Suggestions, Please!

by IBBA President Brandon Belt

I hope all of you are having a good summer. Ours has been great so far. It has gotten hot, but we got 1 ½ inches of rain on July Fourth – Happy Independence Day! That doesn’t happen very often.

We attended the Texas Junior Brangus Show in Bryan, Texas, in June. It was a very nice facility, and everyone enjoyed getting to spend time together and show some very good Brangus cattle. I was impressed with the quality, from top to bottom, in the cattle displayed by the juniors this year.

One thing that I did notice was that there were not very many adult registered producers present for the show. There were a few, and they deserve some credit for traveling to see the future of our breed, kids and cattle. So I am looking for suggestions to get more producers to the shows. Many of you have raised the genetics and cattle present at the shows, and you and the juniors would benefit from your participation.

The National Junior Brangus Show in Texarkana, Arkansas, will likely be concluded before you read this, but I expect it to be another wonderful opportunity for fellowship with our Brangus family, and to show off Brangus genetics from around the country.

On another note, the World Brangus Congress is fast approaching. February will be here before you know it. I know that we have a need for more sponsorships at all levels. Please contact the association’s international committee for ways that you may be able to help and participate. There will be opportunities to display cattle and to interact with our international guests at locations across Texas and the Southeast. Don’t miss out on this opportunity, it won’t be back in the United States for some time. As I have said before, connecting with our counterparts from other countries is a benefit for us and them; it helps us move forward with an opportunity to market more Brangus genetics around the globe.

Brangus cattle continue to excel. Every day there are less of many other breeds and more of ours. Let’s keep up the good work, and keep pushing forward so that everyone out there looking to make a buying decision knows what we have to offer.