YCC on The Road: Just Getting Started

Each year since 1980 the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) has hosted the Young Cattlemen’s Conference (YCC) as a way for young producers from across the nation to network with other cattlemen and tour various segments of the beef industry.

Producers are invited to participate each year either by their local state affiliate or breed association. There are also a few people who serve as representatives for the various companies that help sponsor the event.

For the 2018 YCC class, I was invited to participate as a member of the media. While at YCC I’m also wearing my producer hat as custom grazer and cow-calf rancher from Kansas.

The YCC trip lasts approximately nine days taking participants from Denver to Chicago to Washington D.C. for tours and professional development meetings. The program this year began on May 30 and runs through June 7. Tours include stops at a feedlots, beef packer, grocery store, hamburger processor and visits with Representatives and Senators on Capitol Hill.

As a representative of Drovers I plan to write some blogs helping cover the event and sharing some insights from the various stops made along the way.

Thus far I have made a number of great contacts with the 60 cattlemen and women who are on the trip while learning more about what it takes to get beef from pasture to plate.

Be sure to follow along with the YCC on The Road series on Drovers where photos and video interviews will also be included. For now take a look at some of the action shared by some of my fellow 2018 YCC classmates after our time spent in Denver and Greeley, Colorado:

Note: The author was invited by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association to participate in the 2018 Young Cattlemen’s Conference as a media member.