Executive Summary
Celebrating 50 Years
By Mark Anderson, NALF executive director
As most of you are aware by
now, NALF is celebrating its
50th anniversary in 2018.
Given the storied history of
the breed and the pioneers
that have helped shape the
Limousin breed over the last 50
years, it is fitting that NALF is
hosting the 2018 International
Limousin Congress in Colorado
this summer. This event will
begin at the conclusion of the
2018 Junior Nationals, also to
be held in Denver, Colorado.
If you have not yet booked
for the event, please consider
joining us as Limousin Breeders
from around the world will
converge in the United States
this summer to learn more
about the Limousin Seedstock
industry in the U.S. NALF is
very proud and appreciative
of having Alltech® and their
additional family companies,
Hubbard Feeds, Crystalyx and
Show-Rite as our Title Sponsor
for the International Limousin
Congress this summer.
Just as importantly, this is an
opportunity to also develop
connections with Limousin
breeders in foreign countries
and learn what drives their
business. This comes at a time
when the beef export business
has been a major factor that
has supported our current
commercial cattle markets in
10 | APRIL 2018
the U.S. As we have touched
upon in many previous articles,
the potential for export growth
is tremendous throughout
the world and the resulting
opportunities should not
be overlooked within our
current business model.
Aside from the networking
opportunities offered through
this program, the ILC committee
has worked hard to put together
a fun and educational 10 days
during the event. Ranch visits
during the week include stops
at Magness Land & Cattle,
Ochsner Family Limousin,
Running Creek Ranches, and
the Fillmore Ranch, which are all
located down the front Range
of Colorado to give folks an
opportunity to view some of our
ranches and Limousin cattle in
person. Attendees will not only
get the exposure to some of our
ranches, cattle, and people who
operate them, they will witness
one of the best shows Limousin
conducts throughout the year
as the All-American Limousin
Futurity kicks off the first full day
of the International Limousin
Congress at the storied National
Western Stadium Arena.
We are also excited to have
GeneSeek as a major sponsor
of this year’s ILC program and
as the primary host of the
technical day event during the
ILC program which will conclude
with dinner at the Spruce
Mountain Ranch in Larkspur,
Colorado, that evening.
GeneSeek has provided NALF
members with exceptional DNA
testing services the past five
years and has been instrumental
in our switch to SNP parentage
and uptake of genomic profiler’s
years ago as in-house DNA
testing began at the NALF office.
Advances in DNA technology
will be addressed at this forum
and of interest to breeders
both domestic and foreign.
Stops along the way will also
include additional activities
that take advantage of the
opportunities that the Colorado
mountains offer including trips
to Estes Park, Cheyenne Frontier
days, Olympic Training Center
and the Air Force Academy, just
to name a few. If you haven’t
made plans to attend, please
consider joining us for the
event this July. You can find
links to the registration site on
the NALF website, in addition
to our weekly E-Partners
newsletter found in your email.
Switching gears, NALF will be
close to releasing a new EPD
format with the advent of IGS
BOLT cattle evaluation this
summer. The BOLT system will