Hello, my name is Hayden Timmons and today we are going to talk about one of the proudest and longest running traditions in American agriculture – the livestock exposition. With a nod to the past, the North American International Livestock Exposition held every year in Louisville, Kentucky, is an example of how competition and innovation produce better breeding programs which in turn produce better stock. The refinements and enhancements in breed type that appear in the show ring ultimately affect what shows up on America’s dinner plate. The North American International is the World’s Largest Purebred Livestock Show and represents the same ideals and goals of the earliest livestock expositions. The desire to produce the best of the best.

The next evolution in livestock expositions came about in 1971. Kentucky Governor Wendell Ford had been approached by a consortium of agri-businessmen about the possibility of producing a major livestock show that would be national or even international in scale.

The once proud International in Chicago had fallen on lean economic times and was on the decline and there was a great need for a major show east of the Mississippi River.

This new exposition would be produced by the Commonwealth of Kentucky under the auspices of the Kentucky State Fair Board and in cooperation with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

In conjunction with the over whelming success of the North American, the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center was chosen in 1977 by the Saddle & Sirloin Club to permanently house the historic Saddle & Sirloin Portrait Gallery. The Club, which had been founded in 1903 at the International in Chicago, was facing the realities of the International closing in 1975. The vote to move the Portrait Gallery signaled huge confidence in the future success of the North American.

In 1978, the North American added Quarter Horses and was ready to stake its claim as a world-class show.

The expo took that step and kept growing. In 1979, the first North American Championship rodeo was held during the expo. Draft horses were added in 1983, the dairy goats in 1988, llamas & alpacas in 1992 and Boer goats in 2000.

New technologies and innovations are being adopted at a rapid pace but the continued relevance of expos like the North American International demonstrate just how important the agricultural industry is to the global economy.