The Alabama Junior Cattlemen’s Association recently held their Roundup event. We spoke with Erin Beasley of the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association to learn more.
“We were very excited to bring the 20th annual AJCA Roundup, which has been an event that has always been known for being the hottest week of the summer for all of our junior livestock families to come to Montgomery and join us for an event that we like to term is kind of like a junior nationals that’s brought down to the state level,” described Beasley.
“So, we had over a hundred kids competing in the Roundup this year and about 120 head of cattle, but kids moved in for a long weekend. We have 12 different contests that are offered and of course that includes our calf show as well. And so, we had children that participated in anything from poster to record book all the way to team grooming, salesmanship, and then any of their calves that they brought to exhibit and showmanship, our market show, bull show, or a breeding heifer show,” added Beasley.
Beasley said, “All in all, this was a great weekend, a lot of great cattle, very proud of all the kids’ hard work. You can tell that they put a lot of time and effort into all their projects and a nice vision into the future of the livestock industry for Alabama and specifically the beef cattle industry. So, this event of course was made possible by numerous sponsors.”
“We have great support for this event, and it also is one of the capstone projects for the state beef checkoff and always has been. So, thanks to the state beef checkoff and the Alabama Cattlemen’s Foundation, we were able to once again bring forward a great event that I know a lot of families look forward to each summer right here before school starts. And again, just proud of our kids and want to thank our judge for spending the weekend with us, Dr. John Rayfield out of Texas, who’s actually born in Alabama and grew up through the Junior Livestock Program here in the State and for the first time back in several years,” Beasley said.
“So, I think he really enjoyed getting to judge and evaluate the cattle and the kids this weekend,” added Beasley.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.