Ohio Beef Expo Breed Rules & Information

Ohio Beef Expo | Ohio State Fairgrounds | Columbus, OH

All cattle coming to the Ohio Beef Expo must be halter broke.
No pumping of Ohio Beef Expo sale, show, or display cattle permitted per the Ohio Administrative Code 901-19 Ohio Livestock Exhibitions rule 901-19-13. Cattle that have been pumped will not be permitted to participate in Ohio Beef Expo activities, including sales and shows. Ohio Beef Expo sale, show, or display cattle are required to follow Ohio’s Livestock Show Reform Law, Chapter 901 of the Ohio Revised Code, and all mandatory rules under Ohio Livestock Exhibitions, as set forth in Sections 901-19-01 through 901-19-21 of the Ohio Administrative Code. The Ohio Beef Expo has zero tolerance for the use of any unapproved drug at any point in an animal’s life. ‘Exhibition Drug Residue Legal’ means an animal, including breeding cattle, has not been administered a drug that is U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved for use in cattle; or if administered an approved drug, the withdrawal period has elapsed at the time the cattle arrive on the Expo grounds. The use of any material, gas, solid, or liquid, that conceals, transforms, or enhances the true confirmation or configuration of an animal, including rope, false hair, graphite, and hemp is prohibited. Penalties for violation of these mandatory rules will follow the penalties outlined in the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association BEST exhibitor rules for 2025-2026. Any Ohio Beef Expo sale, show, or display cattle exhibitor who has been found by the Ohio Department of Agriculture to be in violation of mandatory Ohio Livestock Exhibition Rules 901-19-01 through 901-19-21 of the Ohio Administrative Code and has been barred by another entity, may be barred from participation in the Ohio Beef Expo.
No cattle are permitted on the Ohio Expo Center grounds before 7 a.m., Wednesday, March 18. Exhibitors are permitted to bring tack and other equipment on the grounds for set-up beginning on Tuesday, March 17.
Sale cattle selling on Friday, March 20 must arrive at the Ohio Expo Center on Wednesday, March 18. All Ohio Beef Expo sale cattle selling Saturday, March 21, show and display cattle must be in place at the Ohio Expo Center by no later than 10 a.m. Thursday, March 19. Sale cattle may depart as they sell on Friday, March 20 or Saturday, March 21. All cattle will be stalled in the O’Neill building and all exhibitor equipment must be removed by no later than 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.
All Ohio Beef Expo show, sale, and display cattle trailers must be parked north of 17th Avenue in the trailer parking lot during the Expo. The only exception to this parking requirement is buyer trailers will be permitted to enter the Expo grounds at the 11th Avenue Ohio Expo Center entrance on Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21 only and park in the area east of the O’Neill building during the Expo breed sales for easier loading.
Cattle will be stalled by breeds in the O’Neill building by Ohio Beef Expo staff and breed representatives. Mulch will be in place upon arrival.
Limited tie-outs under the viaduct will be available. Tie-out space will be designated by breed and will be coordinated by Ohio Beef Expo staff and breed representatives. All junior show cattle will tie-out in the northern section of the viaduct. Show and sale cattle exhibitors whose immediate family also have junior cattle may have them stalled together in tie-outs under the viaduct, providing they inform their breed representatives of the number of junior cattle one week prior to arrival at the Expo. No early reserving of viaduct space will be permitted. Any signs posted will be removed and any pens chained shut will be cut. When at tie out, all cattle must be tied. There will be a 12-head minimum required in each viaduct bay. All tents must be set-up on the west side of the viaduct and not under the viaduct. Mulch for bedding under the viaduct is not provided but is available for an additional purchase upon arrival at Expo. Straw is permitted but will not be provided.
All Ohio Beef Expo show, sale, and display participants (both in-state and out-of-state) must be current members of the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association to participate in the Expo. OCA family memberships are $100 payable before March 19, 2025. If unpaid by March 21, OCA memberships will increase to $150. Sale managers will deduct $150 for OCA membership from the check of every unpaid sale consignor. For show and display participants, the breed will be invoiced $150 for every non-OCA member.
Ohio Beef Expo fees for show, sale, and display cattle are invoiced directly to the breed and/or sale manager. They include fees for breed participation based on the number of head, veterinary per head charges of $3 for sale cattle and $1.50 for show and display cattle, $30 per head stalling for Ohio Expo Center facility rental based on the number of head that arrive at Expo, $30 per head for mulch bedding in the O’Neill building based on the breed reservation numbers submitted at the February 12 Expo planning meetings. Participants are encouraged to inform breed representatives of larger animals that will require more than one stall and additional mulch. Contact your Expo breed representative or the Ohio Beef Expo staff for a copy of the Ohio Beef Expo breeds fees.
All Ohio Beef Expo show, sale, and display participants must be in good financial standing with the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association to participate in the Expo. This means all Ohio Cattleman magazine advertisers with past due accounts must pay all outstanding invoices before they can participate in the Expo.
All Ohio Beef Expo sale cattle (in-state and out-of-state) and any show and display cattle originating outside Ohio must have health papers. Contact your sale manager, Ohio Beef Expo breed rep, or visit the Ohio Beef Expo website www.ohiobeefexpo.com for the latest Expo health requirements.
All cattle in breed sales, show cattle, display breeds and Genetic Pathway cattle, including cattle originating in Ohio, must be tested negative for Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) persistently infected (PI) status prior to arrival at the 2026 Ohio Beef Expo. Any animals (required to be tested) arriving at the Expo without a negative BVD PI test, will be ineligible to participate in the 2026 Ohio Beef Expo and will be excused from the show grounds, will be ineligible to sell, and will be required to stay in livestock trailers north of 17th Avenue during the event. Documentation of testing with negative results must be listed on the required health certificate and/or laboratory report of negative status provided. Sale managers/breed representatives (for all breed sale, show and display cattle housed in the O’Neill building) will follow-up with consignor/exhibitors the week prior to Expo to insure that BVD tests have been done before arrival at the Expo. Ohio Beef Expo junior show cattle are also required to have a negative BVD PI test. (See 2026 Ohio Beef Expo health requirements for more details.)
All Ohio Beef Expo sale cattle (in-state and out-of-state) will be required to have 840 RFID tags in their ears prior to arrival at the Ohio Beef Expo and have the 15 digit tag number recorded on their health paper.
All Ohio Beef Expo show cattle and display cattle are strongly encouraged to have 840 RFID tags in their ears prior to arrival at the Ohio Beef Expo. All out of state Expo cattle participating in breed shows or displaying must have 840 RFID tags in their ears prior to arrival at the Ohio Beef Expo and have the 15 digit tag number recorded on their health paper.
The OBE breeds committee will work to keep each breed sale day and time as consistent as possible from year to year. Considerations the committee will use to determine sale order will include OBE sale gross, involvement/cooperation with the breeds committee for OBE set-up, check-in, etc., and length of time involved with OBE.
Ohio juniors purchasing heifers in an Expo sale are permitted to enter them immediately after the sale for the junior show on Sunday, March 22, providing the bill of sale is in the junior’s name and verification of pedigree and age. All heifers purchased in an Expo sale must show in the breed division where they sold. Contact Ohio Beef Expo staff for information on entering the junior show. Entries must be made on Saturday, March 21 as soon as possible following the sale.

*Attention*

The electric and lighting in the O’Neill building where you will be stalled has been updated, but in the past exhibitors have been advised to bring generators to run blowers. You may also want to bring spotlights, etc. for your cattle displays.

Health Requirements

GENERAL HEALTH RULES:

IMPORTANT RULE: All sale bulls over 18 months and all non-virgin bulls are required to have a negative trichomoniasis pcr test. See below under Health Requirements for Sale Cattle for information on Trich testing requirements.
IMPORTANT RULE: All sale cattle are REQUIRED to have official 840 EID tags in their ears prior to arrival at the Ohio Beef Expo. The animal’s 15 digit EID number and the herd premise ID number must be on the CVI (Health Paper). EID tags are acceptable only if the first three numbers are “840”. No other form of ID is acceptable for sale cattle.
IMPORTANT RULE: All sale, display, and show cattle including genetic pathway bulls, and all junior show cattle are REQUIRED to be tested for Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD). See below for information regarding BVD testing. The animals MUST be tested prior to arriving at the show grounds.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please print these health requirements and show them to your veterinarian so that they may ensure that your consignments meet them. Health papers (CVIs) to go from the Ohio Beef Expo to the buyer will NOT be issued for cattle that do not meet the Ohio Beef Expo health requirements outlined herein Furthermore, if an animal meets the requirements for the Ohio Beef Expo but, to the knowledge of the veterinarian re-issuing the CVI on Friday/Saturday, does not meet the entry requirements of the state of destination (This is rare but does occur- see Rule # 9 below.), a CVI will not be issued and the buyer and seller will thus need to work out an equitable solution to the situation.
An Official Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) i.e. health paper is REQUIRED for all sale cattle. A CVI is also required for exhibition cattle and display cattle that originate from outside Ohio. A CVI is not required for exhibition / display cattle that originate from within Ohio and are not to be sold. A Certificate of Veterinary Inspection is a form from the state of origin that has been completed and issued by a licensed and accredited veterinarian attesting to the health status of the animal listed thereon. All animals for which a CVI is required are required to have official individual identification. Sale cattle must have 840 RFID tags; acceptable forms of ID for display and show cattle are official 840 RFID tags, official USDA metal tags, or tattoos that correspond to breed registration certificates. RFID tags are only acceptable if the first three numbers are “840” and the herd premise ID number appears on the CVI. No other form of ID is acceptable.
Each sale animal must be issued its own individual CVI. That is, bring one health paper for each lot. Do not list more than one sale animal on a CVI. Please write the sale lot number of the animal on the top right corner of the CVI. In the case of cow-calf pairs, if the calf is of an age such that it will certainly not be split from its mother, the dam and calf may be listed on the same CVI. If there is any chance that the dam and calf will be sold to different buyers, they should each be issued an individual CVI.
CVIs are required to be issued within 30 days prior to the date of the sale (on or after February 20, 2026). Regarding these health requirements generally, the official date to be used when determining when tests must be performed (e.g. “within 30 days of the date of the sale”) or when determining the age of the animal with respect to testing requirements for the 2025 Ohio Beef Expo is March 20, 2026.
It is not required but is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that all cattle receive at least one dose of modified live (2 to 4 weeks prior to the event) or two doses of killed (2 to 4 weeks apart with the second dose 2 to 4 weeks prior to the event) respiratory disease (IBR, BVD, BRSV, PI3) vaccine.
The Brucellosis, TB, and Trichomoniasis requirements for sale cattle are designed to be reasonable for the consignors and are based upon the fact that cattle sell into many states. Cattle health entry requirements for each state are continually changing. Cattle that meet the following requirements should meet the requirements for entry into most, but not all, states. For example, Montana, California, and some other states require that all females be Officially Calfhood Vaccinated (OCV) against Brucellosis. Given that the vast majority of the cattle sold at the Ohio Beef Expo do not sell into states that require females to be OCV, we have chosen not to require OCV of all females. If cattle sell into Canada or other foreign countries, further arrangements will need to be made between the buyer and the seller.
The Ohio Beef Expo and / or State Veterinarian may reject any animal that poses a threat from evidence of contagious or infectious disease (to include ringworm and warts).

HEALTH REQUIREMENT FOR SALE CATTLE:

Bovine Virus Diarrhea (BVD) requirements for sale, display and show cattle including cattle originating in Ohio and including

genetic pathway bulls and all junior show cattle.

All sale, display and show cattle are required to be tested for Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) persistent infection (PI) status. Acceptable tests include and are limited to: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) on skin, Antigen-capture ELISA (ACE) on serum or skin, Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on whole blood, serum or skin. Animals must be individually tested. Pooled testing is acceptable only if documentation is provided that the animal was specifically included in the pool and that the pool contained no more than 7 animals. Type of test and test result must be listed on the CVI.
All animals must have a negative BVD test prior to arriving on the show grounds. Animals without proof of negative BVD test will not be permitted to enter the barns or sell in the sales.

Brucellosis requirements for sale cattle including cattle originating in Ohio:

Animals originating from a certified Brucellosis free herd: No test required.
- The date of the last herd test and the herd certification number MUST be listed on the CVI.
Animals originating from a non-certified herd:
- Animals under 6 months of age: No test required.
- Bulls over 6 months of age on the date of the sale must be negative to an official Brucellosis test conducted within 30 days of the date of the sale.
- Females between 6 months and 18 months of age:
  - If Officially Calfhood Vaccinated (OCV) against Brucellosis, no test required. Proof that the female is OCV must be written on the CVI by the veterinarian. “Proof” must be as outlined below.
  - If not OCV, then must be negative to an official Brucellosis test conducted within 30 days of the date of the sale.
- Females over 18 months of age (regardless of OCV status) must be negative to an official Brucellosis test conducted within 30 days of the date of the sale.
Note: Official Calfhood Vaccination (OCV) for brucellosis is not required but is desirable since some states will not allow females to enter the state if they were not vaccinated as calves. If a female was OCV then it is required that some evidence proving this appears on the CVI. Examples of “proof” include and are limited to:
- “V” series USDA tag number recorded on CVI.
- The letters “OCV” with the veterinarian’s initials written on the CVI attesting that the veterinarian has observed a legible official OCV tattoo in the animal.
- A copy of the original OCV certificate that clearly identifies the animal that was OCV as the same animal listed on the CVI.

Trichomoniasis requirements for sale bulls:

ALL Bulls MUST have EITHER of the following:

Virgin bulls under 18 months of age on the date of the sale:
- The following statement must appear on the CVI accompanied by the veterinarian’s and owner’s signature:

“This bull is a virgin and has had no contact with breeding females.”

Bulls 18 months of age or older on the date of the sale and all non-virgin bulls:
- PCR test within 28 days of the date of the sale. A single culture test does not meet the requirement.

General Information:

Ohio has mandatory Trichomoniasis rules for all bulls entering Ohio from any other state..
Nearly all states require a negative Trich test prior to entry.
Health Papers WILL NOT be written for bulls that do not meet destination state Trich requirements.
Information for your vet on how to perform the test can be found at:

http://vetmed.iastate.edu/sites/default/files/vdl/disease-topics/Trichomoniasis-Sample-Submission.pdf

Tuberculosis (TB) requirements for sale cattle –

No TB test required if cattle originate from a TB free state. Cattle coming from the four counties of Michigan (Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Oscoda) will need a TB test. Contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture (614) 728-6220 for additional direction.

HEALTH REQUIRMENTS FOR SHOW / EXHIBITION / DISPLAY CATTLE:

Cattle originating within Ohio:

IMPORTANT RULE: All show, display, and junior show cattle as well as genetic pathway bulls must be tested for BVD as outlined above.
It is recommended that all show and display cattle including genetic pathway bulls that originate within Ohio have official individual identification. Acceptable forms of ID for show and display cattle are official 840 RFID tags, official USDA metal tags, or tattoos that correspond to breed registration certificates. RFID tags are acceptable only if the first three numbers are “840”. Tattoos are only acceptable if the registration certificate is also presented.
CVI (Health Paper) is not required for steers or heifers in the junior show that originate in Ohio.
CVI is not required for open show cattle that are not to be sold that originate in Ohio-but note BVD rule above.
CVI is not required for display cattle that originate in Ohio- but note BVD rule above.

Cattle originating outside Ohio

IMPORTANT RULE: All show, display, and junior show cattle as well as genetic pathway bulls must be tested for BVD as outlined above.
IMPORTANT RULE- this is Ohio law and applies to all bulls coming into Ohio from any other state for any reason:

Trichomoniasis testing requirement:

Virgin bulls under 24 months of age on the date of the show:

The following statement must appear on the CVI accompanied by the veterinarian’s and owner’s signature:

“This bull has had no contact with breeding females.”

Bulls over 24 months of age on the date of the sale and all non-virgin bulls:

PCR test within 28 days of the date of the show single culture test does not meet the requirement.

CVI (Health Paper) is required. See above under general rules. Multiple animals (that are not to be sold) may be listed on the same CVI.
All show and display cattle including genetic pathway bulls that originate outside Ohio are REQUIRED to have official individual identification. Acceptable forms of ID for show and display cattle are official 840 RFID tags, official USDA metal tags, or tattoos that correspond to breed registration certificates. RFID tags are only acceptable if the first three numbers are “840” and the herd premise ID number appears on the CVI. Tattoos are only acceptable if the registration certificate is also presented.
Animal(s) must meet requirements for import into Ohio:
- In general, cattle from Brucellosis and Tuberculosis free states require no testing for entry into Ohio but, again, a CVI is required. See above regarding Trichomoniasis requirements.
- If in doubt as to specific requirements, contact the Ohio Department of Agriculture at 614-728-6220.

Destination to be written on the CVI – Your vet will need this address:

Ohio Beef Expo @ Ohio Expo Center

717 East 17th Avenue

Columbus, Ohio 43211

For more information contact:

Beef Expo Veterinarian

Eric D. Gordon DVM, DACVPM

The Ohio State University

937-642-2936

gordon.46@osu.edu

Ohio Beef Expo Health Requirement Checklist

This is to help you make sure you completed the required items. Refer to previous sections for complete guidelines.

For Sale AND Exhibition/Display Cattle:

Tuberculosis – NO test required if originating from a TB free state (if originating from the Michigan counties of Alcona, Alpena, Montmorency, and Oscoda, the animals will need a TB test within 30 days)

Brucellosis – required for most cows, heifers AND bulls – check complete guidelines

Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) test – required for ALL cattle prior to arriving at the Expo

Trichomoniasis – ALL bulls over 18 months MUST have negative Trich. Test. ALL virgin bulls must have virgin statement on CVI. – see complete guidelines

Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (CVI) – a health paper is required on ALL SALE cattle as well as show/display cattle originating from out of state. Each sale animal should have an individual CVI. Show/display/exhibition cattle can all be on one paper.