HAPPY NEW YEAR
By Logan Sigmon
Happy New Year! I’m Logan Sigmon and will be serving as your 2018-19 AJCA President. I’m 17 years old and a senior at Berryville High School. My family and I run roughly 150 Simmental-in uenced cattle on a 300-acre cattle farm between Berryville and Green Forest, Ark. About 25 of our herd is registered in my name. I show purebred and percentage Sim- mental heifers and bulls. I enjoy show- ing and exhibiting our cattle across the state and the U.S. to help promote and sell breeding animals from our herd. I have been a member of the AJCA since 2009, and held board positions of area vice president, youth treasurer and pres- ident-elect.
Growing up in this organization, I have looked up to previous board members such as Katy Tunstill, Cody Salmon, Coby Wilson, Sarah Caldwell, Will Clark and my older sister Kylee Sigmon. It is from their lead- ership that I have admired how our organization has been run, and hope that I am able to continue to guide the AJCA into the future! I am looking forward to an exciting year for our youth and organization.
In November, we held our annual AJCA Thanksgiving Classic and Bill Dorough Memorial Show. This year’s classic was held at the Foothills Arena in Clarksville, Ark., and was the largest in the history of the show. We had approximately 230 head entered for the show and 118 exhibitors present. What a way to start out our rst show of the season! During the show, I worked the ring by lining up the classes. I was enjoyed getting to see some of the current members as well as a host of new faces and members to the AJCA! We had several different exhibitors from other sur- rounding states as well. There were also some new breeds that were shown, such as Scottish Highlander and Pinzgauer in the AOB division. The new faces and breeds get me excited to see what the new year holds for AJCA.
This New Year not only brings a fresh start for everyone across the state, it also brings a new start for our organization! We just elected new of cers and area vice presidents during our meet- ing in November. We also welcome the new leadership from our State Director, Cleve Clark. January will be our rst of cial meeting with the new board, and we will have a big year to plan. During this meeting, we will also have the opportunity to review and approve the sanctioned show list for the 2019 season. That list should be posted to the AJCA website by end of January. The nalized list should enable you to nd a show across the state, happening almost every weekend from mid-February to the end of May.
I look forward to seeing all of our members and the new breeds at the shows and wish each and everyone of you Good Luck and Best Wishes for this show season! I hope that each of you have set goals for the year and work hard every day to achieve those goals. I also encourage you to be active in our organization, and reach out to any of our members on the Junior Board with any questions that you may have about AJCA. Our board members are here to serve the youth of our organization and would enjoy- ing hearing from the members this year!
I am going to close with a poem that we have hanging in the dining room of our house. This poem is rings true to how thank- ful I am for my parents and the time that they have put into get- ting my sister and I to shows across the state and US for the past 10 years. Tradition is strong in our family. I encourage each of you to be sure to give your parents, family members or friends that help get you to and from your shows a big hug and Thank You! They are the ones that help make it possible for you to en- joy doing what you do in and out of the show ring.
The Tradition
Some folks just don’t get it.
They think owning cattle makes no sense.
It takes too much time, too much equipment, not to mention the expense.
But the fondest memories of my life
-they might think sound funny-
were made possible by Mom and Dad,
‘cause they spent the time and spent the money.
You see, the most important lessons helping
values grow so strong, come from loving cattle and passing that tradition on.