South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation grows student awareness of ag through Fed Cattle Challenge Program

South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation grows student awareness of ag through Fed Cattle Challenge Program

The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation created the Fed Cattle Challenge Program to foster connections. The organization values agricultural literacy and engagement in youth. The Fed Cattle challenge is arguably one of their most popular initiatives, drawing in students from across the state each year.

The students of Gregory High School, Gregory, South Dakota, are very familiar with the Fed Cattle Challenge. Every spring, the students involved in Gregory FFA advisor Mollie Andrews’ animal science class participate in the challenge. The challenge requires participants, who can compete as a team or individually, to purchase a share of a pen of cattle from the nearby Winner Circle Feedyard in Hamill, South Dakota. Andrews’ class pays a down payment of $2,500, equal to about 30 percent of the purchase price for 2.4 percent of a pen of 180 cattle. This down payment is applied to 3 head of cattle that the students take “ownership” of for the duration of the challenge. Winner Circle Feedyard finances the rest of the value of the cattle, along with the feed, yardage, hedging, and veterinary costs. The students receive monthly updates on the cattle, including a feed ration report and the average daily gain.

For the four or so months of the contest, the students receive a weekly curriculum that details the process of starting and finishing cattle. “All kids have to participate in the eight to ten videos and quizzes Roxanne [Knock] sends out,” said Andrews. Knock is a director of the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation and spearheads the Fed Cattle Challenge Program. All the materials put together by her must be completed by the students over the course of the challenge. The coursework is designed to give students an understanding of the process of finishing cattle, which Andrews finds to be incredibly beneficial. She said, “While it’s not directly hands-on, it’s definitely putting kids in the industry and giving them a feel for what they could be doing later on in life.” Her students learn everything from hedging to formulating feed rations to vaccination protocols, and get to tour the feedyard itself. “It’s really gotten kids to realize there’s so many more steps to this,” she shared, explaining that the knowledge students gain over the course of the challenge helps them gain a clearer understanding of how the many aspects of the ag industry come together. “We live in an area with lots of different parts of ag, but we’re all connected.”

While the entire class completes the curriculum together, one student is chosen by their peers at the end of the program to present on what the class has learned. Each student must prepare and present a five- to seven-minute-long PowerPoint presentation detailing three key takeaways from the challenge. “I want them to tell me what they learned from the Fed Cattle Challenge and put it into terms they can explain to other kids,” said Andrews. The students score each other’s presentations, and the highest-ranking individual is tasked with giving their presentation to a panel of judges over Zoom. From there, three finalists are selected to present again at the SDFC’s annual Prime Time Gala in Sioux City, a benefit for Feeding South Dakota that features scholarship presentations, an auction, a truck raffle, and a live concert. Each of the top three individuals will earn a cash prize, with the champion presenter earning $1,500, the first runner-up earning $1,000, and the second runner-up earning $500. The class also gets to keep the proceeds from the sale of their cattle, once all costs have been accounted for.

In the seven years since Andrews has been teaching at Gregory High School, her animal science class has won the challenge three times. The first of her students to take the title at this prestigious event was Nicholas Kenzy, the 2023 champion. Nicholas, now a sophomore at South Dakota State University studying agricultural science, won the challenge his junior year of high school. “I enjoyed the whole thing a lot. When you’re in school, it’s fun to learn about things that are very pertinent or interesting,” he said about his time participating in the challenge. Growing up on his family’s feedlot (Kenzy Backgrounding), Nicholas had a strong foundation in the beef industry that he believes was strengthened by his participation in the program. “I’d say there were parts and pieces of all of it I had a slight understanding of and was able to expand on it,” he shared. This understanding has benefited him in his college career. Nicholas said, “When we would get to the cattle stuff, there were definitely things I’d see and remember from working at home and other things I’d remember more specifically from working on the challenge.” He hopes to return to his family’s operation to continue promoting beef production in South Dakota, and believes that the challenge helped him immensely, from gaining a more well-rounded understanding of the industry to the scholarship money going toward his higher education.

Nicholas’ younger brother, Tyler, is the most recent challenge champion. A current senior at Gregory High School, Tyler is Andrews’ third presentation champion (following his brother in 2023 and Avery Ziesler last year). He also works at Kenzy Backgrounding and put his hands-on knowledge to work over the course of the challenge. While he had a lot of experience working cattle, servicing equipment, and putting up hay, he was exposed to new concepts over the course of the program. “The part that was most interesting to me was probably the financials,” Tyler shared. “I’d never really looked at that before.” He also had to learn how to balance feedlot rations, something he said was one of the most challenging parts of the coursework. The presentation was also a new experience for him. “It was interesting. I’d never done a presentation before,” Tyler said. After following in his brother’s footsteps and taking first place at the Gala, he hopes to use his scholarship money to attend college next year and pursue an ag-related field of study.

Overall, Andrews is incredibly proud of all her students for their hard work over the months of the program. “It can be a lot and gets overwhelming, but I like the ‘aha’ moment where it clicks, and all comes together. When kids go through the closeout, when all that comes together, it’s worth it,” she said. The knowledge they gain, the connections they make with people in the industry, and the scholarship funds are all invaluable to the students. Beyond what the students get out of the experience, Andrews also believes that her students’ participation in the challenge benefits the industry itself. “I think it benefits so many aspects of the industry. We’re tying everything together,” she shared. Opportunities like the Fed Cattle Challenge Program foster conversations within and amongst industry sectors and promote a better understanding of the beef industry in today’s youth. The public speaking skills and knowledge gained by students over the course of programs like these are crucial to the development of strong advocates for the agricultural industry of tomorrow.

The Foundation also supports scholarship initiatives and educational programming to help promote youth participation in the industry.