Since I’m doing so much coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention and since I couldn’t attend the R-Calf convention Cindy interviewed Mike Callicrate, NoBull Enterprises about the activities of that meeting. It’s only fair since the organizations do have some very divergent viewpoints. Mike was a founder of R-Calf and he’s also a sponsor of World Dairy Diary.
The interview with Mike is about 13 minutes long. You can listen to it here: 
Mike Callicrate Interview (9MB MP3 File)
The chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board is Al Svajgr. I caught him for just a couple minutes this morning in the media room. He’s one busy man this week. In my interview Al talks about the new long range plan and what he most wants cattlemen to know about the Checkoff. He also explains why they decided to blog.
You can listen to my interview with Al here: Al Svajgr Interview (4:24 Min. MP3 File)
We had a secret mystery guest here at the convention. He’s Sam Elliott. You have hopefully heard his voice on a beef commercial somewhere, sometime. Sam didn’t prepare a speech. He spoke in a very genuine voice about his past, including his first memory of riding a horse. He spoke about how full circle he feels like his career has come to now be the spokesperson for the beef indusry. You can hear his unforgettable words at the end of his remarks.
You can listen to what Sam had to say here: Sam Elliott Speaks (5:22 Min. MP3 File)
If you don’t have the time to listen to Sam for his full remarks, click here to hear him utter his famous words.
If you know you’re going to be entertaining clients a lot then why not buy a brewery? That’s what Alltech did. In their booth they are serving some very fine Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale.
I think they’ll be serving again at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. Stop on by.
There’s all kinds of activities in the booths this year. The Bayer booth had a very amusing pool shark. He had quite a crowd so I guess he was entertaining.
I’m going to let you be thejudge.
Here’s a little less than 2 minutes of video from his performance: 
Trade Show Video (.wmv file)
The Cattle Industry Convention Trade Show got underway this evening. Thank you Allflex for letting me set my bags in your booth for a while.
If you’ve never been to the show, it’s a big one. I took a short video clip for you to get a sense of how busy this place is.
Here’s a little less than 2 minutes of video from this evening’s trade show: Trade Show Video (.wmv file)
As you probably know I’m also blogging the Cattle Industry Convention for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on their Beef Board Meeting Blog. In case you’re wondering how that came about I interviewed Charles Miller, who’s a cattleman from Kentucky and chairman of the Administration Subcommittee.
In my interview with Charles he describes why the CBB decided to blog. You can hear what Charles had to say here: Charles Miller Soundbite (MP3 File)
This is the last trade show setup picture.
These folks have some awesome looking hides they’re spreading out.
I’ll have a lot more from the trade show over the next couple days.
The Cattle Indusry Convention Trade Show is still in the setup stage. The big rigs and carpet rollers are working hard to get it all ready.
The trade show kicks off this evening at 5pm with the Wild Wild West Welcome Reception. The guys at the Alltech booth said to stop by for a beer. I think I will.
As the action starts to heat up here at the Cattle Industry Convention the media is rolling in. It was a little lonely here in the media room yesterday but a lot of reporters have arrived and some of them are even working!
This afternoon the trade show will kick start things and we’ll have a lot of press conferences going on the next 2 days, including one with Sec. of Agriculture Johanns.
