Life is what you make it, and a National Junior Angus Association (NJAA) experience is much the same, say Brenlen Humpert and Paige Lemmenager. The two have taken different paths to their involvement in the breed but come with a similar “seize the moment” approach. In this second edition of the Junior Takeover of The Angus Conversation, they share advice for fellow NJAA members such as step out of your comfort zone and embrace new opportunities. Hear more about them and how their Angus network has shaped each of them into who they are today.

HOSTS: Mark McCully, Miranda Reiman, Avery Mather

GUESTS: Brenlen Humpert, Windthorst, Texas, is a second-generation Angus breeder and the oldest of four Humpert siblings growing up in the breed. He has exhibited cattle on the National Junior Angus Show for years but also prepares and works for many contests, from public speaking to team sales.

Paige Lemenager, from Hudson, Ill., grew up in an Angus family, where they’ve placed a lot of emphasis on the show ring during her career. She just finished her judging career at Lakeland College and will be headed to Texas Tech in the fall. Paige was named Champion Angus Showman at the National Junior Angus Show in 2022.

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.

Miranda Reiman (00:03):

Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Reiman with my co-host, Mark McCully, and our guest co-host, Avery Mather. Hey guys. We are back for day two here at the National Junior Angus Show and working on this Junior Takeover podcast, and it's been really fun to talk about the diversity of the event that we have going on and really the diversity beyond the event.

Avery Mather (00:28):

Yeah, definitely. And being able to interact with the juniors and learn about them and hear what they have to say.

Mark McCully (00:35):

And a couple today that I think really just showcased the different, I say different approaches, they're both super competitive but maybe have focused in the different areas. Paige Lemenager focused on, their family is really focused on the show side in the ring, and then Brenlen Humpert, he came with his family and they compete as well, but he even admitted that that's maybe lesser the focus as it is. Before I was asking him the number of contests that he was in and I said, well, stop. How about tell me the ones you're not in? Because it was two and …

Avery Mather (01:09):

Yeah, it was two. That's exactly right. And for those that don't know, there's a lot of contests to do here. Lots. So, he's a busy boy.

Miranda Reiman (01:18):

Yeah. I think that we have gotten done, this is like I said, our second one, and we just have smiles on our face the entire time. Not that I am surprised that these juniors have been so fantastic, but I think it's just a great reminder to anyone listening the kind of humans we have in this program.

Avery Mather (01:37):

And the kind of humans that this program is raising and how many of them there are. We can't interview everyone, but if we could, oh my gosh, you could go on and on and on.

Miranda Reiman (01:48):

So, if you're listening to this and you're maybe driving home from the junior show, hopefully you're nodding along saying, yeah, that's exactly the kind of competitors I saw out there this week. And if you're maybe a regular listener who doesn't get the opportunity to attend junior show, hopefully we've given you just a little bit of flavor of what goes on here.

We're on day two of recording live from the National Junior Angus Show, and Avery is going to introduce today's guest.

Avery Mather (02:15):

Today we have Paige Lemenager from Illinois. Super excited to hear about her experience as a junior, along with Brenlen Humpert and his experience and involvement in the junior association.

Miranda Reiman (02:28):

And Brenlen, you're from Texas?

Brenlen Humpert (02:30):

Yes, ma'am.

Miranda Reiman (02:31):

Alright, tell us just a little bit about you, give us your elevator speech, kind of where you're from.

Brenlen Humpert (02:34):

So, I live right south of Wichita Falls, Texas, in a little town called Windthorst. And we're pretty much smack dab between OKC and DFW, so we get a lot of through traffic, but the town I live in specifically is just a little small dairy town, and we actually started in the dairy business before we got into Angus. So, whenever my uncle was in high school and I was about five or six, we kind of got out of the dairy thing and started doing Angus and now I'm here.

Miranda Reiman (03:03):

So you've never milked a cow in your life?

Brenlen Humpert (03:07):

No, I got to skip out on that actually.

Miranda Reiman (03:08):

Lucky. Lucky. Very good. And Paige, give us kind of your elevator speech.

Paige Lemenager (03:13):

Yeah, absolutely. So born and raised in Hudson, Illinois, central part of the state. Similar to Brenlen, we kind of transitioned into Angus. It maybe wasn't like our home roots as a family unit. An only child so my parents and I really dove into the Angus breed; 2014 would've been my first Junior Nationals. They bought an Angus heifer together instead of an engagement ring. That's kind of their story, and it kind of sounds like a …

Miranda Reiman (03:41):

Better investment probably.

Paige Lemenager (03:43):

It doesn't sound real, but I promise it is. I thought that was a pretty neat foundation for them, but it's been a great journey ever since.

Mark McCully (03:50):

You just finished up at Lake Land College.

 

Paige Lemenager (03:51):

You bet.

Mark McCully (03:54):

And heading to, is this public information now?

Paige Lemenager (03:56):

It is. It wasn’t for awhile.

Mark McCully (03:57):

Your dad swore me to silence there for a little bit, to secrecy.

Paige Lemenager (04:01):

No, you were one of the few that were allowed to know. How about that? No, we're excited. Spent an hour and a half away from home studying at Lake Land College, so I want to be an ag attorney one day. I don't know if I've ever really shared that with even you, Avery, but long story short: I knew I wanted to go into the livestock judging route kind of as an extracurricular, keep me busy during my studies.

So with wanting to have an ag econ, animal science somewhere in there bachelor's, I knew I needed to go and do the ag transfer route and get an associate's first. Lake Land was an awesome experience, got to be close to home, still in the show barn and especially with the cow herd. So, then I really had that open opportunity of going farther away from home for the next two years. I could not be more excited to join Texas Tech’s program. They have phenomenal people in the animal science department that have supported me already to the nth degree. So really, really looking forward to spending time with them. And there's no question that they are some of my mentors already.

Miranda Reiman (04:59):

And you're going to get used to the heat.

Paige Lemenager (05:01):

I'm not cut out for West Texas long-term. I'll go ahead and throw that in there.

Miranda Reiman (05:05):

Brenlen’s going to have to give some tips.

Paige Lemenager (05:07):

Yes, please do.

Brenlen Humpert (5:08):

Well, first things first, make sure you tie everything down because it will blow away if you don't get used to there being dust on your doorstep every morning and get ready for those 115-plus days, but …

Mark McCully (05:19):

It'll be a dry heat, you'll be fine.

Brenlen Humpert (05:22):

Yeah. Sometimes so much depends on how much Texas likes you that time of year.

Paige Lemenager (05:28):

That's funny.

Mark McCully (05:29):

So Paige, I've known you a long time, Brenlen, we just met here today, but Paige, I've known your folks a long time. We go way, way, way back. And so I know this has been a family thing for you guys from the get-go. You guys do this as a family unit. I don't know, you take other vacations or it's cow shows, right?

So you've been at this a long time, had some pretty incredible success. 2022, you won the showmanship contest, correct?

Paige Lemenager (06:15):

Yes.

Mark McCully (05:29):

And then 2023, I mean you've had lots of accolades.

Paige Lemenager (06:15):

Thank you.

Mark McCully (05:29):

2023 reserve bred and owned.

Paige Lemenager (06:15):

Yes sir. Yep.

Mark McCully (05:29):

And that heifer went on to do a lot of winning.

Paige Lemenager (06:15):

Thank you. Yeah.

Mark McCully (05:29):

So, what may be some of your favorite champions or the ones you're most proud of?

Paige Lemenager (06:15):

Meaningful? Man, I get that question a lot and I wouldn't blame you if you asked it, but I'm a firm believer every animal has their own story and I love that part of it. And especially with the bred and owned side of things. Yes. Early on in my show career, we didn't have a great number of bred and owneds because our mindset was you purchase foundational females to build a cow herd around that start off as show heifers, not only for disposition reasons, but just so you can start launching yourself. And even the owned heifers have a good story. I've got a fall heifer here that she's, I mean, we had some trust issues from the start and now she only trusts me and I love that. But dad doesn't, right? They all have their own story. So I wish I could give you a solid answer, but I don't want to discredit one versus another. I’m like a parent, like a mom.

Mark McCully (07:02):

A parent that says they can't pick their favorite child.

Miranda Reiman (07:04):

They're all your favorites.

Paige Lemenager (07:06):

Yeah, that is true.

Miranda Reiman (07:07):

Brenlen, tell us a little bit about where, so we were commenting actually on your class ring. So, you're going into your senior year this year?

 

Brenlen Humpert (7:15):

Yes ma'am, I am.

 

Miranda Reiman (7:16):

Okay. What are future plans for you? Have you thought that far ahead?

Brenlen Humpert (07:20):

I'm accepted into OSU and that's where I'll be attending. Not quite sure what I'm doing there yet, but I know regardless of where my degree is, I know I want to stay in ag. Ag has been a big part of my life so far, very involved in 4-H and FFA. And with the Angus thing, being first generation, we are not really going out there in the ring to win. We're going out there to do our best to present ourselves as well as we can. My little brother, he's great at showmanship, a lot better than I am. That's his thing. But me, I'm more about the contests, that side of thing. Mark, like I was saying earlier, the only thing I'm not doing is fitting and auctioneering. I'm here to knock out every contest I can and have been for the longest time.

Miranda Reiman (07:59):

So, we're lucky we got a half an hour of your time here today.

Brenlen Humpert (08:03):

Yeah, just that one time that I have a moment to breathe.

Paige Lemenager (08:07):

Well, I challenge you for auctioneering because, boy, you haven't stuttered once and I

stutter over here comparatively.

Brenlen Humpert (08:13):

Yeah, I don't know. I'm not great with numbers. It’s mainly just regular words that I can handle.

Avery Mather (08:15):

You could say the words, but adding the math in your head isn’t going to work.

Brenlen Humpert (08:20):

It doesn't work for me. 

Paige Lemenager (08:21):

Pretty fast paced.

Miranda Reiman (08:22):

Very good. So, what are some of your favorite contests that you're competing in?

Brenlen Humpert (08:26):

So, I've always been a big fan of sales talk. Whenever I was pretty young, eight, nine, starting out in the Angus industry and specifically starting out in the Texas Junior Angus Association, Texas always had a really competitive scene for contests. We have almost every contest aside from team ones. So excluding Cookoff, we have pretty much every other contest at the state level and that's actually how we decide our teams for quiz bowl and sales talk. And even from a really young age, it was always something I enjoyed. Selling things to people is something that I feel like I'm a decent bit good at. And I'd say besides sales talk, I'd say probably extemporaneous speaking would have to be another favorite of mine just because it's the only thing I don't really have to memorize. So, it gives my brain a little room to just think and do my own thing and I can appreciate that about the contest.

Avery Mather (09:18):

Can you tell us more about extemporaneous speaking? It's hard to even say the word.

Brenlen Humpert (09:25):

For Angus specifically, we go into a room, they give us a bowl, we pick out three topics and we decide on one of those topics. We have time to go and sit down and write things. I'm not much of a writer, I just kind of look at the topic and think about it before I go in there. But we take that chance to go in there and write down some thoughts or bullet points or whatever we're going to say, and we take it into a room, present it to judges and answer some questions.

Miranda Reiman (09:47):

How long of a time period do you have to do your prep work?

Brenlen Humpert (09:51):

I'd say it's like 30 minutes, depending on the age group.

 

Miranda Reiman (09:53):

30 minutes or 45.

Brenlen Humpert (09:54):

I think it's about 30 minutes depending on the age group. I think it changes, but yeah, about 30.

Avery Mather (09:59):

So that one definitely helps you think on your feet.

Brenlen Humpert (10:01):

Oh yeah.

Avery Mather (10:02):

Do you think that one correlates with team sales when judges ask you questions and you have to think on your feet in that way?

Brenlen Humpert (10:08):

Funny story about that. I'm pretty bad about answering too many questions and more than once it has affected our scores. It's one of the reasons that we didn't win ag advo for FFA one time because I answered a question that someone else, they didn't really have it. And instead of giving it to someone else, I answered it just kind of like instinctively. And in sales talk, I'd say that I have to work very hard to not do that. But in general, I think extemp has always been huge for me, especially because when I was at my first Nationals, which first Nationals to compete at was Grand Island, but the first Nationals I attended was also Tulsa. The first Nationals I competed at being Grand Island, we kind of just threw me into extemp and I didn't know what was happening until I got there and I actually ended up …

Miranda Reiman (11:03):

That's kind of the general definition of extemp.

Brenlen Humpert (11:07):

I am pretty sure I'm the only junior that didn't cry. Whenever I did it, I was scared for my life. I am pretty sure I felt like I was riding a roller coaster the whole time, which I'm not a fan of, but I was the only one who was able to walk out of there with no tears in my eyes and I was actually able to win that year. And so I was kind of sold on it from there. Hooked, yeah.

Avery Mather (11:28):

Now, have you ever given thought to running for the board? Just your general demeanor -- see, Brenlen and I have never met each other until today. So even those who are listening, is that an aspiration?

Brenlen Humpert (11:36):

Yeah, it definitely is. My uncle, some of you may know him, Derek Wolf, he ran for the board. I want to say it was Des Moines, and he's about 10 years older than me, so he's currently 26, soon to be 27. And even before he ran for the board, the Green Coats have always been such a cool thing to me, even when I was really little. And then as I've gotten older, seeing people like Avery at conferences and at shows, all the things that they do, not just for the juniors but for the Association as a whole. I think that it's really impactful. It's really inspiring and that's always been something that I've wanted to try to emulate at some point. So hopefully within the next couple of years.

Avery Mather (12:18):

I highly encourage you. He's definitely a leader at a lot of conferences and things like that and we …

Brenlen Humpert (12:23):

For better or for worse.

Avery Mather (12:26):

We enjoy having him around.

Paige Lemenager (12:28):

I don't think I was a delegate that year, was I?

Avery Mather (12:32):

I don't remember.

Paige Lemenager (12:33):

I don’t think I was. Man, I enjoyed that process. It was fun being a delegate for your guys' board.

Brenlen Humpert (12:38):

That's actually what I was doing right before I walked over here. I was talking to some candidates right before this.

Avery Mather (12:43):

Are you a delegate this year?

Brenlen Humpert (12:38):

I am.

Avery Mather (12:43):

So, tell us more about your role in that.

Miranda Reiman (12:47):

Yeah, is the process -- I didn't grow up in the junior association or in the Angus business, so I'm learning all the new things. Is the process very similar to how our board works on the association level and with delegates that do the voting?

Brenlen Humpert (13:01):

Yeah, so I could talk about this for hours. I think it's really interesting, but I'll try to keep it short and sweet. The whole process, I think specifically one thing that I have over just some delegates, in general, is I've gone to a lot of these conferences -- Raising the Bar and LEAD -- which are great experiences, but it also gives you a chance to meet people before they run for the board. And some of these people are really good politicians, so it's good to be able to meet them beforehand and just see how they carry themselves, if they carry themselves differently. I think it has a big impact on peoples’ voting decisions, not just mine. But overall, I think all the candidates this year are really strong. It's going to be a really tough year.

Mark McCully (13:40):

13

Brenlen Humpert (13:41):

I believe so.

Miranda Reiman (13:42):

Running for 6 spots.

Brenlen Humpert (13:44):

It's some tough competition this year and I think, especially in the past few years, there's been a lot of good competition. So, I'm excited for their annual meeting tonight. I think it's going to be pretty interesting.

Miranda Reiman (13:53):

So, you were elected to then vote on behalf of your state?

Brenlen Humpert (13:56):

Yes. At the Fort Worth Stock Show we have our annual meeting. We elect two delegates and an alternate, and I was one of the delegates this year.

Mark McCully (14:04):

So Paige, when you were a delegate, talk about that process. How did you, because you guys, it's tonight -- we're recording this on Tuesday, voting on Friday -- the annual meeting for the junior board. So each of the junior candidates or candidates for the board give their speeches and you have a chance to meet them.

Paige Lemenager (14:24):

Some that I know well and some of them that I don't. But even just kind of bumping into, they've got their lanyards on and you're aware that they're a delegate or excuse me, running, but I've even expressed with our delegates and those who are running, and I shared with them and I said, when I was voting on behalf of Illinois, what I noticed the most was those who seemed to enjoy the candidacy, who were enjoying the process, truly going out of their way to try and get to know people. Because when you come and talk to me and you might be a little overwhelmed, and I didn't want anybody to go into it stressed. I had shared that with a couple of candidates this year. I said, you're not going to be able to talk to everyone in the barns.

Don't forget you have cows here. Don't forget you have a family. There's a thousand people out there. Don't forget to eat. Take care of yourself. And just remember just to be cool, calm and collected for the delegate meeting because that's where I based a lot of my decision when I was voting because there's a lot of preparation that goes into that. But I think an open conversation, similar to an extemp contest, those contests prepare you for an election process like that because they were able to talk on their feet. But also prior interactions, like you mentioned at conferences too, that's always in the back of my head was how they treated others and how they treated me. There was a theory that I learned just in a podcast actually a couple years back, and I'll share this with you before you run for the board one day, and it was called the for-to theory, and it was people are either going to remember in a conversation what you did for them or what you did to them. And that's something I try and carry with me is you don't have to change a person's life in a conversation. But I think if you just give them something positive in a general interaction and don't really necessarily say anything that crosses a line and maybe it's like, wow, I can't believe they said that to me or did that to me. Just that's a general theory that I tried to share with people but loved being a delegate. I think it shaped me as a person and best wishes to those running.

Avery Mather (16:14):

Yeah. Definitely. After you said that, I'm like, oh yeah, Paige was definitely a delegate that year. I totally remember that, those conversations now.

 

Paige Lemenager (16:20):

I was known as one of the harder delegates. I asked some tricky questions to them in the round tables, which they were all intimidated by me, but I promise I'm not that intimidating.

 

Miranda Reimann (16:29)

She’s smiling as she says it.

Avery Mather (16:29):

Watch out for Paige. She's at the next table.

Paige Lemenager (16:33):

Oh my gosh. Her questions are questions. It's all good.

Brenlen Humpert (16:35):

I think it's really interesting that you mentioned the confidence in how they carry themselves in a conversation because even before I was a delegate several years back, I don't know if you guys remember when Corbin Cowles was running for the board. He's one of those people that always carried himself like that. And he was actually judging our state show back in June.

Paige Lemenager (16:53):

He defines energy in my mind. 

Brenlen Humpert (16:55):

He’s always got it. And he was probably the main reason that I went from like, oh yeah, I might run for the board someday to I'm definitely doing that because even whenever I was 12 years old and my opinion didn't matter to him being on the board or not, he still gave time to talk to me and talk to the other juniors. And when he was on the board, he was always there and impactful.

Paige Lemenager (17:17):

And now we're transitioning into that role where we're more of the Corbin, that role model, and it’s a lot of pressure to go to a show and to know that there is always a little kid watching your every move. I forget about it subconsciously, you're just walking to the bathroom on your phone, you're like, I need to put my phone away. I need to just enjoy the show and embrace the atmosphere, talk to more people. And yeah, it's kind of a scary feeling. Honestly. It's a lot of responsibility being a mentor to others.

Avery Mather (17:44):

When you get older, it's like, no one's actually looking at me. They're not looking up to me. But then you think about when you were younger, you're like, oh, but I was looking at them.

Paige Lemenager (17:55):

It’s like can I have just one more year to just run around?

Avery Mather (17:56):

Don’t watch me yet.

Miranda Reiman (17:57):

Mark and I were actually just talking about that prior to the podcast of how many, I think you told me there were over a 100 new members here as first-time exhibitors. I don't know what that feels, if that's a lot or if that's a typical number. It feels like a lot to me. How did you guys first get into it? We know it can be intimidating when you come as a first-time exhibitor or first-time competitor. How did you really get into it or get hooked so you felt rather when leaving like, oh, that was the most overwhelming experience of my life to being like, I want to do that again. Can't wait to go back.

Paige Lemenager (18:34):

The drive home. You'll be like, I am exhausted. I don't know if I could ever do this again. And then I promise you, June will roll around the next year and you guys are ready to go. That's just the best way I can summarize it. And yes, my first year at Nationals was an absolute blur. We brought too many cows. It was a good temperature. We were in Indianapolis, so 2014, and I'll never forget it. But it was also those foundational years where you weren't really necessarily making it out of your class. For me personally, that just lit a fire in me to just want to go back at it. And being an only child too, my friends become like my family. So for me personally, just going to that Junior Nationals and being just overwhelmed by the number of people, I'm like, I want to go. I want to meet everybody and I want to talk to everybody. So yeah, I would definitely say, without a doubt, you're going to be exhausted for first-year families, and without a doubt, you're going to wish you could do things over. But then when you're on your 10th Junior National like me, you'll wish you could have about 10 more.

Brenlen Humpert (19:32):

Yeah, I think I'm really fortunate to have younger siblings that give me an excuse to come back even whenever I'm done.

Miranda Reiman (19:38):

When you age out, you'll still get out.

Brenlen Humpert (19:39):

Even when I'm getting old and don't have time to come to these shows all the time, I think it's good that I'll have a chance to come back at least for some reason. But, in general, I did not think that I was going to enjoy my first Nationals as much as I did. I was not excited to go to Tulsa because my mom was at home with my little sister who was just getting here, and I was not excited to take that trip with my uncle and grandparents. I was going to be gone for a week, the longest I'd ever been gone from my mom. And I was not excited at first, but I mean before the week was even over, I knew that this was going to be something I did probably for the rest of my life, just because the people you meet, the opportunities you have and all the experiences that are truly irreplaceable. I knew it was going to be something that I wanted to become a cornerstone of me as a person.

Avery Mather (20:26):

Is there any of those moments that stick out as one of your favorites?

Brenlen Humpert (20:32):

There's a lot of moments. I don't know if I could pick just one, but I would say any moment that I got to spend around close friends doing contests, the competitive rivalries. I mean, me and Texas kids go back and forth to the Kansas kids every year. They beat us in Kansas City and we beat them last year in Grand Island.

Avery Mather (20:54):

So we're one in one, we're going.

Brenlen Humpert (20:56):

We both bumped up to senior this year. We're going for all the marbles with this year's senior sales talk competition. But I think anytime that we get to have one of those competitive kinds of friendly rivalries or we have a chance to have that companionship among the group, we make each other better people by working on these skill sets. I think those are probably my favorite memories from these sorts of events, these national leads, so on, so forth.

Paige Lemenager (21:21):

And you strike me as a hungry competitor.

 

Brenlen Humpert (21:23):

Very competitive.

 

Paige Lemenager (21:27):

And especially on the contest side, that was something that I didn't dive head in on because we were always like, maybe we'll bring one or two extra heifers when we maybe shouldn't. Right? But I think by you and I both, we want the instant gratification. I think that's just a general theme amongst our generation. It gets as simple as our phones. We just want that instant gratification. But starting out maybe not having that glorious, getting your name called out on the Cookoff team or team sales, or not even making it in the top half of your class. Those beginning experiences are what kind of launches you and inspires you. And it's hard because I think interacting with new families, it's like, oh man, we didn't even win our class. I'm like, no. It took us years to win our class at the National Junior Angus Show. It took me years to do well in the judging contest at the National Junior Angus Show. Those are just some things that I would want to just keep in the back of other people's minds and share as advice.

Mark McCully (22:20):

It's so competitive. I've talked to families that say their goal is to make it in the top part of the first cut when they split the class, which I think is some reasonable goals depending upon how hard you want to go at this with budgets, all that sort of thing, and how long you've been at it.

Paige Lemenager (22:38):

I think in judging shows with dad, and I shared this with him, if we ever had a venue where there was a large group of kids and we didn't get to talk every animal, because I remember what every judge has said about my animal in the back of my head to this day, I'll never forget what one judge said this time or that time …

Mark McCully (22:57):

How wrong they were.

Paige Lemenager (23:00):

No, it just sticks with you because you spend an entire summer with these animals creating a bond. And it's personal, right?

 

Miranda Reiman (23:08)

They're talking about your kids.

Paige Lemenager (23:09):

And the judges that take the time to talk to that bottom half of the class -- I'll never forget the conversation I had at 2014 with my bred-and-owned bull at the bottom of my class. Never forget it. And that's something that I hope to have that opportunity one day -- not the National Junior Angus Show for example -- but just a venue where you could talk and interact with people and just give them that inspiration, give them that hope to just keep working at it and just don't give up along the way. But I have the utmost respect for those who do that, and I hope our judges do that here, is take the time to talk to those who maybe didn't have the opportunity to get their cattle talked about and really take the time to interact with the junior.

Miranda Reiman (23:44):

That's a great point, because they are trying to keep those classes moving. There's a lot of cattle to get through. They've got us behind the scenes telling them to keep it moving, keep it moving.

Mark McCully (23:55):

Avery, maybe talk a little bit about, we talked about first-time folks coming, and this is such a big event with so many kids, so many people, maybe talk about some of the things that are intentionally built here for mixers and icebreakers and mentoring and that sort of thing. It's very intentional.

Avery Mather (24:10):

Yes, very much so. And we actually put a lot of time, not that we don't every year, into the Angus mentoring program, which we call AMP for short. Did a little revamp on that this year. And it was so fun. We had two mixers, one on Sunday and one yesterday where kids were matched up with either an older member or someone that had more experience at these Junior Nationals, and they're able to fill out this booklet that has just a lot of different things they can do, whether it's going to a clinic or watching a show, watching a contest, going to meet Miss American Angus or something like that, to really get them exposed to all the different parts of the National Junior Angus Show and maybe just a little bit at a time because there is so much. So that's what I would say is a big program for those new members is the AMP program.

Brenlen Humpert (25:03):

Paige, I'm sure you remember how the mentor program used to work. I remember in, I want to say Des Moines, the way you decided was everyone took off a shoe and threw it in the middle. And one of the mentors, if they picked up your shoe, that was your partner for the week.

Miranda Reiman (25:20):

That's a very smelly way to go about it.

Paige Lemenager (25:22):

And it was hot that week, so yeah, we felt victim.

Brenlen Humpert (25:27):

I think that AMP has definitely been a really cool revamp for the whole mentor program. I think you guys have done a great job with that.

Paige Lemenager (25:34):

Oh, and the booklet. That's really clever too. I love that. And keeping people active and meeting people, others.

Avery Mather (25:41):

Oh yeah. And all the water balloons and slip and slides.

Brenlen Humpert (25:46):

Don’t remind me. I face planted too hard on Sunday.

Avery Mather (25:48):

Oh my goodness. We had dish soap out there.

Mark McCully (25:51):

I heard about the soap.

Avery Mather (25:54):

It was a great time.

Paige Lemenager (25:56):

You guys might know more about the clinics this year, but going through check-in and the BQA clinic, can you explain some of that and what the theory behind that was?

Mark McCully (26:05):

Yeah. Well, part of it has just been, in general, we've been talking about Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) from a Certified Angus Beef standpoint as an incredible platform to really connect the consumer with the brand, tell the story, if you will, about the great work that cattlemen do every day, taking care of their land, taking care of the animals, and BQA for some, they think, well, that's a simple step. I've done that. I did that years ago. But what we found is across the industry, we don't have 100% certification. And so that's really been a goal of Certified Angus Beef. And really I think the industry is to really encourage BQA certification as a first step. So we implemented it here a couple of years ago and did a BQA training. We are going to make it mandatory next year to be BQA-certified or the youth program equivalent. And many states and county fairs already require that. We don’t think it’s a big step, but we put that BQA certification in place this year and actually had to turn away. We filled the room, we had over 200.

Miranda Reiman (27:08):

There were some people that stood for the duration of the two-hour clinic.

Mark McCully (27:12):

And the first time we did it a couple of years ago, we did one and we had like 20 people show up. So this was, and they gave away some cool prizes too. Yeah, there was a carrot dangled out there, but that's okay. But no, there was great participation.

Avery Mather (27:28):

And last year was similar, I mean, there were people standing. We packed the room and then to do that again this year, it’s awesome.

Miranda Reiman (27:34):

Yeah, because it is a three-year certification. It's good. It's not like you have to re-up every year.

Paige Lemenager (27:39):

A refresher, good refresher.

Brenlen Humpert (27:40):

I will say I took the class online after Nationals last year when I saw that. I think -- were they giving out hats? The same hats last year? I saw those. Yeah, I'm going to have to do that. So, I actually got home from Nationals last year and got that knocked out.

Paige Lemenager (27:54):

The carrot works. The carrot works.

Brenlen Humpert (27:56):

My little sister, she wasn't able to go to the class this year. She had a conflicting schedule, so I just gave her my hat and I can always get another one. 

Miranda Reiman (28:04):

You're a big, big brother. That's good. Are your other siblings brothers?

Brenlen Humpert (28:08):

I have one little brother and two little sisters.

Miranda Reiman (28:10):

Okay. I was going to say the sisters have you wrapped, I can tell.

Avery Mather (28:14):

You see them. You can tell they’re siblings.

Paige Lemenager (28:17):

Big responsibility. You bet.

Brenlen Humpert (28:18):

You guys were talking about being role models earlier. I've never had the chance to mess up because I've always had three little ones that'll tell mom anything I do wrong. I can't get away with making any mistakes out here.

Paige Lemenager (28:30):

I just tell my dog tough to keep his mom.

Miranda Reiman (28:33):

My son has five younger sisters, so he can totally empathize with you on that point.

Brenlen Humpert (28:38):

Younger sisters, it's a love-hate relationship. It's kind of scary sometimes, especially when they have all these little boys on their contest teams. It makes me worry a little bit. At least they're Angus kids. I'll give them that.

Miranda Reiman (28:51):

That's cute. So you've talked about the mentorship program and pairing up here, but who would you consider some of the mentors that have helped you? I mean, is that just been family or have you had other people within your state that have helped mentor you along your journey to get to where you're at now?

Paige Lemenager (29:07):

I've always thought that a mentor isn't necessarily even one person. I think it's awesome if you spend time with a quality individual and you admire a lot of things about them. But I've always said that I think it's good to have a wide variety of mentors and kind of mesh that into what you want to be. Everybody has their flaws, but I think if you take those things -- I love Mark's communication skills. I love the smile that you carry in your general demeanor. I think those are good things to keep in the back of your mind when interacting with others is like, man, they're really good at holding a conversation, or they were really inquisitive. They asked more questions to me than I asked to them. Those are things that I try and keep in the back of my mind. But without question, I mean those who serve and people like Mark's position, our junior activities directors, the Green Jackets, those are also mentors. But I think grassroot initiatives are important too. Having solid advisors in Illinois and Texas, for example, with us. I think without question, I wouldn't be where I am without awesome advisors. Wouldn't you say the same in Texas?

Brenlen Humpert (30:13):

One hundred percent. And I would say I've heard it takes a village to raise a kid. And the Angus Association, specifically the Texas Junior Angus Association, has been the best village I could ask for. The advisor teams that we've had over the past several years. I mean we went from having three sets of parents to now we have just 10 individuals. And the past several years, the people that we've had on our advisor team have been so good at being there for our juniors, from coaching sales talk teams to staying up late, making props for the CAB skits, and then even just the small tidbits of life advice that you get from them. And I think that extends past just my advisors, but even to you guys. I'm the youngest one at this table, and I think that I've seen all of you around before. I think that you all have qualities that I kind of aspire to bring forward as I go through this organization, but I think that applies specifically to you Green Coats, right? I see you guys around everywhere. You guys are always having to work your hardest to make sure stuff gets done right. And I really admire that about you guys. So, I think that in general, just the Angus Association as a whole has just been a great mentor to me.

Paige Lemenager (31:22):

And for first-year families, I'll put this little tidbit in: So my mom's an advisor for Illinois, but I would even say, and she and I have talked about it in conversation, there's multiple advisors. She just carries the title. There are so many moms that make Cookoff happen. There are so many volunteers that bring curtains and poles and stall signs and all this stuff. It's a community effort to get to a show like this and get to this event. So, you don't need to worry about having enough snacks. Somebody near you is going to have a snack. You don't have to worry about having the perfect broom, right? It's the simplest things, and it is a community environment. And I do think traveling to this show and really stepping outside your comfort zone makes you a better family unit, or at least it sure has for us.

Avery Mather (32:07):

I think it's a shout-out and a reminder to all our juniors. I know you two have given a lot of big thanks out, but thank your parents, thank your advisors. Thank your Angus family that got you here today.

Miranda Reiman (32:18):

That’s a great reminder. And actually I have a question written down that was what advice do you have for fellow NJAS members? Do you have any other advice that you'd like to give to any of the juniors that may listen to this on their way home?

Brenlen Humpert (32:32):

I think just, in general, do all of the things. I would not be where I am today if I didn't have my mom and grandparents and advisors and older kids forcing me to do contests. It always goes better than you think it will. I'm not typically one to get nervous about things like this, but even just my first time doing quiz bowl or my first time doing public speaking, obviously I was a little nervous. Then you get out of the room and you are like, well, yeah, it could have gone better, but I had a good time. And I think that taking those opportunities, just because you haven't always been at these shows, just because it's your first time, even if you're not a little kid, even if you're an older junior coming in for the first time, it can be intimidating. I can speak from personal experience on that, but if you just take the opportunity to go do the contest, get out there in the ring, do your best, you'll thrive here. I think that that's a really cool thing about the Angus industry.

Paige Lemenager (33:30):

I love the use of the word thrive in that sentence there. I think it's entirely true. You will thrive getting out of your lawn chair and getting out and seeing people and introducing yourself and thank your parents along the way. That's a piece of advice. They're sacrificing the time they're at home with your cow herd, with your family. My piece of advice is more even a challenge. And I just firmly believe that if you challenge yourself to go and observe things that you like and what other people do, whether you like how people are getting their cattle presented, whether you like how their team skit went in Cookoff or how they did public speaking, ask them what they did. Ask them for those skills because you can improve yourself in a simple conversation. And yes, there is going to be that barrier and that bit of discomfort introducing yourself to a complete stranger. Trust me, I've walked up to complete strangers before and be like, what are you feeding? What is that? Right? And sometimes you totally have to take that leap of faith, but just challenge yourself to go outside your comfort zone, find the things that you enjoy, talk to new people, and I think it'll really kind of inspire people along the way.

Mark McCully (34:40):

What great advice. I think that whether it's a junior member or an adult listening to this, so many times, it's just sometimes you got to take that next step, get a little bit outside your comfort zone, try it, look around, try some things. And maybe that gets harder as you get older. So, you guys here talking about this is probably inspiring to us old people that sometimes, you know what? It's time. I need to try that. I need to stretch. I need to explore something. Maybe I'm good at, maybe I'm not good at, but you won't know until you get out there.

Miranda Reiman (35:11):

I think, Mark, you say it’s harder for us older people. I think it’s gotten easier for me as I’ve gotten older. I tell people how sometimes when I was first new in the business and I'd go -- I didn't know the feedyard industry very well at all. And I'd go to a feedyard and they'd start talking about stuff, and I would write it all down. I'd nod my head and I'd write it all down and I'd come back and I'd Google it because I didn't want to ask the stupid question. And now, I mean, when I'm talking to interns, we've got intern Megan over here producing our podcast for us today. It's always like, don't be afraid to sound stupid. Because one, a lot of the questions aren't stupid questions that you've already self-imposed on yourself that you think it is.

 

Paige Lemenager (35:50):

Yeah, the humility. Right?

Miranda Reiman (35:51):

And then second, I've gotten some of the best answers for stories and for things like that when you just are like, I don't know what you're talking about. Can you explain it to me a little better? Or I'm going to ask this.

Paige Lemenager (36:00):

Generally, people love teaching. They love sharing their knowledge, and I think there's a little bit of ego to it, maybe like, well, I've got the best haircare product, let me tell you. Right? There's always going to be that element. But people enjoy sharing. They enjoy that community. And again, I commend you for having that humility, but also being like, I want to learn this. Just being an active learner.

Brenlen Humpert (36:23):

I think a big general piece of advice would be just to be curious. I think that's something that can benefit you no matter where you are in life. But specifically in an industry like this where there is so much knowledge, there are so many things to know. We are just now getting to the point where I'm confident to bring my own cattle to shows. I feel like I'm proud to have those cattle that I raised in my stalls. And while I'll never get to necessarily see the show ring benefits of those, I know that my siblings will, I know that they're winning for the first time in our cattle as far as bred and owned goes. We're winning our first couple classes and it feels great, and I think it's awesome. But I am glad that we had the experience of coming home with those tough losses first. It gave us a chance to be curious and learn as much as we can about not just hair care or how to wash cattle properly or how to clip, which I'm still working on …

Paige Lemenager (37:13):

Aren’t we all?

Brenlen Humpert (37:14):

But it gave us an opportunity to build upon like a good foundation of resilience, I think.

Paige Lemenager (37:22):

I couldn't have really said that better myself. You can probably cut it off right there. That was pretty awesome. I love that. Very well said.

Mark McCully (37:28):

I think there's a book of wisdom coming out of this podcast and that’s just fantastic. Be curious. I've heard it been said that the key to everything is being teachable. Right? And that's so, so true. So true.

Miranda Reiman (37:42):

So have I allowed all of you, we've got three co-hosts today. So, have I allowed you to ask all the questions you wanted to ask?

Avery Mather (37:48):

I guess I was curious, you're both at a chapter flip, maybe I would say, in life. Brenlen, going to graduate here in another year, and Paige taking on Texas. What are some things that you've learned through the NJAA that you look to take to the future or credit for maybe success outside the NJAA?

Paige Lemenager (38:13):

I would argue that the biggest asset you have by showing and being involved in the NJAA is the network that you're able to develop. And it's really easy to get caught up in the competition. It's really easy to be exhausted after a contest and want to go take a nap in the truck. But I promise you, you'll thank yourself after a week of exhaustion and you're going to want to go out and talk to as many people as you can, make others feel confident, make others feel happy in your interactions along the way. And that's just what's going to kind of be the most fruitful for you. I enjoy, and I guess it's kind of my why, I enjoy putting a smile on other people's face. I also love showing cattle, and you could do it all in one place. And I think that's something to just be mindful of is not get caught up in the competition but give it your all and just remind yourself to have fun along the way and just really, really push yourself to get to know other people.

Avery Mather (39:03):

Yeah. You mentioned network. That's one thing. At 14 years old, my parents were putting me on a plane to go across the country and their friends are like, oh my gosh, why would you let your child do that by themselves? And things like that. Or even at 22 years old, driving 10 hours by myself, the Angus network is everywhere. I have never been worried because I know I can call Mark and I can call Caitlyn and I can say, hey, who's closest here? And they would be there.

Miranda Reiman (39:28)

And we have had a lot of stories of that where people have said like, well, I just called up so-and-so and they fixed the flat tire.

Paige Lemenager (39:37):

I bet you could have an Angus Journal in the back of your car and look up.

Miranda Reiman (39:41):

That's right. You're exactly right.

Paige Lemenager (39:43):

You get stranded in West Texas. I bet there's somebody.

Miranda Reiman (39:46):

There's plenty of them. Call Brenlen now.

Brenlen Humpert (39:49):

That's still about five hours.

Miranda Reiman (39:51):

But you'll know someone else, right?

Brenlen Humpert (39:53):

Yeah. There's a million people out there.

Avery Mather (39:54):

It's that network and that Angus family that's everywhere.

Brenlen Humpert (39:58):

I would say a hello and a handshake can get you a lot of places, but it can't get you farther anywhere than it can in the Angus industry. I wasn't always super excited to go out and meet people for the longest time. I just liked having my little circle of people and friends that I could run around the barns with and not really interact with anyone else. But as I've gotten older, I think I've started to see the value of meeting new people and taking chances, like being a voting delegate or potentially running for the Green Coat Board, things like that. I didn't realize the value whenever I was 10, 11 years old. And it's crazy. I see kids that age that do recognize that value, and that's super impressive to me. But I think that that's one of the greatest things about this association is just how far you can go just simply by introducing yourself and asking questions.

Avery Mather (40:51):

I think getting out of your circle goes for all of us, of all ages, of all walks of life. We can all use that reminder to get away from what we know and get out of that circle and go shake somebody's hand.

Paige Lemenager (41:01):

I love what you said about the handshake. I think there's so much power and a friendly smile, handshake, penmanship, just those foundational life skills, and I've, heck, learned those at my first couple of Junior Nationals. I think that this association is dedicated to bettering our kids, not just as cattle producers, but is just to make better humans.

Miranda Reiman (41:21):

I love that. So speaking of getting out of our comfort zone, Mark always gets really uncomfortable when I switch to the random question of the week part of the podcast.

 

Mark McCully (41:30)

Because I never know what it is either.

Miranda Reiman (41:32):

So random question of the week: What can you not leave home without? If you're headed to junior show, what's for sure going to be either in your showbox, in your pickup? I'm not going to restrict it as your suitcase item. Yeah. What is the absolute, it's getting packed for?

Avery Mather (41:48):

The cooler with food.

Miranda Reiman (41:50):

The cooler.

Mark McCully (41:51):

And the snacks.

Miranda Reiman (41:52):

The snacks. Do you have a favorite snack? Is there a really specific show snack?

Avery Mather (41:56):

My mom raised her children, and at three years old, we were saying chips aren't healthy but they taste good.

Miranda Reiman (42:02):

So the chips.

Avery Mather (42:05):

So chips, but then carrots on the side, one chip, one carrot.

Paige Lemenager (42:09):

Dad always just jokes and says a credit card.

Miranda Reiman (42:12):

You get anywhere with car keys, salt and a credit card.

Paige Lemenager (42:15):

Out of us three, none of us are very good cooks. I hate to admit it, but no, I would say I always find myself needing an extra pair of socks. I feel like no matter if I have the best waterproof pair of shoes or …

Miranda Reiman (42:26):

Today, you needed those.

Paige Lemenager (42:26):

Yeah, an extra pair of socks. My feet will always get wet washing cows. I don't know what it is, but yeah, that's my random … 

Miranda Reiman (42:32):

Lots of socks or …

Avery Mather (42:33):

Torrential downpours like we've had here today.

Miranda Reiman (42:36):

That's right. When you see the pictures that come out of this podcast.

Paige Lemenager (42:39):

I’ve had people ask me for my extra pair. I'm like, all right, there we go. See, they're not crazy after all. 

Brenlen Humpert (42:44):

For me, I think I'm going to take it to the show box. Always bring an extra halter and neck tie. The amount of times that we've forgotten one and someone's had one for us to borrow. Or conversely, the amount of times that someone has forgotten one and we had one for them to borrow, I think that goes unnoticed. But with my one mother and four kids to tote around to think, sometimes we forget a couple things. I think this year we forgot, we actually forgot the soaper. Brought the soap, brought the scrub brushes, brought the water hose and everything. Just the soaper itself did not make it in the show box.

Paige Lemenager (43:14):

It's funny, after we were packing for this year and dad said, like you would think 10 years of packing this trailer, we would have it down.

Avery Mather (43:21):

And how many times you do it each year.

Paige Lemenager (43:23):

Yep. We forgot a feed scoop at one junior national. He’s like how in the world do you forget a feed scoop? Right.

Mark McCully (43:28):

Or a hose. It seemed like we forgot a hose. How do we forget a hose?

Brenlen Humpert (43:32):

I had to take pictures of how I packed the trailer this year. It’s the best I've ever done. This is my template from now on and this is how I'm doing it.

Paige Lemenager (43:39):

We made an Excel list, but still didn't get her done.

Miranda Reiman (43:42):

I love that.

Brenlen Humpert (43:43):

We have a spreadsheet, a pdf on everything. It never ends up all getting there.

Avery Mather (43:46):

Yep. I can make all the lists I want, but for someone actually to sit there and check it off or look at it would be a miracle.

Miranda Reiman (43:53):

That's what the younger siblings are for.

Paige Lemenager (43:54):

Yeah, you bet.

Miranda Reiman (43:56):

Well, thank you guys. This has been good information. Now, some good practical information, good aspirational life advice, and just appreciated hearing from all of you. For sure.

Mark McCully (44:07):

Absolutely. You guys are fantastic and current leaders, but future leaders, there's not a question in my mind. The three of you, Avery, you're getting lumped into that group. I mean, for someone that can sit back and think about where this industry's going and who's going to be leading it, I'm looking at three of them. So that's pretty exciting and helps us sleep well at night. So good luck to you guys. Thanks for sharing with us here today and really sharing information that I know young folks are going to take to heart. But some of us old folks, you shared a lot of good reminders and even some new stuff for us today. So thank you guys.

Avery Mather (44:44):

I'm going to encourage the juniors also to use these two as a resource. If you guys need help with contests, if you need advice, use Paige and Brenlen both as resources.

Brenlen Humpert (44:53):

I really appreciate this opportunity with you too. And I think I had a really great time. I learned a lot just talking with the four of you. So yeah, I appreciate it.

Paige Lemenager (45:01):

Likewise, thoroughly impressed. Appreciate your friendly conversation. This was great.

Miranda Reiman (45:06):

That's a wrap on the second in this three-part series of the Junior Takeover of this podcast. If you've been enjoying stories of the youth in the Angus breed, pick up your September edition of the Angus Journal where we'll have a special focus on the National Junior Angus Association and all the happenings in Madison this week. Not a subscriber? We can change that. Visit Angus Journal.net to learn more. This has been the Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.