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October 6, 2000

AFBF horse meeting
set in College Station

The Texas Farm Bureau, supported by Texas A&M University, will host the second American Farm Bureau Federation Horse Conference in College Station Oct. 19-20.

The AFBF meeting will precede the 2000 Texas Equine Industry Conference. Both will be held at the Ramada Inn.

"We're excited to be hosting the AFBF Horse Conference," said Dr. Doug Householder, coordinator of the Texas Equine Conference. "This issues oriented program, coupled with the cow horse and race horse program, is a 'must attend' for any serious Texas horseman."

The AFBF meeting starts at 1 p.m. Oct. 19 with afternoon and evening sessions on state industry reports and selected state committee reports. Presentations will be made on analyses of the state horse industry, examples of networking to enhance education and service programs, examples of state checkoff programs, horse industry alliances, national horse promotion plans, dealing with animal rights activists, and a presentation by TFB Horse Committee member Craig Bru-baker on looking analytically at the needs and desires of TFB members interested in horses.

The Friday morning interactive session is called "Determining What the Horse Audience Wants and How AFBF Can Package and Market It." The keynote speaker is Pat Coyne, an aggressive marketer with Coyne-Beahm Advertising Agency in Greenville, N.C. Coyne's family became interested in horses three years ago and since then he has been on many national programs advising goods and service providers how to market.

Friday afternoon and evening, AFBF conference attendees will attend the Texas A&M Equine Industry Conference. Persons from 17 states attended the AFBF conference last year. More are expected this year.

For more conference information contact Ned Meister, TFB Director of Commodity and Regulatory Activities, at 254-751-2457; or Householder at 979-845-1562.