The Headquarters' Range: April 2026

A lot has happened since my last Headquarters Range update, and it has been a busy close to 2025 and a productive start to 2026 for the Florida Cattlemen’s Association.

We had a successful Year-End Quarterly meeting, followed shortly after by our Legislative Quarterly in Tallahassee. These meetings are always important opportunities for our leadership and members to come together, discuss priorities for the industry, and ensure that the voice of Florida’s cattle producers is heard. If you haven’t attended one of our state meetings yet, I highly encourage it.

We hosted our 2nd FCA Fun N’ Gun on March 7. It was exciting to see such strong support from our members, sponsors, and partners. Events like this help strengthen our industry’s network while supporting the important efforts of the Florida Cow PAC and the Florida Cattlemen’s Foundation.

In addition to these larger events, over the span of about a month we stopped in all five FCA districts for meetings with district leadership. These conversations are always valuable as we discuss membership, local priorities, and ways FCA can continue supporting our counties and members. I encourage county leaders to reach out to our office with any questions, challenges, or success stories they may have so we can help keep things moving in the right direction and share those successes in the County Chronicles section of this publication.

We have also rolled out a new version of our widely recognized PAC tie and introduced a new PAC WildRag. These items help promote the Florida cattle industry as they spark conversations wherever they are worn, while also serving as an ongoing fundraiser for the FL COW PAC.

Behind the scenes, we are also working on two projects funded by the Florida Cattle Enhancement Board. One project is the development of a database of educational and promotional materials that can be used by staff, leadership, and members when communicating with consumers about Florida’s cattle industry. The other is a professional video campaign that will be distributed directly through the state association. Our goal is to make it easier for anyone representing our industry to share accurate information and tell the story of Florida ranching.

While all of this has been happening, we are still hard at work preparing for another successful FCA Convention and Allied Trade Show. If you haven’t secured a room yet, be sure to get on the waitlist, and if you haven’t registered, what are you waiting for? Visit the convention page on the FCA website for the latest information and updates.

As always, we encourage members to stay engaged. If you haven’t taken the Membership Spotlight survey yet, log in to your member profile and use the link in the welcome banner to participate. You might find your operation featured on FCA social media or in a future issue of this magazine.

And don’t forget, there is still time to recruit members for this year’s “Just Ask” Membership Contest. We have more Top Hand buckles ordered for members who recruit ten or more new members during the 2025–2026 contest cycle, along with great prizes for our top five recruiters. Counties also have the opportunity to win growth and retention awards.

I look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming events as we continue to lead the way for Florida’s cattle industry.

-Abby Clapp

Communications, Projects, & Events Coordinator