NCBA~ Nashville Tennessee

Apologies for a start, I am no brilliant writer so you are about to read this blog probably nearly exactly how I would verbalize my thoughts.

Throughout the weeks following my move to Manhattan Kansas, I have been convinced that this is already the greatest year of my life and honestly (and I am a very blessed and appreciative person), but I have had a lot of good years up until now! So comparative, it is looking pretty good! You may get sick of hearing it but I am so grateful for this opportunity, I have met some absolutely brilliant people and been very lucky to have had some fantastic learning and networking opportunities.

Last week I was incredibly fortunate to make the trip down to Nashville, Tennessee with the Kansas State Collegiate Cattleman's and Cattlewomen's Clubs for the National Cattleman's Beef Association's conference and trade show. Firstly, I cannot express my gratitude enough towards the wonderful people from the K-State Cattleman's Club for their generosity in having me come down to Nashville for the NCBA conference and trade show with them this year. It was a great chance for me to get to know some very intelligent industry people and learn more about cattle production and the US beef industry as a whole.

The week at NCBA was a lot of fun, I think its safe to say I did my best not to miss a minute of it!

I attended cattleman's college on Tuesday and Wednesday wherein I sat in on many different presentations largely varying around America's global trade and the future of US cattle feeding to selecting cattle with correct genetics to improve structure and reduce lameness in feeder cattle and meat science regarding aspects that effect beef taste experience. There were many very inspiring people speaking at the NCBA convention, not only at the cattleman's college but throughout the week as a whole. I really enjoyed all of these. I could have listened to Galen Erickson from the Animal Science department at the University of Nebraska talk about the future projections of the US cattle feeding industry and Brooke Wessley who studied meat science at Texas A&M talk about beef's taste experience for a hours.

The "Miracle on Everest" presentation by Dr Beck Weathers however, though irrelevant to the beef industry will resonate with me forever. If you have not yet heard this man's story, that is one that I strongly encourage you look into! I was absolutely speechless (which for those of you who know me, doesn't happen often!).

I was also lucky enough to attend the KLA (Kansas Livestock Association) meeting during my week in Nashville and the beef checkoff programs update before the stars and guitars night sponsored by NCBA at the Counrty Music Hall of Fame!! Which is exactly, if not more brilliant than they lead you to believe!

The Best of Beef Awards Breakfast followed that, early the next morning and was very enjoyable and that was followed by another big day looking around the trade show and more networking. Friday night was Cowboy Night at the Grand Ole Opry and the NCBA Music City Showdown After Party. By then it had been a WHOLE TWO WEEKS since someone had told me Trace Adkins was going to be playing there, and of course he was the last act! I had an extremely suspenseful wait for his show (If you couldn't tell by now, I am a big fan!), but I had an absolute ball. There were some very talented people play during the lead up to the man himself and I really enjoyed hearing them all. I'm sure by the end of the night though, everyone would've been able to pick out the crazy Australian in the crowd! I had been waiting a long long time for a chance to get to the Grand Ole Opry and it was just the absolute cherry on top to see Trace Adkins play there!

Back to Manhattan Saturday, just in time for the Superbowl where I was a mighty proud bandwagon supporter for the Atlanta Falcons in a room full of Patriots fans! It was all looking good for the falcons until the end. The lesson I learned that day... don't stir the pot with passionate footy fans about their team playing terrible if yours is not actually going to pull through and have a win... that was about time then for me to get going out of there! haha