SC Angus News
June 8, 2004
By Windy Bartee, secretary SCAA

Show and Field Day
June busted out with the South Carolina Junior Angus Show June 5, 2004 at the T. Ed Garrison Cattle Complex at Clemson, SC. The busting started Friday with cattle arriving. One of Circle E’s heifers busted off the trailer dragging Bob Hall behind her. Bob was a trooper holding on across the gravel drive, ripping his hide off, until he finally decided it made more sense to let go. The SC Juniors rallied ‘round the heifer using another heifer on a halter and a pan of feed to lure the wayward calf back to the barn and wash rack, where she surrendered at last. The next day she performed well in the ring and won her class.

This was the first Angus show of the season for most of the cattle and many of the youngsters. The juniors had not been out of school long and the heifers had not been out of the pastures long. Everyone had some polishing up to do to get ready for the Eastern Regional in Raleigh, North Carolina, on June 18-20 and the National Junior Angus Show in Kansas City on July 12-17.

The SC Junior Angus Show was combined with the SC Angus Field Day where both the Juniors and Seniors enjoyed the show, greeting old friends, meeting some new ones and eating the delicious lunch while listening to the messages from two guest speakers.

Dr. Fred Rayfield came from Adel, Georgia, where he serves as the superintendent of the Cook County School's. He has had twenty years experience as a cattle judge and livestock specialist. He told the youth and adults about the lessons he had learned from his experience with livestock. He encouraged them to stick with showing their Angus because the education they get and the people they meet doing that would serve them well the rest of their lives.

Joe Hampton from North Carolina drove down to share a few words with the group. Joe was elected last November as a Director of the American Angus Association. He emphasized that we can be sure that change is one constant in life. In the Angus cattle business we must be ready to learn to change as the needs in the cattle industry dictate. One of the new tools in the Angus industry is using $Values to promote our cattle to the commercial producers.

After the show, lunch, and speakers, the SC Juniors met to elect new officers and plan their trips to Raleigh and Kansas City. The new officers are Queen and President- Ann Blumer; Vice President -Sally Yon; Secretary Treasurer- Daniel Jarrard; Reporter-Ashley Hawkins; Princess- Savannah Groce. The advisors were re-elected and are Lydia Yon, Jesse Adkins and Ted Bourne.

SCJAA Show Winners
The show results are as follows. The Novice Showmanship was won by Destiny McCauley. Cory Watt won the Beginner Showmanship Class. Ashley Hawkins came in first in the Intermediate Showmanship Class. James Kellett led the Senior Showmanship. He will be eligible to represent South Carolina in the National Junior Angus Showmanship Class in Kansas City, Missouri, in July. Ann Blumer who came in second chose to wait until she is older to compete. A junior is only allowed to compete at the national level once.

The Grand Champion Bred and Owned Bull was owned by John Petty. Elizabeth Edmunds won Late Senior Heifer Calf. Elizabeth Hawkins won Early Senior Heifer Calf. Elizabeth Hawkins was the Senior Heifer Calf Champion. Elizabeth Edmunds won the Senior Heifer Calf Reserve Champion.

John Wesley Edmunds won the Late Summer Yearling Heifer. John Petty won the Early Summer Yearling Heifer Class. Intermediate Heifer Champion was John Wesley Edmunds. Ashley Hawkins won the Intermediate Reserve Champion.

Garrett Metz won April Junior Yearling Heifer Class. Cory Watt won the March Junior Yearling Heifer Class. Garrett Metz won early Junior Yearling Heifer Class. Garrett Metz won the Junior Heifer Champion and the Junior Heifer Reserve Champion.

Destiny McCauley was first in the Late Senior Yearling Heifer Class. Cory Watt stood first in the Early Senior Yearling Heifer Class. Senior Heifer Champion was Cory Watt. Senior Heifer Reserve Champion was Destiny McCauley. Grand Champion Female was Cory Watt. Garrett Metz won Reserve Grand Champion Female. Sally Yon won the Bred and Owned Heifer Class.

AAA Cow News
June 1st was the first day you could convert your registration papers to electronic registration with the AAA without a charge. You have until September 30th to send in your original registration papers and request them to be stored electronically. If you were showing an animal you would request a registration paper for the shows. After the showing was completed you could store it again electronically for a fee of $2. Unofficial copies of papers could be copied from the web site with your logon information.

AngusSource offers an electronic tag to producers now. An official AngusSource visual ear tag, priced at $1 enrolls Angus-influenced cattle into the program. Now you can get RFID (radio frequency identification) matched pair tags with both visual and electronic qualities for $3.25 with a minimum order of 25. Both feeder calves and replacement females that are 50% Angus may be enrolled. For further information contact www.angussource.com or call 816-383-5100. The American Angus Association is the world’s largest beef breed organization with more than 35,000 members. The web site is www.angus.org.

SCAA People News
Paul Smith, son of Lewis and Barbara Smith and brother of Caroline Smith Lamb, is fighting lymphoma. Dr. Dale Handlin was able to attend field day and reported that, thankfully, his PSA count was improving with his present cancer treatment. Wayne Templeton was seriously injured when he was removing a tree. He is recovering at home.

Also at field day some old SCJAA members were toting their new offspring around, introducing them to Angus shows early. Edmund Hall, Frankie Mullikin, Leigh Pruitt Wilson and Kelly McPhail Ryan were all counted present at field day with their future juniors. Did you know that Edmund Hall and Judge Fred Rayfield were AGR fraternity brothers at Auburn? Luckily Edmund’s children are not old enough to show so the judge was not tempted to be influenced by his friendship in his cattle judgment. On May 14th Mark Penegar and his wife Tammy produced a boy, Heath Austin Penegar, who was welcomed by his sister Emily into the family.

Kevin Yon was elected in Sioux Falls, SD, as the Eastern Director of the Beef Improvement Federation. He is also a breeder advisor to the National Cattle Evaluation Consortium.

Heather Blackmon, an embryologist, is working as lab supervisor at the in vitro lab for embryo transplants at the Woman’s Hospital at the UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill. Note that she became interested in her career by the knowledge she gained as an Angus breeder and showperson working with Angus cows. This fact ties into the advice that Dr. Rayfield gave at the SC Angus Field Day. The knowledge that young people gain by showing Angus cows will have a positive influence on them the rest of their lives. That will make it worth all the hard work, time and effort invested in their Angus, i.e. make it worth getting dragged by a few cows in the showring or while coming off the trailer.