President’s view
Shaping the Future of Gelbvieh FFA, school leadership programs, sports, and just being responsible for daily chores around the farm or ranch. AGJA members can build on this base to broaden their skills and experiences.
During the AGJA sponsored regional and national shows, members have the opportunity to compete in educational contests. These contests help build valuable life-long skills and more importantly help develop future leaders of the Gelbvieh breed. By Rob Arnold Shaping our future starts early. In developing the Impacting the Beef BusinessTM long-range strategic plan, the American Gelbvieh Association Board of Directors identified member education as a crucial step to the success of the Gelbvieh breed. What better place to start than with the American Gelbvieh Junior Association. Commitment, dedication, and a good work ethic are all important qualities that organizations need to be successful. Many associations along with the AGA recognize the importance of these qualities. In order to help build and refine these qualities with our junior members, the AGJA has incorporated several contests into their regional shows and the national Junior Classic. These contests are rewarding from an educational standpoint, serve as key lessons in building leadership qualities, and are entertaining and fun. Most, if not all, of the junior members have a solid base, which has been developed through 4-H, 6 | September 2013
Contests can sometimes be intimidating. The AGJA contests are designed to help everyone get involved and make new friends. In doing so, our juniors learn to exchange ideas and develop new skills that can be applied to the family business or maybe just enjoyed as a new hobby. There are many reasons why these contests are beneficial, but at the end of the day they are designed to give our junior members life-long lessons of working together, committing to a goal and completing the project. Exchanging ideas and communicating with fellow members is a key ingredient that makes these contests enjoyable and rewarding. I know I’ve heard it a number of times in my career, “Communication is the key to everyone’s success.” If you think about it, I do not know any leader that was not a good communicator.
Our junior program and the contests associated with it are a great framework at encouraging our younger members to practice and refine their skills. It is a great opportunity for this program to help shape leaders for the future. During the week-long Junior Classic event, junior members have the opportunity to compete in more than 20 contests and leadership activities to help develop these valuable skills. The list of contests is substantial and includes: video, graphic design, ambassador, showmanship, skillathon, creative writing, impromptu speaking, sales talk, photography, team fitting, premier breeder, herdsmanship, judging, poster, and quiz bowl. These contests allow our junior members to exercise their creativity, the opportunity to work together, and the gratification of solving problems and creating alternatives. The AGJA contests are structured to be educational and to develop skills that can be beneficial at promoting and marketing our businesses. It is my hope that these contests help our junior members recognize that they are a group of people with common interests that can accomplish more as a group than they can individually. So let’s get our juniors involved. It’s never too early to start! FFF