The National Western Stock Show selected the Crow family as the winners of the 2024 Friend of the National Western Award due to their long history of contributions to the livestock industry — including the creation of the Western Livestock Journal (WLJ) and the Red Meat Club. 

The Crow family will be celebrated for their more-than 100 years of service to the livestock industry during the Red Meat Club dinner on Jan. 11 — an annual, industry-driven dinner and social event during the National Western Stock Show that was created by Dick Crow and Safeway meat buyer Cecil Hellbusch in the 1970s.

Along with the formation of the Red Meat Club event, the Crow family is best known for their creation of the WLJ. Nelson R. Crow started the journal in Los Angeles in 1922, producing national news about the industry.

Nelson began his career as a United States Department of Agriculture market reporter in the St. Joseph Stockyards in Missouri. He went on to report for Chicago’s Union Stock Yard and San Francisco’s terminal stockyards.

The Los Angeles Union Stock Yards needed a paper for reporting and market news in 1922. They loaned Nelson $5,000 to start the WLJ. 

The Crows established a Denver branch in the 1950s. By 1971, Crow Publications had consolidated into the Denver office. They once occupied the entire fourth floor of the Livestock Exchange Building at the National Western Center, according to a news release.

Nelson’s grandson, Pete Crow, took over the journal in the early 1990s. He will accept the award during the dinner, according to the release by the National Western Stock Show.

Over 100 years later, the WLJ continues on. 

“Producers, commission companies and packers relied on these papers for price discovery in their markets and other major markets around the country,” according to the press release. “Nelson quickly expanded the business to include a dairy magazine and a Western crops publication.”

Pete Crow contributes the longstanding success of the publication to hiring the right people, staying on top of the market and having “excellent” editorial content.

Tickets for the Red Meat Club dinner are $60 per person and include a happy hour and prime rib dinner. National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Mandy Carr Johnson, senior scientific director, will be speaking at the event.

Tickets can be ordered by calling the National Western Stock Show office at 303-295-6124.

The National Western Stock Show starts Jan. 6 and continues through Jan. 21. For a schedule and tickets, visit nationalwestern.com.