March 13: Tennessee Beef Agribition at MTSU
The three-day cattle show and sale event also features one of the largest trade shows in the Southeast, giving participants a look at new products and the direction of the industry.
“Agribition is an efficient way to improve your herd genetics,” says Margie Baker, livestock specialist with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture Market Development Division. “Donor embryos can be purchased and implanted, or cows and heifers can be added to the herd at a peak breeding season. The best bulls and purebred breeding stock are all here under one roof, at one time. Additionally, 4-H’ers can find the show animals they want and have plenty of time to work with them before fair season starts.”
Twelve different chartered breeds will be represented and more than 20,000 people are expected to attend Agribition. The breed shows will begin at 9 a.m. Friday with sales for each breed immediately following that breed’s show. Saturday shows and sales will begin at 8 a.m. and at about 10:30 a.m., respectively.
For the second year, a limited number of cow and calf pairs will be available for sale, Baker says. The pairs will be available for viewing at the center before being sold.
The benefit of watching breeds being shown and judged before sale is an opportunity few buyers ever experience, but at Agribition, “You can watch these animals in the ring, then you can hear what breed experts are looking for in the breed and what they think of these particular specimens,” Baker says. “Then you can turn around and go buy exactly what you need because you’ve just learned exactly what you’ll get from what you buy.”
The junior show, one of the event’s most popular features, will take place Sunday.
“4-H’ers looking for show animals can actually buy a calf on Saturday, then turn around and get show experience with that animal in the junior show on Sunday,” Baker says.
“Serious beef producers are busy people who plan for the long term,” the marketing specialist says. “Tennessee Beef Agribition is the place serious producers will be, getting the most done, for the best results, at the right time.”
To learn more about Tennessee Beef Agribition, contact Harold Watson at (731) 424-1645. For information about the junior show, contact Kevin Ferguson at (615) 898-7710.