News

Future of IL Beef looks bright

More Illinois youth than ever are participating in this week’s Illinois Beef Expo in Springfield.

Devin Bollman, communications manager at the Illinois Beef Association, says they’ve had to expand the expo’s annual Junior Show…

“Friday starts our three day show.”  She says, “We’ve had to expand our junior show to three days from two. That’s so great to know that you know, our show is growing that much and we’re getting that many cattle through the ring and that many juniors exhibiting their livestock.”

Bollman tells Brownfield several factors have led to the growth…

“We went from a single ring to a double ring, so you know, getting all the cattle through twice and growing exhibitors from our market show and our breeding show.”  She says, “We just were kind of, you know pushing our time limit and you know you don’t want to start at 7:00 in the morning and push those kids till 10:00 at night.”

She says it bodes well for the industry…

“And it’s great for our beef industry,” she says, “that we’ve got so many quality cattle that we just can’t get through them in two days. That’s not enough time to evaluate everything and give everybody their shot.  It’s such an exciting move, knowing that you know it’s getting to become such a big event.”

The 2024 Illinois Beef Expo kicks off Thursday, with the Junior Show running Friday thru Sunday, at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.