I am glad to showcase the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show Open Commercial & Purebred Female Pen Show that is open to both adult and youth cattle breeders throughout the South Texas region. What started as a vision by attending the 2004 San Antonio Livestock Show and learning about their successful event was how we developed our local event with modifications in Starr County. In 2005, at the Starr County Youth Fair is where we had our first competition exhibition event for limited resource producers to exhibit their heifers and to display them to other ranchers with a possibility of selling their stock as a private treaty consignment at a high earning than what they would make from a local market. Several producers were able to make a sale from their heifers on sight and also selling other heifers at the ranch. As a result of this event, two local extension committee members Mr. Fausto Salinas Jr., Mr. Raul Villarreal and I met with the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show Board of Directors to ask about creating this event at the major regional show for South Texas.

We are glad to say that we are going on our eighth year with the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show. We have developed a committee group of ten volunteers that work throughout the year in finding sponsorships, and assist in making contact with cattle producers to provide guidelines and measures for obtaining superior cattle performance for the show. In 2016, we increased our open division exhibitors to about 60% from the previous year due to successful marketing and premiums allocated.

Cattle producers have noted that because of this event, they have been able to meet with buyers who visit with them during the show and have been able to sell cattle off the ranch that they were not able to do in the past. We have also seen an increase in youth participation in 2017. Thus we have developed a Jr. Exhibition event to increase more youth involvement. We have learned that youth are looking at the cattle business as a future career and they want to grow from the family’s herd business and increase profit on their own. We have identified that these youth have potential in applying for USDA Youth Loan opportunities because they can use earnings from selling offspring to pay off the loan.

A marketing plan has been developing to host a sale auction after the exhibition event shortly. I have assigned committee members to look into the costs and different marketing auctions to see what will be more effective.

Now that I am the new Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent in Willacy, Cameron and Starr Counties, I am glad to have served over 100 beef cattle producers from South Texas since 2009 buy hosting this three-day event through the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show. Prairie View A&M University-Cooperative Extension Program has made an impact with the limited recourse beef cattle people we service in South Texas.

This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, 1890 Extension Formula Program projects under Section 1444.

Rolando Zamora
Rolando R. Zamora
AGNR Extension Agent, Willacy County
(956) 689-2412
RZamora@ag.tamu.edu