Junior Takeover — Davis and Duckworth on Breeding Cattle for the Ranch and the Ring

Breeding cattle that work for customers is priority No. 1, but finding those that also excel in the showring is a close second, say Tennessee Angus juniors Alexandra Duckworth and Allison Davis. On the first-ever Junior Takeover of the podcast, Mark and Miranda add National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) director Avery Mather as a guest co-host to dig into her peer’s philosophies on breeding and selecting a champion animal. Avery and Allison share their tips for getting involved in the NJAA, talk about the benefits of having a whole community invested in their future and give advice to new junior members.

HOSTS: Mark McCully, Miranda Reiman, Avery Mather

GUESTS: Allison Davis, of Shelbyville, Tenn., is an integral part of her family’s operation, Mark Davis Family Angus. She’s been involved in the NJAA ever since she was old enough, showing at her first National Junior Angus Show in 2013. A highlight of her show career has been winning Grand Champion Bred and Owned Heifer in 2022, but she says some of her favorite moments are spent in the pastures at home.

Alexandra Duckworth, Afton, Tenn., has literally been Angus her whole life. She was gifted a lifetime American Angus Association membership when she was born and has never looked back. With success both in Bred and Owned and the Phenotpye and Genotype Show, Duckworth is looking to take that experience to become a beef geneticist in the future.

CO-HOST: Born and raised in State Center, Iowa, Avery Mather is the daughter of Joe and Allison Mather. She comes from generations of Angus breeders and continues to exhibit and produce Angus cattle alongside her siblings, Carson and Keegan. Currently, Avery is studying agricultural business at Iowa State University. After graduation, she intends to stay within the agriculture industry, working with producers and the next generation of agriculture enthusiasts.

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Transcript

Miranda Reiman (00:02):

Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Reiman with my co-host, Mark McCully, and today we are in Madison, Wisconsin.

Mark McCully (00:10):

A beautiful day in Madison, Wisconsin. Absolutely.

Miranda Reiman (00:13):

It is the start of the National Junior Angus Show, and this is a special junior takeover edition of the Angus Conversation. And to those of you who are maybe sick of hearing me and Mark's voice all the time, we have a refreshing change for you.

Mark McCully (00:29):

Yes. I'm a little fearful. I'm going to work myself out of a job is what I'm afraid of. But I'm going to Avery Mather, we are excited to have you join us and maybe give a little bit of your background.

Avery Mather (00:40):

Yeah, I'm super excited to be here. And Mark, we could never get too tired of your voice.

Miranda Reiman (00:44):

Wow. She's going to take over my job, I think, is what she's saying.

Avery Mather (00:48):

Yes, yes. Well, I'm currently serving on the National Junior Angus Board of Directors as the current secretary. I'm on my second term, so I'll be retiring here this summer. Had a great two years serving the juniors and we're really excited to be here in Madison.

Miranda Reiman (01:03):

Good. And you have a history of involvement in the National Junior Angus Association before you put on that green jacket?

Avery Mather (01:09):

Yes, I have been involved since about 2013 in the association side. Obviously grew up with cattle around the farm, some pigs here and there. Can't forget those, but yep. My very first junior show was 2013, Aberdeen in 2013 and Kansas City, but been involved in contests within my state association since and now here in the green jacket.

Miranda Reiman (01:34):

And we heard on the podcast that it's a family affair.

Avery Mather (01:37):

It is a family affair. I am the oldest; if one couldn't guess being around me for not too long, you might realize it quickly. But I have a younger brother and a younger sister who are also here in Madison with me this week, along with our parents. So it's definitely a family affair and I'm very grateful for that.

Mark McCully (01:56):

When you're not here at the National Junior Angus Show, tell us about where you're at in your school.

Avery Mather (02:01):

Yeah, a big life change at the moment. I recently graduated from Iowa State this past May with a degree in animal science and minors in event management and leadership studies. So kind of went all over the board there, covered all my bases, but actually recently moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to start a big kid job.

Mark McCully (02:23):

Big kid job. Awesome. You’ve done a fantastic job on the junior board as really one of the leaders. It's so fun to watch you guys and, for those that have never maybe been to one of these events, to watch the admiration – you’re truly mentors, truly mentors -- and watch young people around you, they look up and I know there's a lot of young people out in that barn that want to be you someday, and so congratulations on being a fantastic role model.

Avery Mather (02:50):

I appreciate that.

Miranda Reiman (02:50):

And I would also give you major kudos in helping with both the ideation of this special edition podcast, but also the organization of it. Anybody who's ever tried to line up a lot of guests in a short period of time knows that there's a lot of details involved. And I don't know if it's your event management minor in there or if it's your first-child tendencies, you've been …

Avery Mather (03:12):

That's a nice way to put it.

Miranda Reiman (03:13):

You've been very on top of the details and couldn't have pulled off this three-part series that we're embarking on without your help, so thank you.

Avery Mather (03:21):

Yeah, I really appreciate that and I'm, again, really excited to make this connection with the juniors and the Angus Conversation.

Miranda Reiman (03:31):

Well, today's guests on the podcast are some pretty exciting and unique guests because we have not, this will be the first time we've ever had juniors on the podcast.

Mark McCully (03:39):

We've been talking about doing this for awhile, so I'm excited that we finally got to this opportunity. And we're here in Madison, Wisconsin, and we have some fantastic young people to share the microphones today.

Miranda Reiman (03:50):

Absolutely. Avery, do you want to introduce our guests?

Avery Mather (03:53):

Yeah, I can. So first we have Allison Davis of Tennessee and we're excited to hear more about her experience to the junior program. And then Alexandra Duckworth, also from Tennessee, Tennessee representing strong on this first episode of the Juniors.

Miranda Reiman (04:10):

Do you guys know each other? How far apart are you guys in Tennessee?

Alexandra Duckworth (04:13):

Well, so Tennessee's like a long state, so I think are we like four hours away from each other? Probably, yeah, four or five, but we've known each other for years since I guess I really started getting into showing in like 2017, 2018, something like that.

Mark McCully (04:28):

Alexander, you're kind of on the far east side of Tennessee.

Alexandra Duckworth (04:31):

So my family's farm is right on the North Carolina border. 

Miranda Reiman (04:36):

Okay.

Allison Davis (04:36):

And I'm just an hour south of Nashville, so if you draw a straight line from Nashville, that'll be me.

Mark McCully (04:41):

Okay. It's awfully close to Jonathan Perry.

Miranda Reiman (04:45):

Too close?

Alexandra Duckworth (04:46):

Yeah.

Mark McCully (04:47):

Do you go to the Hickory House restaurant? We're going to charge Jonathan for doing some commercials for him.

Miranda Reiman (04:52):

Yeah, that's right. That's funny. Very good. So just give us a little bit of your story. Give us your elevator speech so we know where you're located but tell us about your involvement in your guys’ family operation, that kind of thing.

Alexandra Duckworth (05:05):

So technically I've been a member of the National Junior Angus Association since I was born. Kind of funny story, Tom Burke paid for my membership when I was born. My family has been involved in cattle for going on 60 years now. So that's been going strong, just kind of like day-to-day operations and stuff. I mean, before I went to college and stuff, I've been very involved in working cattle and vaccinations, breeding, checking on calving cows and stuff. And then we have our annual production sale every April that I'm very involved in getting ready for.

Mark McCully (05:40):

Very good. So school-wise, where are you at in school?

Alexandra Duckworth (05:42):

So I'm a upcoming junior at the University of Tennessee.

Miranda Reiman (05:47):

Awesome. And studying anything related to agriculture or …

Alexandra Duckworth (05:50):

So I'm an animal science major with a bioscience concentration and a statistics minor.

Miranda Reiman (05:56):

That's a wicked combination. I bet finals week is really fun for you because …

Mark McCully (06:01):

You just kinda wanted to coast through school. Yeah.

Alexandra Duckworth (06:03):

Oh yeah. I wanted to make it nice and easy.

Mark McCully (06:06):

So plans after undergraduate?

Alexandra Duckworth (06:08):

So, my plans after undergrad would be to pursue a graduate and a doctorate degree. And kind of my plan right now is to kind of pursue a career in beef cattle genetic research. 

Miranda Reiman (06:18):

Awesome. We love to hear that. All right, so now your turn.

Allison Davis (06:22):

I have a similar background, third generation Angus breeder. I was a member of the National Junior Angus Association since I was just six months old. Went to my first show as the M.A.J.A.C. in 2004. So that's a really special one to me. Same background. I get out and do the daily chores, checking cows, checking heats, checking calving cows, doing vaccinations. We have just about 40 head I'd say on our farm, and it's just me and my parents. And we have an annual spring online sale every year, and there are bull calves that wean and go to Oklahoma to get sold.

Mark McCully (06:56):

Excellent. Allison, where are you at in school then?

Allison Davis (06:59):

I go to Kansas State and I'm an upcoming junior as well.

Miranda Reiman (07:02):

Awesome. Excellent. And what's your aspirations beyond college?

Allison Davis (07:06):

I'm an ag comm major and I really want to work for a junior breed association.

Miranda Reiman (07:15):

Well, I can tell you it's a fulfilling career, so good luck with that.

Mark McCully (07:18):

So we have the American Angus Association for you. We have Angus Genetics Incorporated for you, Alexander. So we're all set.

Avery Mather (07:25):

Yeah, both keeping it in the beef industry, that's for sure.

Miranda Reiman (07:28):

So, this is fun for me because I've never met either of you two ladies, so it's fun to get to know you a little bit, but ahead of time, Avery did just a little bit of homework on you.

Avery Mather (07:38):

I didn't stalk your Facebook page, I promise.

Miranda Reiman (07:43):

I think Alex Tolbert had given us some fun facts to bring up.

Avery Mather (07:46):

Yeah, he did. So I guess I have a couple of fun questions for you guys and maybe where you've come with your family. So Alexandra, can you tell us about maybe your PGS heifer that you did well with and maybe some of the family tradition that you're continuing with your genetics?

Alexandra Duckworth (08:06):

So, the PGS show is a really neat show that I hold dear to my heart because it places an emphasis on both the physical aspect of the animals, but also the genetic aspect of the animal, which lines up really perfectly with my family's operation because we're trying to create superior genetics that can work for commercial cattlemen in our area. So when the PGS show got involved, I think it was the 2020 Eastern Regional that I went to, and we didn't know what it was, so we were just like hey, let's take a couple of heifers, try that and that, and found a little bit more success in that than the normal show heifers. So that was just kind of really a neat route for us to go with. And then last year I was fortunate enough to have the reserve at Junior Nationals, and that heifer was a neat story because she really was about as close to home as we could have gotten. So her mother was actually one of the first heifers that I showed in 2015 at our county fair. And then her sire was a bull that we raised and sold to TC Ranch in Nebraska in 2018. And the neat thing with that cow is she went back to my dad's show heifer that my granddad purchased in 1980 for him to show at the Junior Nationals in Nashville.

Mark McCully (09:19):

Oh my. That's an awesome story.

Miranda Reiman (09:20):

Can't get more family tradition than that, can you?

Alexandra Duckworth (09:23):

No, no, you really can't.

Miranda Reiman (09:25):

Very good. I love that. All right. Now we had a fun fact or a question to ask Allison.

Avery Mather (09:31):

Yes, Allison.

Mark McCully (09:32):

Your bred and owns.

Avery Mather (09:34):

So you are, I would say, known for your bred and owneds. Tell us about your bred and owned – was it two years ago?

Allison Davis (09:42):

In 2022. Yep. Harley.

Miranda Reiman (09:45):

You already knew what we were going to ask about.

Allison Davis (09:48):

Harley was fun. Harley was four generations of my breeding, and she went all the way back to an $1,800 pregnant recip that we bought out of the farm that my parents worked for when they had their dispersal. We really liked the cow families who were like, ‘Hey, this cow has that embryo in her. We'll get her $1,800. And she's raised a lot of very competitive show heifers for me. So it's pretty cool to have a Junior National champion that was four generations of my breeding, and her maternal sister was reserve champion cow-calf pair that year too.

Miranda Reiman (10:22):

Oh my gosh, that's fabulous. And talk about value that you're getting out of that, which also probably means those genetics are working for you in a lot of other ways too, right?

Allison Davis (10:32):

Oh yeah, definitely

Avery Mather (10:34):

Very cool. And I'm going to brag on Allison a little bit more. She is commonly the premier breeder at some of our regional shows and across the country and things like that. So I'm going to brag on her a little bit there.

Allison Davis (10:47):

I was also premier breeder at the Junior National that year too. Last year in Grand Island, Harley came back and won the bred-and-owned cow-calf show too. It was really cool.

Miranda Reiman (10:57):

That's fabulous. Well, we have kind of dubbed this our breeders podcast of the Junior takeover that we're doing, and I think we picked the right people, Mark.

Mark McCully (11:06):

Without question and such neat stories. I mean, multi-generations. It’s one thing to go buy a female and then she lays down and has a great calf, and you go out and show, right? But you're talking about multiple generations of your programs and that's really, really cool. And honestly, that kind of hits a cord with me. To me, that's so much of what we want. To me, the junior breeding experience, it's fun to go out and buy one, a new one every year. But you guys are in bred and owned with you, Allison, and Alexander, with the PGS, of breeding those cattle, as you said, and PGS, those that can kind of cross over, do both the show ring and if you will, the performance space as well. So wonderful success stories.

Miranda Reiman (11:45):

Yeah, love that.

Mark McCully (11:46):

Tell me what you love most about the PGS. I mean, just kind of as you've gotten, your family's gotten more involved in it. Tell me a little bit about maybe for some that aren't familiar, a little bit about how the PGS works.

Alexandra Duckworth (11:59):

So the PGS show, of course, is half phenotype placing and half genotype placing. So they'll place them live on phenotype and the night before they place them on EPDs, and then that day they'll blend the two together and get a composite placing. And then all the ties are broke by the phenotype. The neat thing about that is, just for my family, is that you can truly see the blending with it. So when we go out and we're selecting our PGS heifers, we go through and we pick out, well, these are the ones that are the nicest on phenotype. And then we'll go through our genomics on all of our cows and be like, well, these are the ones that have the nicest genomics to go with it. So you have to do that kind of critical thinking of which one combines the best, which one is the best of both.

Mark McCully (12:46):

Which is real world.

Alexandra Duckworth (12:47):

Very much real world, they're practical cattle.

Miranda Reiman (12:50):

I think it's interesting because we ask that question a lot of times to our breeders when we have them on is which way do you make that selection decision? Do you first look at them on paper and then go out to the pen or go out to the pen? So you say pen first, then paper.

Alexandra Duckworth (13:03):

Well, so kind of what we'll do conveniently enough with the heifer that was reserve last year, we were out, we have this farm that's a little bit away from our main farm and we knew the cow was out there and we were just like, hey, these calves, there's some really good-looking ones out there. Let's go and kind of see what's out there. And we knew there was one out there that was pretty unique on paper. I mean super calving ease and extreme growth. And we were just like, well, she's out there, but let's go see our good-looking calves first. So we go out there and, coming around the trailer, there was this calf and we were just like, well, what is that? And then we look up the tattoo and we're just like, oh, that's that. Her too. That was her. But to us, it's just kind of like the blending of the two. I mean, you could pick one on phenotype solely, but they might not have the EPDs or you can pick one solely on paper, but they might not have the phenotype that you want. So that's kind of the tricky thing with the PGS is you have to find kind of that happy medium.

Miranda Reiman (13:59):

Sure. Yeah. And so when you're making selection decisions, Allison, what are you guys basing it on when you're picking what you're going to bring here to the show?

Allison Davis (14:06):

We just try to breed sound, functional cattle that'll go out and make cows. And we've just been lucky enough that they've been able to be successful in the showring too. And a lot of our compliments are, we show a lot of cow-calf pairs, so we show them as a senior yearling and people are, oh yeah, that's a nice heifer. But then they're like, they come back as a cow and they're like, wow, they look even better as a cow. So that's ultimately what we like to strive for.

Miranda Reiman (14:25):

Sure. So you don't change it up any for your show string than what you would for any of the rest?

Allison Davis (14:29):

No. Just the same.

Mark McCully (14:31):

Embryo transplant?

Allison Davis (14:33):

Oh yeah. We're strictly AI and embryo transplant.

Mark McCully (14:36):

So, has Harley got a bred and owned for you this year, too?

Allison Davis (14:39):

Yep. She's actually here again, so she'll be showing.

Miranda Reiman (14:42):

Okay, we’re going to have to go see her, Mark.

Allison Davis (14:44):

She'll be showing Thursday morning and then she has a little heifer that will show Wednesday. So yeah. 

Avery Mather (14:50):

So you guys have kind of a method to your madness when it comes to your show string. Am I right? You're consistently bringing the same divisions?

Allison Davis (14:56):

Yeah, we're fall. We're fall calvers. So we'll show that fall heifer calf, and then she'll come back as a senior yearling. And then the next year, hopefully, if she's good enough, she'll be our cow-calf pair.

Miranda Reiman (15:07):

And hopefully she likes the show ring because then you've already got her trained, right?

Allison Davis (15:12)

Harley’s getting a little hard to deal with. She's tired of it.

Mark McCully (15:13)

She might be a little bit too much of a veteran.

Avery Mather (15:14):

Some of those calves that you show as pairs get really spoiled really early.

Miranda Reiman (15:24):

Funny. So talk to me a little bit about, I mean you guys are obviously very well versed in this, you've grown up with it, but start me back at the beginning. What are some of your earliest memories of being in Angus? I mean Tom Burke bought your membership, but you don't remember that specifically. So what's your first early memories of growing up Angus?

Alexandra Duckworth (15:44):

My first memories probably growing up Angus would be, apparently, as my dad told me, I was very demanding as a child. But one of my earliest memories is riding on the four-wheeler with my dad. He just set me on front and we'd go out and check the cows. And that was my earliest memories with that. And then, of course, growing up with the sale and stuff. When I was little, I really didn't understand what was going on fully, but I knew there were cows there.

Miranda Reiman (16:11):

And other people, which is kind of exciting. That's a novelty, right?

Avery Mather (16:15):

Yeah. I love how she said growing up Angus. I feel like that needs to be a hashtag or something that we star growing up Angus. I love it.

Miranda Reiman (16:23):

How about you?

Allison Davis (16:23):

Yeah, same stories. Go out, check cows out in the field, and I always had my favorites so I knew which ones were my favorites, and then as soon as I could start showing, I was full steam ahead. I always tell people I never really had a choice because I kind of just got thrown into it, but I really wouldn't want to do anything else. So 20 years of my life, this has been all I've known is Angus.

Miranda Reiman (16:46):

You kind of already answered my next question. It was going to be like, why did you decide to be involved in the National Junior Angus, which you said you didn't decide, your parents decided for you. Is that what I heard?

Allison Davis (16:57):

We just wanted to go where we knew it was the most competitive and we really felt that the Angus breed was the most competitive. It's tops. Everyone's striving to be Angus, so we wanted to have the most competition we could.

Miranda Reiman (17:11):

That's really a unique way to look at it because I do think some of my friends that have kids showing sometimes say, we can't get into the Angus thing, it’s too competitive so we'll go elsewhere. So you guys said, no, we don't want to win unless we're among the best.

Avery Mather (17:25):

I like them. Got to be the best.

Miranda Reiman (17:26):

To beat the best. I think I better meet your parents after this. And how about you? Did you have a choice?

Alexandra Duckworth (17:33):

Well, my parents did kind of give me a choice. So when me and my two siblings were younger, my dad kind of gave us a choice. He'd give us a couple of calves and we'd take them to the county fair. My older brother and sister really didn't take much interest in it. They got involved in sports and other clubs and stuff but to me, even though I kind of deviated away from it for a little bit to get into volleyball and stuff, I ultimately came back to it because that was what I loved and that was what I was passionate about. So it was a couple years later, I talked to my dad and I was like, I want to do this. I want to get involved in this.

Miranda Reiman (18:09):

Sure. And your parents had spent years and years in the gymnasium and said, yeah, actually this is a good idea.

Alexandra Duckworth (18:15):

They were probably just like, yep, we need a change of pace. Right?

Mark McCully (18:19):

Are you guys involved in some other contests and things while you're here this week?

Allison Davis (18:24):

I think we're both on the sales team.

Avery Mather (18:27):

Are you on the same sales team?

Allison Davis (18:29):

Yes.

Alexandra Duckworth (18:30):

Same sales team.

Mark McCully (18:33):

Good luck, other competitors, better bring the A game.

Allison Davis (18:36):

We'll do quiz bowl too. And then I'm competing in showmanship this year.

Avery Mather (18:40):

Congratulations.

Allison Davis (18:41)

Thank you.

Miranda Reiman (18:42):

You just came from the livestock judging?

Alexandra Duckworth (18:44):

I just came from the livestock judging contest and then, like she said, we're both on team sales and the quiz bowl team, and then I'll also do skill-a-thon later on.

Mark McCully (18:52):

Maybe.

Avery Mather (18:53):

All of those. What's your favorite?

Allison Davis (18:57):

Last year we had a lot of fun at quiz bowl.

Avery Mather (18:59):

Yeah. Did you make it past the written?

Allison Davis (19:01):

Yeah, we got second.

Alexandra Duckworth (19:02):

Second. Yeah.

Allison Davis (19:03):

I don't know how, but we had fun.

Miranda Reiman (19:06):

Those quiz bowl questions can get really intense.

Alexandra Duckworth (19:08):

They really can.

Avery Mather (19:10):

If I remember correctly, we used to allow people in the room to watch the verbal round of the quiz bowl and it just got so intense that we had to cut it off and now it's only competitors.

Miranda Reiman (19:21):

Is that good or bad? Do you want an audience?

Allison Davis (19:23):

We were having so much fun and just joking around and we'd walk in the room and it would just be the judge and be like so serious. We'd be like, okay, serious now.

Miranda Reiman (19:31):

You can have fun and be serious at the same time.

Alexandra Duckworth (19:34):

Well, then we had a guy on our team and he was making jokes and stuff and the moderators just were not having it.

Miranda Reiman (19:41):

I understand. I feel his pain.

Mark McCully (19:44):

So team salesmanship talk about for those listening, maybe they don't maybe know what's all involved. So talk about what that contest is and what you'll do.

Allison Davis (19:53):

So for the seniors, we get a scenario and we got that yesterday at check-in. So Sunday we get the scenario at check-in, and then we have until Wednesday afternoon to prepare and find the animal and the paper; you don't have to use the paper that matches the animal. You have a really good animal that matches a scenario, and then you have an animal or you have an animal in your herd that has the EPDs that match the scenario and you want to mix the two. You can do that and then you come up with an introduction. You talk about their phenotype, their EPDs, and then there's a conclusion at the end.

Alexandra Duckworth (20:24):

Yes. And then you get to answer a couple of questions that the judges have.

Miranda Reiman (20:27):

And that's really probably the deciding factor, isn't it? Probably.

Mark McCully (20:32):

So it's kind of like Shark Tank; you get these judges and you got to give your pitch.

Miranda Reiman (20:37):

And how big of a team is it?

Alexandra Duckworth (20:39):

So it's a team of four.

Miranda Reiman (20:40):

Four, okay. So you've got to do a fair bit of teamwork then too. There's no going back.

Allison Davis (20:45):

And then you have to switch who's holding the animal. So yeah, you have to spend a lot of time preparing on working out your game plan and what you're going to do.

Alexandra Duckworth (20:53):

And there's a lot of planning ahead and delegating like, okay, you can talk about this, like study that, or you can talk about this.

Mark McCully (21:01):

Everyone kind of has their role.

Alexandra Duckworth (21:02):

And everyone has their role and their part that they need to do.

Miranda Reiman (21:06):

So you guys won't be sleeping a lot until Wednesday?

Allison Davis (21:09):

Probably not.

Avery Mather (21:11):

They said their favorite part about it. My favorite part is I like to take the little kids and hear some of their answers to the questions and how their parents have helped them prepare. The seniors are always really cool because they're very polished and they've had so many years to work on it, but those junior kids, getting the eight- and nine-year-olds in there selling a cow, it’s so fun to see them grow and their little minds work.

Allison Davis (21:34):

Tennessee has, I know one junior team, maybe two. So those will definitely be entertaining to watch.

Alexandra Duckworth (21:40):

Yeah, the junior team will definitely be entertaining.

Allison Davis (21:42):

There’s going to be a lot of personality in those.

Miranda Reiman (21:44):

Did you guys start out doing that? Did you do it as juniors or is that something you've picked up?

Allison Davis (21:49):

I don't think I did it until I was a senior.

Alexandra Duckworth (21:51):

I didn't do it until I was a senior.

Miranda Reiman (21:53):

So that's kind of fun too. You can mix and match. You aren't set into one specialty right off the get go. If you start coming as a younger member, you can pick up new things as you go. Right. Yeah. Very good. So tell us a little bit about when we go back to the breeding a little bit, Mark, because I'm just so impressed with how articulate you guys are about your breeding decisions and some of that. Who's mentored you along the way in those breeding decisions? How did you learn what -- you said you went out there and you saw one that was special. How did you know she was special?

Alexandra Duckworth (22:24):

Well, when we went out in the field and we knew she was special, so she was by that bull that we sold in 2018 and we knew he was special just because of how the numbers and how the EPDs worked and everything. And his phenotype was ultimately like one of the best we'd ever raised. And then that mating on that cow just worked perfectly. And so we get down there and this heifer had the best of both really. I mean she had kind of the rib that her mother had, but then she had the long hip and the long front that her sire had. So things like that just kind of clicking perfectly, like matings working out really complementarily.

Miranda Reiman (23:02):

Sure, yeah.

Mark McCully (23:05):

Would you consider yourself Angus nerds that you study pedigrees and the numbers or what do you think?

Alexandra Duckworth (23:10):

Probably.

Allison Davis (23:11):

I don't know if I am as much, but my dad definitely is.

Mark McCully (23:14):

And I say Angus nerd with the most utmost of that's a crown that you can wear.

Miranda Reiman (23:22):

We would call him that too. Just so you know.

Avery Mather (23:25):

Alexandra …

Mark McCully (23:26):

They just call me nerd.

Avery Mather (23:28):

You said that you really liked the genetics and things like this, so making those breeding decisions is probably of high interest to you.

Alexandra Duckworth (23:35):

Well, that's really how I got involved in studying genetics and stuff like that. My dad was kind of explaining to me when I was really young actually kind of the genomics and the EPDs and everything, and I was just fascinated by it. So, it was just really big for me to understand it and I wanted to understand every aspect of it.

Avery Mather (23:54):

That's really cool that you can see the past in that, but the future that you have in that realm of things and the interest.

Miranda Reiman (24:01):

So we've talked about a lot of success. What about, are there times that you've made breeding decisions that haven't turned out the way you expected or disappointments you've had?

Allison Davis (24:09):

Oh yeah, of course, for sure.

Miranda Reiman (24:11):

Those aren't as fun to talk about, but yeah.

Allison Davis (24:14):

Definitely.

Miranda Reiman (24:16):

And then you just pick back up and the next year …

Allison Davis (24:18):

try again. Next nine months later there'll be another one. Try again.

Miranda Reiman (24:22):

That's a long time to wait to find out though, isn't it?

Alexandra Duckworth (24:24):

It is, but if one mating doesn't work out, it's just okay, got to move on to the next one.

Allison Davis (24:29):

And that's the beauty of flushing too. I mean, you can flush a cow multiple times to different bulls and if that mating didn't work out, hey, the next one will.

Mark McCully (24:40):

So if you think about the different parts, like the selection piece, the genetic decisions, you think about the taking care of them at home and then you think about showing them, which one of those is your favorite? Is there any one of those that you gravitate to?

Allison Davis (24:55):

I like taking care of them at home and showing, I'd say, because I like going out in the pasture and seeing the cows after their show careers are done. I feel like when we go out, they're all so uniform and they all have a particular look that we all strive, at least my family is striving for. So it's nice to go out and see, wow, they did this in the show ring, but then they went out and they look like we want them to, and then they're producing calves and they have a calf on the side of them that looks like we want them to, and looks a lot like that cow. And then I like spending time in the barn with the cows. They all have different personalities, so it's fun to get to know them all and just spend time with them.

Miranda Reiman (25:30):

I love that you still say that even after probably several weeks of preparing for this event, it's probably been intense.

Allison Davis (25:37):

Oh yeah.

Alexandra Duckworth (25:39):

I mean I love the preparation and showing and everything, but definitely my favorite aspect of it is probably post-show career when I get to go out and see what the cows can make for themselves. And one of my favorite things is our calving season when we can go out and just kind of sit in anticipation of, well, she should calve soon, so maybe we can see what this calf will turn out to be.

Mark McCully (26:01):

The anticipation of when those calves, you expect a great one, you're hoping for a great one …

Alexandra Duckworth (26:07):

You hope for it, but you …

Mark McCully (26:08):

never know.

Allison Davis (26:09):

And then now that I'm at school, I'm always texting mom. I'm like, send me a picture of this calf. Has she calved yet, send  me a picture.

Miranda Reiman (26:16):

It makes it so hard to be that far away. It is.

Avery Mather (26:20):

I love the technology. We have barn cameras and I can get it on my phone and then dad might be in the house eating dinner, but I'm going to call him and be like, hey, you see that cow's calving? I know, I'm a 100 miles away. But you got that?

Allison Davis (26:31):

Right. Go there and look.

Miranda Reiman (26:33):

That's kind of funny because I think of the parents trying to check in on you at college, but you're actually checking in on the parents.

Allison Davis (26:39):

Pretty much.

Mark McCully (26:41):

They have Life 360 to know where you’re at – or those apps -- and you're checking in on the barn cams.

Miranda Reiman (26:48):

So talk to us a little bit about, so we've talked about your future already in the breed and what you guys are kind of thinking for the future, but where do you think the breed in general is going? Where do you think you see us making progress? Where do you see us having challenges that we need to, we want to hear from the youth because you guys are the future right here. So is this your chance to tell Mark how to do his job.

Mark McCully (27:08):

I'm taking notes.

Miranda Reiman (27:10):

I think he's got his annual review coming up, so we'll make sure this gets to the board.

Allison Davis (27:14):

I'd say the biggest thing is just getting young people involved. There are so many older people involved that are getting out of it. And now that it's so expensive and land prices and input prices are getting so high, it's going to be hard to get that next generation to want to keep doing it.

Alexandra Duckworth (27:28):

Right. I agree. I mean the biggest thing for the future of the breed is to get the next generation involved and get them active in it.

Mark McCully (27:36):

So this is a hard question, right? Because this is a huge …

Miranda Reiman (27:39):

We hear this a lot.

Mark McCully (27:39):

Yeah. I think as we travel around our industry, this idea of getting the next generation to step in, given all of these hurdles, do you have some ideas? I mean, you guys, I think both see yourself coming back in and Avery, I'll put all three of you right in this. So are there things that you think about, it's like, man, I wish maybe even the American Angus Association would do. Are there some things we could do or some ideas you have to make that on-ramp into the industry? Maybe just a little easier. It's never going to be easy, right? It's never going to be easy. But any ideas? It's a hard question.

Avery Mather (28:16):

There's no wrong answer.

Miranda Reiman (28:19):

What do you think? So the biggest stumbling blocks, you mentioned capital, some of those kind of things.

Mark McCully (28:26):

Is it the money? 

Miranda Reiman (28:29):

Is it the lifestyle?

Mark McCully (28:30):

And is it that I don't want to do that? What do you think are maybe of, as you talk about some of your friends that maybe aren't going to go back, is it a financial thing? Are there other things that are easier and more attractive that they're going to go do?

Allison Davis (28:42):

I feel like part of it could be the work that it takes into farming as well and raising cattle. I know I grew up in a town that's not agriculture based, so I was one of the very few kids in my high school that even had a farm. So I feel like I had such a stronger work ethic than those kids. And they were even in school, you could tell they would just slack off and not be as attentive and not as involved in extracurriculars as I was. So I feel like that's the problem with the younger generation as well. They're not as willing to work to farm and raise cows. That's hard work. That's 24/7. That's all you do, all you think about. And it's late nights and early mornings. There's no sleeping in until nine o'clock, I'd say.

Avery Mather (29:23):

Some people would be like, oh, you work so hard, or why do you work so hard? It's like we don't know any different. That's how we were raised. Yeah, what are you talking about?

Alexandra Duckworth (29:29):

Right. I have my friends back at home that aren't involved in cattle or anything, and they'll ask me if I'm at a show or something. They're like, well, what time do you get up in the morning on show day? And I'm like, oh, three o'clock. And they look at me and they're just like, seriously? They don't want to put in the work to kind of get up and do so.

Miranda Reiman (29:49):

So I'm hearing from that, when we find the ones who do want to do that, we better find ways to support them.

Alexandra Duckworth (29:55):

Support them, keep them interested, and keep them involved is the big thing.

Miranda Reiman (30:00):

What has kept you guys interested? I mean, it's fun when you first start out and what's kept you going in the National Junior Angus Association? What's kept you coming back to the show year after year?

Alexandra Duckworth (30:11):

I mean, I formed relationships with people all over the country. Friendships kind of made connections everywhere. And ultimately, I love Angus cattle and I love the connection that everyone has. That all ties back to it. You have this one common interest that that's kind of the fun thing with it is just everything because it is an Angus family. It really is. So just that kind of keeps me coming back to it.

Allison Davis (30:35):

Yeah, I agree with a lot of what she said, the family aspect and the conferences. I feel like there's no better way to develop the youth in the Angus than Raising the Bar and LEAD as an attendee of those conferences. I feel like I've made so many connections with the youth there as well as the industry leaders and industry tours that we go on.

Miranda Reiman (30:54):

I think that's absolutely true. We were just visiting with somebody who had lined up one of the judges for the junior public speaking contest, and that judge had sent her back a message and had said, man, these Angus kids are so good. And they were, I mean, so good at such a young age. So good. I mean, obviously that's also the parents and the community they're surrounded with at home, but I think you're a 100 percent right that the leadership development is huge. You can answer this question too. You coming back, Avery? I know you want to.

Avery Mather (31:27):

Oh my gosh, it's a loaded question. It seems like there's so many aspects, but I think they both hit on it correctly. It's the Angus family and the people that surround you and knowing that you have that support system. You don't go back to something if you know you don't have support. That'd be really hard. And, so yeah, I would say supporting you towards your goals, but also goals as a breed, as a breeder, as an exhibitor and just as a young professional. Sure. Yeah. I'd want to hit on a little bit though about LEAD and Raising the Bar, if that's okay. Of course. Put my plug in for those. Just give us an overview of LEAD or Raising the Bar from your perspective, Allison, and tell people what that's all about.

Allison Davis (32:07):

So, Raising the Bar is usually what, the end of March, first of April?

Avery Mather (32:11):

Yep. Springtime. And it's …

Allison Davis (32:13):

every year. It's at a college or in a college town, and then one day they take a morning or sometimes it's a whole day and you tour the college. And then the other days you'll go to industry tours, whether that be farms or dairies or other aspects of the agricultural industry. When we went to Clemson last year, we went to a peach farm and a fruit farm. So that was really fun. I don't have that around me. And then LEAD, same thing except you're not in a college town, so you're not touring the college, but you go to the different farms and different facets of the agricultural industry.

Avery Mather (32:49):

LEAD often takes us somewhere where agriculture looks completely different than a lot of us, especially in the Midwest. I would say this year we're going to Louisiana. I'm from Iowa and Louisiana is going to look a lot different than Iowa as …

Allison Davis (33:02):

far as agriculture. And last year we were in California, so it was cool to see the almonds. I, again, don't see that in Tennessee.

Miranda Reiman (33:08):

I think that's really neat that you get those experiences. I grew up in southern Minnesota, so very much corn, soybean, hogs, and some cattle were the main things. And it wasn’t until I went to college that I had seen milo out in a field and that was my diversity. So once you start getting on the east and the west coasts and some of these completely different, that's really neat that you get those opportunities early.

Mark McCully (33:29):

Those fruits and nuts and aquaculture and I mean, agriculture is so huge. You get to get some exposure to things you haven't thought about.

Miranda Reiman (33:37):

Yeah, absolutely. So we have covered a lot of ground here. I know that we are keeping you after you've already been involved and you've got a lot of work left to do. I want to make sure, Avery, Mark, did I give you a chance to ask all the questions you wanted to?

Mark McCully (33:50):

Oh, you know I've always got lots more questions. But this has been awesome.

Miranda Reiman (33:51):

We have to cut him off usually. How about you guys? Is there anything else that you would like to add that we haven't asked you about? Because then I've got random question of the week. That's what we always end up on.

Allison Davis (34:03):

I'm just grateful for everything that the Angus Association has done and all they do for the youth. 

Alexandra Duckworth (34:09):

Yeah, right, I agree with that. I mean, I'm really grateful for what all the Angus Association has afforded me. I mean, I owe my life to Angus, really. That's what my family's made our living on.

Mark McCully (34:19):

And that's awesome that you guys appreciate that. And I know that's appreciated. I hear that appreciation, and I guess it's probably also a good time. You talk about LEAD and Raising the Bar. And so many of the things we do here is to also recognize the generosity of our donors and supporters of our foundation. And we get to administer many of these things through the Association, but they're underwritten largely by the Angus Foundation. And I doubt there's ever a question in a donor's mind about the impact, but I think you listen to you young people talk about the value that you get out of these programs, it just reassures those dollars are probably some of the best dollars we can invest as we think about the future of our breed and the future of the beef industry. 

Allison Davis (34:59):

I can definitely attest that out-of-state tuition would not be possible if it was not for my Angus Foundation scholarships. So very grateful for them. Yes.

Miranda Reiman (35:08):

Awesome. Yeah, that's a great note. And honestly, we hear that. I mean, when we're talking to breeders out and about, if there's one thing that unites a lot of breeders, it would be their investment in the youth program. I don't think everybody agrees on that, so that's a great thing. All right. So random question of the week. We want to know your favorite junior show memory. Favorite memory from junior show.

Mark McCully (35:33):

Any year.

Allison Davis (35:34):

I already talked about 2022. That was one of my favorites. But I think my favorite would be 2013. I had a little November heifer that we raised, but the cow was in my dad's name, so she wasn't a bred and owned yet. And it was my first-year Nationals in Kansas City actually. And my parents were like, okay, Allison, just be glad if you make the top half of your class. Junior Nationals, big deal. My first time in the ring at a big show, I was like, okay. So I go out there, I win my class, and then I get picked for reserve in my division. And my parents were like, okay, don't get used to this. This will not help.

Miranda Reiman (36:11):

You win out. They're like, dang it.

Allison Davis (36:13):

So me and Little Ladybug went out there and I was expecting to be like, I don't know, seventh, eighth in class. And then I was reserve in my division. So that was really special.

Miranda Reiman (36:21):

So Ladybug has a special place in your heart. Yep. I love that.

Alexandra Duckworth (36:26):

I mean, for me, that 2023 Junior Nationals was just so sweet for me and my family because the heifer was reserve PGS, but she was also reserve bred and owned PGS. And that memory was special. But what was probably even more special to me was as soon as I was picked, of course, I started crying. And just one of my sweetest memories was having people reach through the fence that I knew that were hugging me. And then as soon as I got in the makeup area, people were hugging and congratulating me. My dad had my phone and he was like you've got to get rid of this. It won't stop ringing. But to me, that was just a really sweet memory to have that incredible support system there.

Miranda Reiman (37:04):

Your whole community rallied, right? Yeah. That's really fun.

Allison Davis (37:07):

Yeah, because after 2022, after the bred and owned show, I walked out there and there were just people everywhere. I was so overwhelmed. Everyone was coming up hugging me. It was this true testament to the Angus family too. Everyone truly was so happy for you when you have success.

Mark McCully (37:21):

Well, and especially when you have success on both bred and owned, right? I mean, it was PGS but they were both bred and owned. And I think that, again, that just adds such a dimension and a depth to the success. It wasn't, again, not to take anything away from a purchased effort that goes on to win the owned show but, I mean, the work that went in to get to that level, yeah, that's pretty special.

Alexandra Duckworth (37:41):

It's just really special. I mean, you're a part of that animal's life from, I mean, the day they're conceived, that's your animal.

Miranda Reiman (37:48):

Yeah. That's really neat. Avery, we'll let you answer that one too. Do you have a special memory you want to share?

Avery Mather (37:53):

I would probably have to say I have a younger brother, although he's going to look way bigger, way taller than me. He was a lineman on the football team, but when he was younger, he came out of the ring one time and got second in his class and he was so excited and had tears streaming down his face and was making everybody else cry because he got second. Because he had always had to look up to his older, bossy sister who always did better than him, and then he got second in his class. And I would say it's not even the fact that we placed in the show ring, it was the memory that we made as a family that day. And I would say it's similar for both of you. It was the people that surrounded you when you did have that success and that surround you in the highs and the lows too, but especially the highs.

Miranda Reiman (38:39):

Absolutely. Well, I think this week I predict is going to be another memory-making week for all of you and for the Angus family. So look forward to your guys' success in the contests and in the show ring and all the things that you're going to do this week. So good luck to you. When this airs, it will already be afterwards, but we'll wish you good luck now.

Allison Davis (39:02):

Thank you.

Alexandra Duckworth (39:02):

Thank you.

Mark McCully (39:03):

And congratulations. I mean, you guys are doing just fantastic things and it's why we wanted to pick your brain a little bit about what you’re doing in your program … 

Miranda Reiman (39:11):

yeah, what was the magic secret …

Mark McCully (39:13):

and where you're going. But congratulations, it's been fun. So thanks for joining us guys.

Alexandra Duckworth (39:20):

Thank you so much.

Allison Davis (39:20):

Thank you.

Miranda Reiman (39:19):

We hope you enjoyed the first ever junior takeover of the Angus Conversation. I don't know about you, but discussions like that make me pretty optimistic for the future. Keep up on all the Junior Angus content, follow the National Junior Angus Association channels on social media or catch recaps by liking the Angus Journal on Facebook and Instagram. In the meantime, we hope you'll continue listening to the second and third parts of this very special series coming at you live from Madison, Wisconsin. This has been The Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.