Registration is now open for the 2026 LMA Annual Convention and World Livestock Auctioneer Championship! Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with industry professionals, gain valuable insights, and experience one of the most exciting events in the livestock marketing industry.

2026 LMA Annual Convention Registration Now Open

View Online Sales

Check out the awesome variety of LMA-branded merchandise for you and your crew! Keep coming back for new styles and designs, and let your LMA and Sell at Auction spirit shine.

LMA Merchandise

Want to teach the story of the auction method of selling livestock?  We can help.

Our new coloring and activity book, Sale Day: A Market Marshals story, and its accompanying crayon pack is now available at no cost to Livestock Marketing Association members. 

Market Marshals

As a member, you gain access to great features such as:

Access to member-exclusive news and information

Become a member

North America's largest membership organization dedicated to supporting, representing and communicating with and for the entire livestock marketing sector.

LMAauctions

Unite the livestock industry in preserving America's agricultural land for future generations while strengthening and expanding the livestock producers who rely on it to feed the world.

Common Ground

Screwworm.gov is USDA’s hub for screwworm detection, control efforts, and resources for producers and health professionals.

New World Screwworm Resources

Discover a great range of LMA-branded gear for you and your team! New styles are always dropping—show off your LMA and Sell at Auction spirit.

LMA's New Merchandise Store

Teach kids about livestock auctions with our free coloring and activity book, Sale Day: A Market Marshals Story, and crayon pack—available now for Livestock Marketing Association members.

This is a test for extending the grid section

Join us in Washington DC

LMA Members

2026 LMA Convention and World Livestock Auctioneer Championship

Register Now

Main Registration Website

Registration Now Open

The convention will be held in Deadwood, South Dakota, and the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship will be held at St. Onge Livestock in St. Onge, South Dakota. The dates are June 17-20, 2026.

Convention Guest Notice – Casino Properties

Please be advised that meetings, event spaces, and host hotels for the LMA Annual Convention are located within properties that include active casino operations. All guests are required to comply with property and gaming regulations at all times.

Casino rules strictly prohibit minors from loitering on the casino floor or from being present at gaming tables or slot machines. Minors are permitted to cross the casino floor for the purpose of accessing hotel rooms, restaurants, meeting spaces, or other non-gaming areas.

We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring compliance with these policies.

Convention Agenda

1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. — Registration Desk Open

1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. — Emergency Preparedness Meeting (Open Session)

3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. — Government and Industry Affairs Committee (Open Session)

5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. — Welcome Cocktail Reception hosted by Auction Insurance Agency (AIA)

5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. — WLAC Committee Meeting (Closed Session)

5:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. — Government and Industry Affairs Committee (Closed Session)

7:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m. — Registration Desk

7:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. — Committees Update Panel & Member Forum

8:45 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. — Mount Rushmore Tour

9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. — Board of Directors Meeting (Closed Session)

9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. — Morning Mixer hosted by Auction Insurance Agency (AIA)

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. — Board of Directors Meeting (Open Session)

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. — Networking Lunch 

12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. — Semi-Finalist Briefing - Lunch for Semi-Finalist will be at the St. Onge Bar on way to market

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. — Breakout Session 1: Fraud Prevention - How Livestock Marketers Are Targeted and What Tools Can Help to Stop the Next Attempt

2:15 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. — Breakout Session 2: From Incident to Action - Injury Protocols Every Livestock Marketing Business Should Have

3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. — Breakout Session 3: Practical Digital Marketing Tools for Livestock Marketers

4:45 p.m. — Busses to begin loading from the Lodge

6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. — Host Market BBQ & Contestant Draw at Spur Creek Saloon & Ranch, Newell, SD

8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. — Registration Desk Open

8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. — General / Panel Session 1: They've lived it - The experience and advice from seasoned office managers that they wish they'd have known starting out.

9:15 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. — Ring Judges Briefing (Closed Session)

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. — Deadwood Walking Tour

9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. — General / Panel Session 2: Unwelcome Visitors - Managing the Pests and Pathogens Testing Our Industry Preparedness

10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. — Interview Judges Briefing (Closed Session)

11:30 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. — LMA Annual Gathering & Recognition Lunch

12:50 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. — Market Marshal Photo Op with WLAC Champions

1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. — Sweet Tooth Ice Cream Break

1:15 p.m. – 1:25 p.m. — Semi-Finalists Report for Interviews 

1:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. — Contestant Interviews

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. — PLIC Board Meeting (Closed Session)

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. — PAC Reception

7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. — PAC Auction & Buffet Dinner

7:30 a.m. – End of Sale — Remote Viewing Room

8:00 a.m. – End of Sale — WLAC Competition

6:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. — WLAC Awards Reception - Deadwood Mountain Grand, downtown Deadwood

7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. — WLAC Banquet & Awards Ceremony - Deadwood Mountain Grand, downtown Deadwood

2025 WLAC Photos

More than 30 Livestock Marketing Association members and staff traveled to Washington, D.C., March 4-6, 2026, for the association’s annual D.C. Fly-In. Over the course of three days, participants met with U.S. representatives, senators, congressional staff, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Labor officials.

LMA members began their time in Washington, D.C., with an issues briefing, followed by a leadership meeting with Secretary Rollins. The discussion was productive, focusing on Animal Disease Traceability, animal health threats such as New World Screwworm, and the need for rulemaking to compliment the Livestock Dealer Statutory Trust law.

The next day, LMA members advocated to Congress on a variety of issues, first of which was passage of a Farm Bill reauthorization. The visits were timely as they coincided with the House Agriculture Committee’s mark up of its new Farm Bill. Of particular interest is a provision included in the bill that would update an outdated Packers and Stockyards Act rule prohibiting owning both a livestock auction and a livestock harvest facility. This antiquated rule predates the current, transparent method of selling livestock at an open auction. The provision included in the Farm Bill would address this issue by allowing livestock auction owners to own or invest in small and regional harvest facilities. The provision was first introduced to the committee as the Amplifying Processing of Livestock in the United States (A-PLUS) Act (H.R. 1648) sponsored by Reps. Mark Alford (R-MO) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA). Its Senate companion bill, the Expanding Local Meat Processing Act (S. 782) is sponsored by Sens. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Joni Ernst (R-IA).

Fly-In attendees also advocated for continued direction by Congress to USDA that it continue to procure required electronic identification, or EID, tags for compliance with its ADT program so that it is not an unfunded mandate.

LMA members were able to meet with Chairman of the House Committee of Agriculture G.T. Thompson (R-PA) to thank him for his work on a new Farm Bill, leadership and attention to the labor shortage faced by the agriculture industry. Labor has long been a particularly challenging issue for LMA members and the entire agriculture industry. Consequently, members advocated to both Congress and regulatory officials for changes to the H-2A program that would allow auction markets to participate in the program.

On their last day, members met with leadership of the USDA Packers and Stockyards Division; Rear Admiral Micheal Schmoyer and Dr. Alan Huddleston of USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS); and Brian Pasternak, Department of Labor.

﻿Forrest Mangan, LMA’s chief executive officer who attended the event, said it was productive trip.

“I’m grateful for all the LMA members and staff who took the time away from their families and businesses to advocate on behalf of themselves and the entire industry at the D.C. Fly-In,” he said.

“It’s hard to fully explain just how impactful a visit like this is for the industry. Showing up year after year to develop and maintain relationships with decision makers is how we can ensure the interests of the livestock marketing industry is considered in policy decisions.”

LMA members who attended this year’s D.C. Fly In were: Jim Akers, Lexington, Ky.; Todd Eberle, Broken Bow, Neb.; Helen Glover, Mt. Washington, Ky.; Lindsay Grant, McAlister, Okla.; Julie Grant, McAlister, Okla.; Ben Hale, Throckmorton, Texas; Aimee Hale, Throckmorton, Texas; Budge Herbert, Moffett, Okla.; Samantha Herbert, Moffett, Okla.; Bracken Marburger, Milano, Texas; Stephanie Marburger, Milano, Texas; Kale McGuinness, Spokane, Wash.; Chad McNew, Greencastle, Penn.; Hunter Owens, Crawford, Neb.; Ron Ratliff, Garnett, Kan.; Christine Ratliff, Garnett, Kan.; Rich Robertson, Crawford, Neb.; Alicia Robertson, Crawford, Neb.; Jay Romine, Mt. Washington, Ky.; Robin Scerbarth, Crawford, Neb.  

LIVESTOCK MARKETING ASSOCIATION