FFA

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

I was just wondering how many people showed cattle in FFA? I've been showing for four years now in both open and FFA shows and I love it.  (cow) Tomorrow I have my last show for the year and my simmental heifers have been doing great so far this year. Last week I got my first champion even. 

I also have a question for anyone who has a lot of FFA knowledge:
How long are you allowed to be in FFA after high school? And does it vary from chapter to chapter?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm in my freshmen year in college and am 19 years old. My FFA advisor asked if I was going to show my heifers in open class next year since I couldn't show in FFA anymore. But I was talking to some other FFA members who are out of high school and show cattle and they said that their ag teachers are letting them show until they're 21. If they get to show that long I would like to also so I'm trying to figure out away to get back in.

Is it possible to pay your dues to a chapter that isn't your old high school? Or can you just pay somehow to the national organization? I don't mind showing only in open class but I love showing in FFA too. 

 

[cowz]

Do you have a state Simmental association or a regional junior livestock association?  In most junior associations, you can show until you turn 21.  Check it out?  Have you ever attended a breed junior national show?  They are a lot of fun and you will meet a lot of other young people your age who still like to show.

 

[justme]

I believe you have 2 years after highschool or 21 years of age.  At least in Missouri its 21 years of age for FFA

 

[red]

I think 21 is the magic number. Most stay in that long to get their American Farmer degree.
I too showed in FFA. It was the best experience I had in school. I was so shy back then & it brought me out of my shell. I loved public speaking, judging contests & FFA camp. I was also very fortunate to have a wonderful advisor.

Red

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

Thanks, everyone.

I also in Missouri - I might have to talk to my advior again. Before she was an FFA advior/teacher she was a 4-H sponser and I'm beginning to think that she got the two mixed up. My sister and I were the first to show in 5 years from our high school but before that we had a lot of people showing but it's like everyone suddenly lost interest.

I believe there is a Missouri Simmental Association. I've been planning on joining the Jr. American Simmental Association (btw, who needs to be the authorized representatives on those papers?). I've never been to a national show but I'd love to go to one. I've only shown at district, county, and prospect shows so far but they're a lot of fun and there are a lot of nice people there. 

 

[DLD]

The rules on how long you can show in the junior divisions vary alot. Most (well, all that I know of) junior national breed sponsored shows let you show 'til you're 21. The national steer shows (KC, Denver, Phoenix and Lousville) I believe all cut off at 20 or 21 also. State shows vary from place to place - here in OK you cannot have graduated high school to show at the OK Youth Expo (in March), and at Tulsa (October) you can show at the first one after you graduate. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to check the rules for the show(s) you're interested in. Most are available online these days.

 

[Dean]

The National FFA allows membership until the 4th National Convention after Graduation from High School.
This said, some shows have age limits on them, American Royal is an Age limit of 20 the day of the show.

To be a member you must pay dues each year.

 

[red]

  (welcome) Dean!

Red

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

One prospect show that I go to says that you need to be under the age of 18 or an active FFA or 4-H member (they let people over 18 show.. I showed there on the day after my 19th birthday and they didn't care because I was an active FFA member) They don't have an open class though.

The other FFA show at the district fair says that you need to be an active FFA member and your FFA advisors signature as proof. They have a seperate open show which is nice and you're allowed to show in both because they're on different days.

And the county fair I show at just mixes FFA, 4-H, and open classes in together so they don't have seperate champions for each, you just get 6-4 dollars extra per head. They don't check into it though. I'm 19 and have never been in 4-H in my life and they wrote down I was in 4-H for some reason but I wrote FFA on the entry form. Oh, well: it's all the same. lol

If I can't go to the prospect show I need to find another summer show to go to because I don't want my cattle to go to a show were they have to stay for 5 days to kick the show season off. There aren't too many shows in southeast Missouri though lol That's why I show at all of them I know of. If you know of any other shows around me just tell me about them and I'll check into them.

 

[renegade]

They have collegiate ffa here but i dont think you can show in ffa/4-h shows. i wish they would let us though because i have been showing cattle for three years (four after this year which is the last one after i graduate) and i have shown some sheep and always horses. I have been the president and vp of my chapter and i am trying for a state office. you can try out for a state office the year after you graduate too. I LOVE FFA (clapping) (im a geek)

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

That's cool that you were an president and vp. I was never an officer but it seems like it would be fun because they have their own field trips and meetings and everything.

The first year I showed cattle me and my sister were the first one anyone in our chapter showed any livestock (not including rabbits and poultry) for about 5 years. This year when my simmental heifer and I won grand champion on my heifer I was the first to win anything in forever. I believe in about 1994 or 95 someone from our chapter got the reserve steer though but as for champion, it was before I was in school. But people in our chapter are taking interest, we're supposed to have 3 new people showing cattle next year. This year we had someone show barrows too.

I think I'm just going to be in open class and find some more fairs to show at instead. I think they have some summer shows around St. Louis, it's about a 2 hour drive without a cattle trailer.

 

[renegade]

Being an officer is sooooo fun. we have a retreat in the summer and we have a "class" where it is just us so we can get things done alot easier. It really brought a couple of us out of our shell and we have so many inside jokes and its just a blast!
Our chapter is mainly beef, a few pigs, not many sheep and a rabbit/pygmie goat girl. We got our first dairy heifer last year. The numbers at the fair are large in any species and displays. I am glad that we have this kind of activeness in our community(now if we could get the community at large to support these groups a little more that would be nice but i guess you cant have everything easy.)
I just took a trip to St. Louis to visit my uncle (my age) in the hospital.

 

[pigguy]

Being an officer is sooooo fun. we have a retreat in the summer and we have a "class" where it is just us so we can get things done alot easier. It really brought a couple of us out of our shell and we have so many inside jokes and its just a blast!
Our chapter is mainly beef, a few pigs, not many sheep and a rabbit/pygmie goat girl. We got our first dairy heifer last year. The numbers at the fair are large in any species and displays. I am glad that we have this kind of activeness in our community(now if we could get the community at large to support these groups a little more that would be nice but i guess you cant have everything easy.)
I just took a trip to St. Louis to visit my uncle (my age) in the hospital.

wow sounds exactly like our fair. we had our first jeresy heifer our first holstien steer, and our first open class bull. all from the same family. and the ffa is mostly pigs, a couple beef, hardly any sheep and then just one random (and i do meen random) with milking goats and rabbits

 

[renegade]

We had the first dairy animal for our chapter. we have quite a few dairies around here so we probably 40 dairy animals at the local fair and we actually have a dairy replacement heifer sale at the western idaho fair which i was surprised about they are pricey.
I use to live in rolla,mo

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

Our open and 4-H shows are big in dairy cattle but FFA doesn't have any exhibors (there's a form to fill out for them in the fair book but nobody shows).

Some shows have tons of exhibiors. There's one school that's about the size of my old high school but they have about 12 people who show cattle while we have 2 or 3 usually. There are some schools that are much bigger than us have have only 1 person showing. I guess it's just how much the ag teacher advertises showing cattle.

Our big fair has mostly pigs and beef cattle but most of the pigs are market barrows and they take forever to sell because everyone has two of them. Then there are dairy cattle and draft horses and a few sheep and goats.

I live in Cape county, MO. We don't have too many cattle shows around here. There's a horse show every weekend though.

 

[renegade]

Cool, our school is pretty big but it has been hard getting kids into the program. Thats one thing i loved where i use to live every other weekend there was a huge show/playday and on the opposite weekends there was a large HORSE sale in a barn built for HORSES. Here its hard to find a show its mainly some roping and some barrel futurities

 

[Rocky Hill Simmental]

There's a lot of arenas around here and people hosts their own horse shows and rodeos all the time. Alot of people who are building new barns build indoor arenas in them too and a lot of them are pretty nice. There's a rodeo arena 5 miles down the road from my house. It was nice because one year our prospect show was there so we didn't have to leave at 5:30 in the morning lol. They also have a time each week when people can bring their horses in and practice riding.

Probably the neatest showring I've seen is one in Columbia, MO. I forgot the name of it but when my FFA dairy cattle judging team made it to state, that's were we judged them. It was neat, it was a big circle arena.

 

[renegade]

Are you talking about the big aren complex type of thing there in columbia!?!?  I went there for a quarter horse show and a horse sale and i Love that place.  We do have arenas were they have free ride nights but it is seven to ten dollars a horse.