Junior Show Achievements Lead to Successful Program at Brower/Craft

S.L., Jenna, Caddo and Teddi Craft.

by Robin Kleine

Junior Show Achievements LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL BREEDING PROGRAM at Brower/Craft Show Cattle

From her first national junior heifer telling my mom was I going to fly to show — 1996 in Wichita, Kansas — to Indiana to buy a heifer at Farmer’s,” Jenna her last — 2006 in Wichita Falls, Texas, says. “She just told me ‘better call your Jenna (Brower) Craft lived and breathed banker,’ and she was right,” she added. showing cattle. She loved the time spent CFCC Sleeping Beauty, or “Big Momma” washing and working hair in the barn, as Jenna called her, was a purebred planning matings and presenting her Maine-Anjou female sired by KGST Fear hard work in the showring. This. She was the high seller in the 2003

During her freshman year at Redlands Show Girls Elite Female Sale; 18 years Community College, she made a big later her genetics are the cornerstone investment for her fledgling cow herd of the Brower/Craft herd. Her daughters with the purchase of CFCC Sleeping and granddaughters are making big time Beauty 031. cows, repeatedly raising high sellers and

“The weekend before the sale, I The matriarch of the Brower/Craft herd, CFCC Sleeping Beauty major show champions. remember leaving Kansas City and 031, at the 2003 North American International Livestock Show.

Behind the Scenes at Brower/Craft

Brower/Craft Show Cattle officially started when Jenna and S.L. got married in 2014. Previously Jenna had operated under Jenna Brower Show Cattle and used the prefix JABR, same as they do today. The couple resides in Anadarko, Oklahoma, a few miles from where Jenna was raised. They are proud parents of Tucker (15), Ramsey (12), Caddo (6) and Teddi (3).

Jenna’s parents, Grant and Ann Brower, purchased their first set of Maine-Anjou females in 1989 and began using artificial insemination (AI) right away. That initial purchase produced the first show heifers for both Jenna and her older brother Jeff. Today the combined herd is about 350 cows.

“I know my mom has always liked stout cattle; that’s is just her thing. When it came to purchasing Maine-Anjous initially, she was really attracted to the bone, the foot structure and just the general disposition of them,” Jenna says.

Today, not all of the cattle at Brower/Craft Show Cattle are registered, but almost all of the cows are at least quarter-blood MaineAnjou as they have run both purebred and half-blood Maine-Anjou bulls for years.

Additionally, the Brower/Craft MaineAnjous have also been surprisingly heat tolerant, an important trait in their corner of Southwest Oklahoma. Since her parents’ main focus is commercial cattle, the daily gain and weaning weights are important to the bottom line.

Calving is split between three seasons – spring, summer and fall, with S.L. and Ann handling the calving and most of the daily work. Grant does the farming and haying, while Jenna works off the farm for Delaware Nation Industries and helps with all aspects of the operation. She also calls herself the customer relations and marketing department. The kids tag along and join in the fun whenever possible. Together, the family makes breeding decisions.

“That’s kind of my love – watching what’s doing good in sales, looking at pedigrees and really evaluating our herd all the time and seeing the change,” Jenna says. “I’m definitely the marketing department for the operation. But S.L., he’s the boots on the ground every day behind the scenes, along with my parents.”

The Regrouping

Since the beginning of their marriage, Brower/Craft has been in what they call a regrouping phase, ready to turn their style of cow into something successful in the showring. Their high percentage MaineAnjou cows were big and stout, but they needed a shot of moderation and longevity to raise cattle right for the times.

The pair purchased BPF End Zone 72D, a three-quarter blood Maine-Anjou bull sired by Comfort Zone, in the 2017 Bright Lights Maine-Anjou Bull & Female Sale at the National Western Stock Show.

According to Jenna, End Zone has been a game changer for breeding replacement females. In one generation, he’s moderated frame size, helped with structure and added some longevity to the cattle. His daughter’s “picture perfect” udders are a bonus. This regrouping coincided with the introduction of the Maine Angus program at the American Maine-Anjou Association (AMAA).

The couple agrees that the style of cattle winning in the showring across all breeds has changed in that time as well. “They had gotten cattle so small and so flabbysided; taken all of the natural thickness out of them. We always had a little too much punch to our cattle for the times. We knew we were going to stay that way because that’s what we liked, but I think judges are wanting more real cattle in the showring today than they were five years ago,” Jenna says. “It was all just a look then, but today you better have some stuff behind you — some fill behind your shoulders all the way to the hip. We were there and ready for it when they started wanting that and not just the biggest belly and the tiniest neck.”

The backbone of the Brower/Craft herd

— the big, stout cows they bred for in the 90s — have really worked making Maine Angus females, S.L. adds. “There’s nothing better than a Maine-Angus cow for giving you options. You can breed to a purebred Maine bull to get a three-quarter or you can breed them for a club calf or commercial herd. You’re going to end up with a good calf regardless,” S.L. says.

Along with Grant and Ann, they focus on raising 70% commercial cattle and 30% show cattle. Regardless of the cattle’s performance in the showring, they have to earn their keep on their Southwestern Oklahoma farm. “Our show cattle still have to be productive, and they still have to raise a good quality calf to go onto the sale barn,” Jenna says. “We depend on that check just as much as we do the money from selling show cattle.”

Embryo transfer (ET) and in vitro fertilization (IVF) have both been used extensively at Brower/Craft since the purchase of CFCC Sleeping Beauty in 2003. The first set of calves bred specifically for raising replacements females and show heifers just finished their show careers as two-year-olds. With the help of IVF and sexed semen, they were able to produce the first group of replacements quickly.

Brower/Craft Show Cattle is in a great place geographically for doing embryo work. There is a Trans Ova Genetics satellite location 15 miles south at Dustin Glover’s facility where donors undergo IVF. Then the incubator is brought to the farm, and John and Amanda Nelson from Nelson Embryo Services in nearby Verden, Oklahoma can do a fresh transfer immediately.

There are four proven donor cows that have been flushed regularly the past few years, and they have produced several high sellers and champions. In 2020, another half dozen females were flushed on a trial basis and those first ET calves will arrive later this summer.

S.L. mentions JABR Miss CB Ali 137B, the dam of JABR Electra 96G ET (Grand Champion MaineTainer Female at the 2021 Cattlemen’s Congress and Supreme Champion Influence Female at the 2021 Oklahoma Youth Expo for McKenzie Layton), as an especially versatile breeding piece. “She raised a lot of high dollar show steers before that. They’ve worked both ways,” he says.

Jenna jokes that she blew an entire cow herd for almost a decade breeding them for club calves and not focusing on the maternal traits. “When I went to college, the cool thing to do was raise show steers. I had all of these high Maine cows, and we were using stuff like Ali and Lifeline. But our flushing wasn’t that way, they weren’t maternally bred at all,” she says.

Breeding decisions are something on everyone’s mind at Brower/Craft all year long. Duello Icon, BOE Fame and Sweet Willie are a few bulls they mentioned. Both embryo and AI calves are on the ground now, with more coming in the summer.

In addition to these newer AI sires, they have been breeding heifers to The Witch Doctor, the nearly 30-year-old purebred Maine-Anjou bull whose progeny won banners at all levels in the 1990s. They say he makes beautiful replacement females that they have retained.

The JABR prefix has seen a lot of success over the years in both the heifer and market animal rings. But today the breeding program at Brower/Craft is focused more on quality and consistency throughout their entire herd.

The Honey Hole

As you pull in the drive at Brower/Craft Show Cattle, you are greeted by a modest open sided barn, a working tub and chute. You see pens for horses, smaller runs for show cattle, a pasture behind the building, as well as a few panels and fans inside the barn. “You’ll never believe it, but at least five national champions have been clipped in that tub,” S.L. says.

Brower/Craft is definitely benefitting from the regrouping efforts, and dozens of cattle are marketed through their humble working facilities every year. Jenna says Brower/Craft has found their “honey hole” with the Maine Angus and MaineTainer programs and credits the breeding program they developed to getting them there. As those cattle have matured and progressed, an even larger number of accolades and banners from shows across the country have followed.

A majority of the cattle are sold privately, and the duo credits Facebook and Snapchat for helping get their cattle into the best homes. They are not afraid to sell cattle sight unseen.

One success story, JABR Gwen 98G, (Reserve Grand Maine Angus at the 2021 Cattlemen’s Congress, Grand Champion Maine Angus at the 2020 National Junior Heifer Show, Grand Champion Maine Angus

JABR Gwen 98G shown by Dalton Carlson, Grand Champion Maine Angus Female at the 2020 National Junior Heifer Show.

at the 2020 American Royal and Grand Champion MaineTainer Heifer at the 2020 Ft. Worth Stock Show), was purchased by fellow breeders Jeff Paulsen and Brian Fox solely off of a 15-second Snapchat video.

“A lot of guys buy from us sight unseen and that is a testament, I think,” says Jenna. “That’s one of the biggest compliments you can receive.”

Every year Brower/Craft will consign a few females onto bigger sales, such as Pembrook’s The Limited Edition Sale. Additionally, they have an Online Female Sale hosted through Show Cattle Connection every fall that helps bring in new customers. When working with customers and specifically junior exhibitors, Jenna says their phone line is always open and they happily share their knowledge.

“I feel like it’s so valuable we maintain a relationship with our customers. They can keep me up to date with what they’re feeding and the daily aspect. Don’t get me wrong, it is time consuming, but if you don’t help them, the average person isn’t going to know when to change a feed ration, etc.,” Jenna says.

Kelly Layton and her daughter McKenzie live in Pocasset, Oklahoma. They purchased their first female from Brower/Craft in the fall of 2014, that female went on to be a breed champion at the Oklahoma Youth Expo in 2016. Their success has continued from there.“We are firm believers that you need to correctly feed your heifer. Each one can be different,” McKenzie says.

In 2021, McKenzie’s senior year, her family and the crew at Brower/Craft Show Cattle had another memorable year with JABR Electra 96G ET, including her most special accomplishment, winning Supreme Champion Influence Heifer at the 2021 Oklahoma Youth Expo.

“Jenna and S.L. have been wonderful to work with. They’re both extremely knowledgeable in the industry. You’re going to run into issues that you’re uncertain how to handle, and I could always count on them for answers,” she says.

Growing Up Maine-Anjou

Since the 1990s, Jenna has been attending the Maine-Anjou National Caddo Craft, showing his heifer CGCC Dottie 013H ET. Photo by Next Level Images.

Junior Heifer Show and attending every major livestock show possible, exhibiting, networking or cheering on friends and customers.

She says the total registrations and number of cattle at events have ebbed and flowed, and the staff has gone through some turnovers. But to the Brower/Craft crew, the AMAA is second-to-none and run unlike any other breed. As adult members and progressive breeders, they have worked extensively with the registrations and DNA personnel as well as the rest of the AMAA Staff.

“Blake, Lindsey and Josh … how can you get a better group of people?” Jenna says. “Even talking to other people, other breeds always compliment our junior nationals and our junior program. If you only own five cows, you’re still welcome there … the same as people who own hundreds of cows.”

From her time spent with her first show heifer, Fancy (whose color pattern was befitting of her name) to today, Jenna has found a home with Maine-Anjou cattle. Now, her children will get to establish their own place in the AMAA as they start their junior careers with cattle raised on the same ranch. “We have tailed many heifers and kids into the ring at the National Junior Heifer Show, but knowing I will be tailing my own in this year is a feeling like no other,” Jenna says.

At the upcoming 2021 National Junior Heifer Show in nearby Chickasha, Oklahoma, Caddo will exhibit at his first junior nationals, 25 years after his mom. The heifer – CGCC Dottie 013H ET — will also be a bred and owned female for him.

“I hope Caddo and Teddi love the American Junior Maine-Anjou Association and junior nationals as much as I did,” Jenna says. “I can’t wait to watch them grow within the association as individuals, as well as develop relationships with people across the country that will last into adulthood.”

MAINE-ANJOU Junior Update

MADISON LOSCHKE AJMAA AT-LARGE DIRECTOR

2020-2021 AJMAA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President - Whitney Walker, Arkansas Vice President - Cassidy Barker, Missouri Secretary/Treasurer - Kaleb Miller, Iowa

REGION 1 Whitney Walker, Arkansas Madisen Joliff, Ohio

REGION 2 Kaleb Miller, Iowa Dexter Small, Kansas

REGION 3 Cameron Luedtke, Texas Chancee Clark, Oklahoma

AT-LARGE Madison Loschke, Kansas Emma Preston, Illinois Macie McCollum, Texas Cade Austin, Wisconsin Cassidy Barker, Missouri

2020 ROYALTY

QUEEN Mckenna Striegel, Ohio

PRINCESS Jaelin Wolfinger, Nebraska Mikell O’Hara, Montana Abree Belcher, Iowa

AMAA YOUTH COMMITTEE Jirl Buck, Oklahoma Mark Beauprez, Colorado Cali O’Hara, Montana Andy Jones, Illinois

The weather is warming up which means we are that much closer to letting the good times roll in Chichasha, Okla. I hope that each and everyone of you are as excited as I am. This will be my fourth Junior National as a AJMAA board member and as I look back, I could not be more thankful.

Being a junior board member has given me so many incredible opportunities and friendships that are irreplaceable. In my mind there is no better way to give back and sever others than by being a junior board member. One of my favorite memories as a junior board member was YBIC in Ohio. It was a unique experience to see friends from all breeds and states somewhere besides a cattle show. Lifelong friendships came from that trip. However, there is nothing like the bond that comes from working the show ring for hours with your fellow board members.

As my time on the board comes to an end, I want to say thank you to everyone who has been apart of the journey. I can not even believe how lucky I am to have met such amazing people in the Maine-Anjou breed. There is no other breed out there that does it like we do. I have so many memories that I will cherish forever. Thank you AJMAA for the best four years ever.