SG_USA_April_2023

G ERTS O NGOING A DVANCED L EADERSHIP S UMMIT 2023

E very other year, National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association (NJSGA) members anticipate the opportunity to register for and attend Gerts Ongoing Advanced Leader ship Summit (GOALS). This year’s lead ership conference will help junior mem bers “SWING FOR THE FENCES” as we step up to the plate for leadership development in Louisville, Ky., home of the Louisville Slugger. GOALS 2023 will be held July 25-29. We want you to be a part of our GOALS 2023 team! The GOALS retreat will be held at a resort offering lodging and recreation of all kinds during free time. It also yields the perfect setting for leadership devel opment and team building facilitated by a dynamic individual and former FFA member with a great agricultural back ground and connection to youth organi zations like the NJSGA. Rhett Laubach will join the group as a professional key UNDERSTANDING EPDs AND GENOMICS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 “And at the end of the day, if you can feel more confident in the decisions you make in your herd, that not only helps you out, but it helps everybody out,” Neel concludes. BREED AVERAGES  A breed average is truly an average of the data set  Breed Average for Active Sires (as of March 2023)

note speaker, trainer, author, leadership expert and owner of YourNextSpeaker. Laubach will share hours of time with our youth for a fun, interactive leader ship training experience. We will also spend a day at Cedar Creek Farms, learning about the farm-to-fork operation that raises Santa Gertrudis cattle. There will also be a field day experience with local Kentucky ag representatives from various arenas of work and expertise. This GOALS trip will also allow for some fun and interesting touristy opportunities for our juniors! We encourage all Santa Gertrudis youth to attend the NJSGA leadership program this summer. With so many diverse and wonderful summer oppor tunities afforded these days, it can be difficult to select which activities to participate in, but we encourage giving the GOALS leadership program real consideration. Leadership development

not only happens in the cattle showing arena – past GOALS attendees will tell you that these experiences are some of their most memorable as this event focuses on organizational leadership, relationship building, personal develop ment and goal setting. We encourage all NJSGA members, age 13 and older, to register for GOALS 2023 and join us in Louisville in July. Registration information will be avail able on the Santa Gertrudis Breeders International website in early May and there will be more information in future issues of SG USA and on the NJSGA Facebook page. For more information, contact GOALS 2023 co-chairmen Casey Jones at (386) 623-9088 or Jbarfarms5@ gmail.com or Christy Moran at (979) 203 0433 or moranfam4@yahoo.com.

Juniors

SANTA GERTRUDIS

By Madisyn Douglas, District 1 Director M y name is Madisyn Douglas. I’m a National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association (NJSGA) District 1 director in addition to being the NJSGA National Queen. I’m from Bonham, Texas, and attend Celeste High School. I have been lucky to be involved in such an amazing organi zation as the National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association, where I have learned so much about expected progeny differences (EPDs). EPDs have been applied to improve beef cattle genetics for almost four decades. EPDs are predictions of the genetic transmitting ability of a parent to its offspring and are used to make selection decisions for traits desired in the herd. I know many Santa Gertrudis breeders live by EPDS. Maybe it should be your next move!

 BW: 0.1  WW: 10  YW: 13  Milk: -0

Breed averages are updated monthly by SGBI and can be found on DigitalBeef on the left-hand column under “Cattle Evaluation.” More detailed resources, including EPD percentile ranks, Trait Leaders and a Resources Guide can be found on the SGBI website under the Regis try/Genetics tab.

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SANTA GERTRUDIS USA