its first session this Friday in Montgomery. This class of 29 young cattlemen will tour Montgomery Stockyards, McLane-Garrett, LLC, CK Cattle, and enjoy a relaxing stay at Kick Back Ranch Resort. To go along with the farm tours, the class will also receive virtual leadership training with Auburn University’s Dr. Don Mulvaney and have a Q&A beef industry issues discussion with ACA Executive VP Erin Beasley. Plenty of time for networking, socializing and making new friends in the beef industry is also on the agenda! We are looking forward to meeting this year’s class and building their knowledge and leadership skills throughout the year. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with this weekend’s events.
CHECKOFF SIGNS PROMOTIONAL DEAL WITH AL.COM
Beginning late this summer and early this fall and preceding the 2020 College Football season, be watching as AL.com releases its 2020 “Meet the Tide” and “Meet the Tigers” videos, as they’ll be brought to you by BEEF. In a year with so many event cancellations and so few sports, your checkoff team had to explore new, more virtual options for promoting our brand! The ACA logo will fly proud throughout the videos— which are expected to receive over 750,000 impressions online— and the iconic Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner logo and Rodeo jingle will be heard at the end of each of the four pre-season videos featuring the biggest recruits of the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers. We are very excited for this opportunity to feature beef in line with our state’s biggest names in football!
UNITED WE STEAK SUMMER GRILLING CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the Alabama Beef Checkoff Program is proud to extend a nationally-launched campaign here in our home state. Featuring a steak cut in to the shape of Alabama, the “United We Steak” summer grilling campaign offers a play on a classic, “Steak Home Alabama.” This patriotic campaign captures everything you love about grilling with friends and family. In Birmingham, billboards will feature the above imagery. Facebook and Instagram advertising has already launched and will see a bigger bump in paid advertising later this week, and radio stations are featuring the patriotic sound of the sizzle as stations in Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery are all running summer grilling commercials, brought to listeners by BEEF.
BAMA BEEF SALES DIRECTORY
In response to growing demand for local beef products, the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association is in the process of creating a digital portal to directly connect consumers looking to purchase beef with those who produce it. We are now accepting submissions to be included in this directory. If you are an Alabama beef producer who sells freezer beef, please add your operation to the listing by completing our form available also at www.BamaBeef.org/BamaBeef. Or you can call our office to relay the information. Just ask to speak with Ali Cantrell or Kayla Greer.
14TH ANNUAL AJCA ROUND-UP
Registration is now open for the 14th annual Alabama Junior Cattlemen’s Association Round-Up. It closes in just FIVE short days!! Happening July 16-19 at the Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery, this annual junior event is full steam ahead. With adjustments constantly being made to accommodate CDC guidelines in the wake of COVID-19, we would like to draw attention to the fact that the following contests could potentially be cancelled due to the inability to properly and safely socially distance our competitors: Showmanship Clinic, Cattle Judging, Volleyball, Battle of the Beef. The follow events are cancelled: Awards Banquet. Divisions will be called in separately, and winners will be given their awards. No food will be served throughout the weekend. Voting will be come-and-go at allotted time slots based on division. A full schedule and the rules packet are available on the website and are being updated continually, along with registration. Check it out >> www.BamaBeef.org/RoundUp.
ACA MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
As it stands today, the ACA is proud to represent 8,510 members of our state association and counting as counties continue to recruit new and renewal members. County leaders- don’t forget the new “Over the Top” deadline has been extended to July 31. Help us get to 10,000 members strong while earning your president an iconic ACA red coat!
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