Don’t miss Ohio’s premier beef cattle event, March 16-18!

The Ohio Beef Expo, the premier event of Ohio’s beef industry, will take place March 16-18 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, Ohio. This annual event, coordinated by the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA), includes a kickoff social; breed sales, shows and displays; an educational seminar; a three-day trade show and a highly competitive junior show.

OCA members and Expo exhibitors are invited to attend The Social, sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, on Thursday evening, March 15, at the Expo headquarters hotel, Crowne Plaza North. The kickoff event will auction items for OCA’s PAC fund such as two VIP parking spaces at the 2018 Ohio Beef Expo, a 35 Tundra YETI cooler, a Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner fire ring and a framed and matted print showcasing the history of America’s cattle trails.

New this year, on Friday, March 16, a Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Adult Certification Program session will be offered in the Voinovich building from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The session will be instructed by Dr. Steve Boyles and John Grimes, Ohio State University Extension. A Red Angus sale will also take place on Saturday, March 17 at 10:00 a.m.

Friday, March 16 will mark the official start of the Expo with registration for the judging contest taking place in the Voinovich building’s upper mezzanine. Contest participants will meet at 8:00 a.m. for registration. The breed shows and parades will begin at 8:00 a.m. in the Cooper Arena and O’Neill buildings. At 10:00 a.m. cattlemen can attend an educational seminar “Accessing Current and Future Cattle Markets”. All cattlemen are invited to attend the session jointly sponsored by Allflex USA, Inc. and United Producers, Inc. At noon, youth are invited to attend a Stock Show University fitting demonstration in the Voinovich building. The online feeder cattle sale will be held on Friday at 1:30 p.m. As the sale takes place, judging contest awards will be presented at 2:30 p.m. and then youth can attend a BQA session at 3:30 p.m. before heading to the junior show welcome party at 5:30 p.m. for a Weaver Leather Livestock fitting demonstration. Expo attendees can also visit the trade show with over 130 vendors from 17 states that offer products and services beneficial to all cattlemen.

Saturday, March 17 will host the breed cattle sales in the Voinovich building, starting at 10:00 a.m. with Angus, Hereford, Maine-Anjou, Red Angus, Shorthorn and Simmental cattle selling. Breed sale catalogs are posted online at ohiobeefexpo.com. The junior showmanship competition will begin at noon on Saturday with over 400 participants competing for top honors in their respective divisions. On Sunday, March 18 junior exhibitors will begin showing at 8:00 a.m. in the Cooper Arena.

More than 30,000 visitors from 25 states and Canada routinely attend the Ohio Beef Expo. It is ranked as one of the top five largest events in central Ohio and is the premier location to meet Ohio’s cattle producers. Don’t miss it! Visit www.ohiobeefexpo.com for more information.