Kansas Hereford Royalty: 2012

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Announcing...

In my very last post, I have the pleasure of announcing that our 2012-2013 Kansas Hereford Queen is Miss Brooke Jensen of Courtland, KS. Brooke is the daughter of Kevin and Sheila Jensen and has two brothers, Brady and Ben. Brooke is currently a member of the KJHA Board of Directors and has been involved with the Decorating Committee for JNHE 2011, Extemporaneous Speech Competition, Hereford Bowl and Showmanship as well as showing at many JNHEs.

Our 2012-2013 Princess is Miss Brianne Nelsen of Fredonia. Brianne is a sophomore at Fredonia High School. She has been involved with the KJHA and NJHA for several years, showing at several JNHEs. She has also been a member of the 1st place CHB Grill Off at JNHE for the last two years.

I know these two ladies will make us all very proud and continue to uphold the standard set by Kansas Queens in the past! Good luck ladies!

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Wrapping Up The Year

Makayla Rutt (Nebraska), Whitney Andras (Oklahoma),
Amanda Bacon (National), Bridget Beran (Kansas), Cara Cummings (Texas)

At the Ladies of the Royal Sale with
some of my Junior Board member
friends, Kristin Bielema, myself, Krissi
McCurdy, and Shelby Rogers

My last few months as queen have been crazy busy! In three short months, I moved to Manhattan to attend Kansas State University majoring in journalism, joined Alpha Chi Omega sorority, attended the Kansas State Fair and ran for National Hereford Queen.

K-State has been an amazing experience and I can’t wait to spend the next four years of my life there. I had the pleasure of going to the Kansas State Fair and handing off awards to all of the great Hereford cattle in attendance. And then I rushed back to Manhattan to make the 11 o’clock game!

Then this November came one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had; running for National Hereford Queen. I ran with some amazing women and I was proud to be chosen as 2^nd runner up. I had such a wonderful time attending the meetings, as always, and look forward to the great places the Hereford breed is going.

This December marks the end of my term but I’m very excited about our candidates for Kansas Hereford Queen and know any of them will be fantastic.

I want to thank you all for the love and support you have given me, not only in my time as queen, but throughout my entire life. You are truly my Hereford family and I can’t imagine my life without you. I have been so blessed to serve two years as your Kansas Hereford Queen and I look forward to maintaining my love and involvement with the Hereford breed and associations that have given me so much.

Bridget Beran

2010-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Wrapping Up Junior Nationals

The end of Junior Nationals was a BUSY time! There were long, long days spent in skirts, boots, and tiaras. But a queen always finds a way to make it fun!

I spent most of the last three days of JNHE in the ring with my fellow queens, walking in classes, handing out ribbons and prizes, and smiling for pictures. It was great getting to spend so much time with all the queens, getting to know each other while we worked. I can’t wait to see some of them again in Kansas City when we run for National Hereford Queen!

The cattle put forth by our NJHA members this year were in a caliber of their own, and our judge noticed. At the end of the final drive he had us all stand and give ourselves a standing ovation for the hard work and incredible cattle that had been through the ring. It certainly was a proud day to be a Hereford breeder!

Our Kansas kids took home all kinds of honors. Brady Jensen, KJHA president, was named to the National Junior Hereford Board and named Herdsman of the Year as well as receiving Golden Bull Award, Future Cattleman’s, Hereford Herdsman and the John Wayne scholarships. Shelby Cowan was named as the Kansas Outstanding State Member. Fourth Grade Prospect went to Wesley Denton. In the Certified Hereford Beef Cook-off, Kansas Team 1 placed second and Kansas Team 2 placed first. Our Kansas Junior Judging team placed, led by Cameron Wilber who had the highest overall junior score. Justin Moser was second in the intermediate illustrated speech contest. And Kansas was the recipient of the Golden Pitchfork! Good job guys!

Bridget Beran

2011-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Showmanship Day!

Logan Marple

Today was the very first day in the ring since the start of Junior Nationals. That’s right, it was Showmanship day! Kids from each of our four age groups competed in two separate rings. This kept everyone pretty busy throughout the day and the ring was always full!

Cameron Wilber

We had several kids break through to the semifinals, including Brady Jensen, Charlsie Craig, Wesley Denton, Logan Marple, Kati Fehlman and others. Lauren Prill and Brooke Jensen both made it to the top ten in intermediate showmanship. Lauren placed second and Brooke received ninth.

"Aunt" Sue Rowland keeping
track of all our kids

Cody Jensen

Mom and I spent most of the day popping in and out of the show ring and I’ve included a few pictures of several of our members competing.

Kali Valek

Kati Fehlman

Bridget Beran

2011-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen

Contests, Contests, and More Contests!

Dana Pieper and her niece Clair Collins

Well it’s day three here in Grand Island and we’re still going strong! Wednesday is Sure Champ day so all our juniors were out in their black Sure Champ shirts to thank our title sponsor VitaFerm for their continued support of our Junior Nationals.

It was another day jam-packed with contest. The day started early at 8 with cattle judging, an event that always draws a crowd. Team marketing followed it up, another event that Kansas took home the champion in last year. Hopefully that will remain the case!

Avery and Emma Nichols entertain
themselves with a game of hangman

Later that morning the extemporaneous speeches were given. Brooke and Brady Jensen and I competed in this event. Kansas also broke through into the final buzzer rounds of Hereford Bowl. We were very excited to hear that they made it to the final round against Texas. We also had teams competing in team fitting during the afternoon. Results of today’s contests will be announced Saturday evening at our awards banquet.

Dad doing what he does best,
playing on his phone

Then we had a bit of a break so my dad and I were able to go explore the beef barn where several other states were stalled. It’s always nice to be able to chat with old friends and make new ones! It’s definitely the best part of JNHE.

During the afternoon Sullivan Supply put on a workshop about fitting and showmanship. Considering we have showmanship the next day, hopefully everyone picked up a thing or two!

That’s all for today! Good luck to all our members competing in showmanship tomorrow!!

Bridget Beran

2011-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen

Brady Jensen, working on his heifer

A Very Busy Day!

Dr. Dan with his samples. Yum!

Tuesday got off to an exciting start with the Hereford Bowl written tests. We found out later our team qualified for final buzzer rounds! So proud of our smart Kansas kids!

After that our members got busy to work at their grills in the Great American CHB Grill-off. Not sure about all of them but Dr. Dan Moser was happy to bring us a sample of one of the dishes prepared and it was delicious! We were champs last year and now I know why!

"The Cowgirls," Lauren Gatz, Jalyn Davis and
Kady Pieper, waiting for their turn to play

The day kept chugging along with 3-on-3 basketball. That’s always one of the most fun parts of the week! Unfortunately, our Peewee teams met some tough competition but our intermediate team of Allen Dorrell, Casey Jensen and Luke Prill placed fourth! I was able to watch for some of the games and those kids play hard!

Laney Marple in 3-on-3 basketball

Then came Queen’s Tea, hosted by our National Hereford Queen, Miss Amanda Bacon! This is our first queen activity throughout the week and I was very pleased to see several of our younger Kansas girls join us. We had drinks and cookies and got to decorate satin ribbon banners for the young girls. The girls were challenged to put ribbons and banners in order, a very important part of being a queen. It was so fun to spend time with all our queens-in-training! The girls were also given paper crowns to collect all the queens’ signatures.

With Miss McKenna

Myself with the Nichols girls

After the young girls dispersed, we had queen orientation. Miss Jill Bielema and Miss Denise Billman, our co-chairs, led the meeting with Miss Denise giving a very fun rendition of “what not to do” while in the ring! They explain things such as dress code rules and proper behavior. Miss Amanda then explained some of the finer points of working the ring, right down to walking in step. Needless to say, it was an informative and fun afternoon!

Miranda Edenberg (Illinois), Jessica Lancaster (Idaho),
myself, Ellen Jackson (Missouri), Makayla Rutt (Nebraska)
and Amy Dewoody (Pennsylvania)

We then moved straight into opening ceremonies. Miss Nebraska Teen, Sarah Summers, sang a beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful followed by Miss Rossie Blinson, former NJHA board chair, singing our Nation’s anthem. We then heard from Curtis Tomasevicz, a member of the USA bobsled team that won a gold medal at the 2010 Olympic games. He spoke about coming from a small community and the support found there and not giving up.

Walking in for cemermonies-Luke Prill with the flag

Awards were then awarded for the photography, creative design and poster contests. Our Kansas Juniors certainly made us proud, taking home several awards in photography!

Later that night, we had the junior dance. Most of our kids were in attendance and had a great time dancing the night away! All in all, it was a busy, but fun, day!

Bridget Beran

2011-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen