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Texas Side Of Things...

published: January 21st 2011
by: Jim Banner

My favorite time of year is finally here…it’s time for the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo! What a wonderful way for us to show case our products and at the same time educate the general public about agriculture. It’s the one time of year when the citizens of San Antonio can dress up in their western wear and dream of being a cowboy and wonder around the show grounds with their families seeing all of the interesting exhibits that agriculture has to offer. I personally believe it’s an excellent opportunity for us involved in agriculture to show and tell about our great industry. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the San Antonio All Breed Bull and Commercial Female Sale and we are making big plans to celebrate it. It’s been suggested by some that the most appropriate way to acknowledge our 20th would be to hand out $20 bills to all that attend the sale...as thoughtful as that might be we are having a lot of difficultly convincing Capital Farm Credit on this idea so I wouldn’t count on it happening. Although 20 years seems like a long time, let me inform you of the fact that we’ve enjoyed every year. Just so that you know our first organizational meeting was held in 1991 and it included Anthony Mihalski, Mark Cowan of Cattle Brokers, Inc., Michael and me. We all agreed to start an all breed bull and female sale built on quality…not quantity which meant we would need to screen all of the cattle consigned prior to the sale. 20 years later, we still inspect all of the cattle consigned to the sale which allows us to represent the cattle better to potential buyers. Several years later Cattle Brokers, Inc. pulled out of the management team leaving us with Anthony…enough said! Our experiences through the past 20 years have been nothing but wonderful. We’ve had the privilege to meet so many good people that have become more than just friends. In fact our consignors have become almost like a second family for us and each year’s sale in some ways is like a family reunion. So you see the San Antonio sale is more than just a cattle sale it’s our annual get together to see who has the best cattle. While some of our consignors have been bringing cattle to San Antonio since the original sale, for others this might be their first time. My point is this; anyone can become a member of the family the only requirement is you have to produce good cattle to get in. Once again the San Antonio All Breed Sale is proud to be a part of the Wounded Service Member Project at the San Antonio Stock Show. We will be collecting money to purchase rodeo tickets to send active duty Purple Heart recipients and wounded active duty military personnel for a little tender, loving, care provided by this program. We care and respect all of our military and we want to especially provide some comfort for those that have made the ultimate sacrifice in defending our country. Please remember to help us by donating whatever you can at the sale. This year’s sale consignments are really outstanding and we will once again be selling about 60 bulls and 500 females. For you that haven’t been keeping up with the calf market please take time to look on page 4 at our market reports…calf prices are out of sight along with fat cattle and packer cows. I’ve predicted for several years now that cattle are a good investment because of the declining cattle inventory…once again I’m encouraging you to take advantage of a strong and secure market. If you’re interested in restocking with some of the best cattle in the state of Texas, I would like to invite you come and celebrate with us at the 20th Annual San Antonio All Breeds Bull and Commercial Female Sale…I promise you won’t be disappointed! UNTIL NEXT TIME, THINK TEXAS!!!