Looking Outside For Greatness Within

by Jake W. Renner, M.S.

The American Gelbvieh Junior Association (AGJA) and its members headed north for a change in the last five years for the 2023 AGJA Great Dakota Classic. Countless hours in conversation with the 10-member board of directors, sponsors, families, the South Dakota Junior Gelbvieh Association — our generous host state, and other supporters led to another successful year for the association. Once again, I am reminded of the blessings that surround our junior members and their families. We came with hopeful hearts and goals set long before our arrival in Huron and left with memories to last a lifetime.

It happens every year around the same time but to nobody’s surprise, it sneaks up on us every summer. The AGJA board of directors, along with their advisors and myself spend countless months setting goals, adjusting where needed, planning, preparing and organizing for what we believe to be the best week of the summer with our Gelbvieh family. The dates are set months, often years, in advance yet we often find ourselves uttering the phrase, “How it is already June?!”, with just a few weeks left before Opening Ceremonies. I can however say without a doubt that working alongside the AGJA board of directors, the South Dakota Junior Gelbvieh Association, fellow AGA staff members and volunteers that the traditions of the AGJA are alive and well and were executed in the most humble fashion in Huron, South Dakota.

For the last ten years, I have had the extreme pleasure of working alongside the youth of this industry hosting livestock shows, leadership conferences, mock interviews and many other professional development opportunities. The last five of those years have been spent leading the charge beside your team of directors and it has been one of my biggest honors to be associated with such an organization. We hear all the time from our peers that we are a “Gelbvieh Family”. We have a unique ability to find solace and comfort in our fellow competitors. We know at the end of the day it is a shared obsession for good cattle and providing the next generation of Gelbvieh breeders with educational opportunities that will set them up for success regardless of the direction they may go after their time with the association is through. It is for reasons like this that our association continues to grow, and the characteristics of our breed are noticed. Every breed offers its youth opportunities to strive for greatness with an unwavering support system in place from the staff, volunteers, fellow competitors and industry leaders; that is certain! But there isn’t a single breed that does it the same and certainly, nobody that can do it like the AGJA. For that, I am proud.

We are officially one year into our newly created AGJA Five-Year Strategic Plan the association embarked on in 2022. The difference between a vision statement and a mission statement is that a vision statement is where you see yourself down the road, the mission statement is how you plan to get there. For those who haven’t read the AGJA Strategic Plan, the vision statement is “Cultivate an environment that develops unified and educated leaders to become the best versions of themselves in the pursuit of their passions. In doing so, the AGJA will collaborate with industry and association stakeholders.” The 2021-2022 AGJA board of directors felt necessary for the continuation of building leaders for tomorrow. The core values chosen are outreach, outlook, education, leadership and involvement. Within the first year under this plan, the AGJA board of directors has built stronger relationships with current and longtime supporters to provide its membership with every opportunity to support their goals for their own future. While we may be a cattle association with an outsider’s view focused on showing cattle, we are more than that. I have witnessed a major shift in the leadership team of this association over my five years as your junior coordinator. A shift in the right direction based on lessons learned and hard-fought efforts by board members past. The primary goals of this association are to ensure that all junior members feel included, that their time devoted to the breed is worthwhile and that they have a support system in place scattered across the country on their behalf. It is changes like the AGJA Junior Breeder of the Year that focuses on junior member involvement at home first, followed then by their accolades in the ring, that allow our members with less focus on ringside presence and more on building strength in the Gelbvieh breed through breeding decisions, marketing and networking with fellow breeders to be celebrated. Contests like Graphic Design, Creative Writing, Ag Podcast, Video and so many others, provide young cattlemen and cattlewomen who may not have the opportunity to own cattle to feel like they belong through participating in contests. Many have heard me say it, but several have not. I did not grow up in this industry. I am what I call “adopted into this community”. My grandfather raised cattle, sheep and hogs, but when my parents started having kids they decided to move to town and that’s where it stopped. It was through programs like 4-H and the families that lie within it that welcomed an outsider with little to no knowledge of the inner workings of the beef industry with open arms, patience, and a network of resources to lean on when needed. There are so many that helped get me where I am today considering I started from scratch, but it is because of each one of them that I stand confident that I am where I need to be surrounded by the people that mean the most. It’s easy to find ourselves focused on what we have, who we’re surrounded by and the moments we’re in. It’s human nature. But we absolutely cannot forget about those watching from the outside. Sure, some are skeptics, but I assure you there are thousands of aspiring young men and women just waiting for a chance to be a part of something like the AGJA. So, take a second the next time you’re sitting at dinner or a school event talking about feeding calves, loading hay or washing your show string. Look around and see who is listening intently that isn’t at your table. All it takes is a kind,

“Hello!”, like the one I received in 2007 while watching our local county fair to change somebody’s life forever. Welcome the new, celebrate the past, and show gratitude for those whose passions for education, leadership and involvement, create an atmosphere of inclusion and acceptance regardless of their experience level.

I hope to see you all at the 2024 AGJA Way Out West Classic in Woodward, Oklahoma, June 30 through July 5, 2024. To the 2023-2024 AGJA board of directors, I stand beside you as we lean full force into the upcoming year working to continue to traditions of the AGJA while building confident cattlemen and cattlewomen, strong industry leaders and humble servants of the industry. As always, I will continue to work for you, the members of the AGJA and the Gelbvieh breed, to ensure we uphold the missions and core values of the AGJA in all that we do.