You know the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child."? Well, I think it takes an entire dedicated association of hardworking people to create a successful convention year after year. The Sandhills Cattle Association's 82nd Annual Convention was held here in Valentine, at the Cherry County Fairgrounds. It was full of various events, speakers, vendors, equipment, livestock, and great people. Thanks to the hard work of Elysabeth, Maddie, and all the Board of Directors and volunteers, we pulled off a really eventful two-day convention.
This year's convention weather proved that fall is right around the corner for the Sandhills. We experienced some cooler temperatures and a little rain at the Golf Classic and BBQ cook-off the day before the convention. Then we had a beautiful day for the convention and trade show, which was very pleasant since our trade show and stage were in an outdoor pavilion setup. Of course, we are still very grateful for any moisture received this year, and thankfully the weather didn't deter a fun time and good turnout for both events! For the most part, I believe everyone enjoyed the weather and all the different events alike.
Because members like you want to be in the loop and know a lot of what is going on in the cattle industry, I'm hoping the informative speakers brought forth information that will be useful to you with your business success moving forward. I personally thought our speakers this year were outstanding. We had Dr. Derrell Peel from Oklahoma State University speak in the morning about the future of the cattle markets. Then we had two discussion panels about Prepping your Calves for Harvest Success and what Post Harvest Success looks like to us. We also heard from David Briggs and Rusty Kemp about their upcoming packing plant in North Platte, NE, Sustainable Beef LLC. Each speaker had lots of interaction and questions from the attendants, and I have already heard from numerous ranchers how much they learned and enjoyed the featured speakers.
The scholarship auction was very successful for us this year as well. A huge thanks go out to both the many donors and auction bidders. Your donations and auction involvements provide all the funds we need to keep our scholarships to Sandhills Cattle Associations members students fully funded. This year at the auction, we raised $7,963.00 for our 2022 Scholarship Program. This number would not have been possible without our 68 different items and all of our generous bidders. We are so grateful for all of the support that we receive for this benefit and that we are able to give the future of the Sandhills a great start on their educations!
The donations and sponsorships to the 82nd Annual Convention events were numerous, and without their support, our high level of successful events would not be possible this year. The new events added this year, including the BBQ Cookoff and Meat Cutting Demonstration by Jim Pinney of Husker Meats LLC, had a lot of interest and seemed to be events that should continue for future years of our convention. This year we also had a considerable amount of vendor participation with almost 45 indoor and outdoor vendors. These vendors included many local and nationwide businesses with cattle industry information and products. Many of the vendors also provided an array of food for the grazing-style supper that we had for the public attending.
Again I want to thank all who participated, volunteered, presented, and helped organized this year's Sandhills Cattle Association 82nd Annual Convention and Trade Show. With all of your help and support, the convention was a big success in my eyes.
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