The National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, was established 113 years ago and now stands as the world’s largest stock show.

Over 15,000 animals were at the show, which took place over 16 days. Beef cattle made up the majority of these, but there were also sheep, goats, pigs and even yaks.

On the beef side, a total of 20 breeds were represented from right across America and Canada. The Angus and Hereford breeds were by far the most dominant, with somewhere close to 1,000 of each.

A total of 800 volunteers help run the show each year. The show attracted over 700,000 guests from right across the world.

This stands as the highest number since its centenary year in 2006.

This large attendance sees an economic impact of over $100m for the city of Denver and the surrounding county.

Youth

Youth involvement is one of the highlights of the livestock show.

Young exhibitors from across the nation participate in competitive arenas for prize monies, national recognition for their achievements and a chance to obtain college scholarships.

2019 stood as the “year of the yards”, as it’s the last year where the herd sire display will be in its current location of the historic Denver stock yards.

For four days, over 200 pen areas are booked out by individual herds, primarily herds advertising young bulls for the upcoming sale season. Many herds also use this as a place to market herd sires, which may have semen available to sell.

Redevelopment

The move of the stock yards is a part of a redevelopment which will see the show spend $765m over the next four years. This will increase the stock yards to 800 pens, complete with an event centre, sales ring and show arena.

Following this, the final two years of the project will see the building of new equestrian and livestock centres.

The equestrian centre will see 800 horse stalls and a 220,000 square foot arena. Similarly, the livestock centre will extend to over 500,000 square feet with a 5,000-seat arena.

This will aid in seating the massive crowds which also head to the famous rodeos and bull riding competitions which take place during the show.