SG-USA-August-2018

Now ? Where Are They Catching up with Former National Junior Santa Gertrudis Association Members

By Hannah Wine, Freelance Writer

Bunny Brooks In the summer of 1985, Bunny Brooks hopped in the truck with her family to head to her first National Junior Santa Gertrudis Show in Lake Charles, La. Brooks and her brother, Mike, grew up on their family farm in Sommerville, Ala., where their parents, Lloyd and Margie Brooks, along with their uncle, Lynn Brooks, raised Santa Gertrudis cattle. “My oldest cousin, Jessica Brooks Burton, started showing. That got us all started,” Bunny Brooks recalls. “When I was 8, I was ready to roll! I only missed one or two national shows in my 10 years as a junior member. I remember those days of winning donated heifers, traveling to the shows and serving on the board and as the president back in 1995 so fondly. I always loved the com- radery of being at the national shows. It was my favorite time of year.” In an effort to give back to the asso- ciation that taught her many valuable lessons, Brooks decided to serve on the NJSGA Board of Directors. She first served the remainder of her cousin, Jason Brooks’, term before being elected to serve for her district. “Jes- sica Brooks Burton and Jason Brooks, my two cousins who now live in Crum, Texas, and I all served as president of the National Santa Gertrudis Associa- tion (NSGA). It was all about family for us.”

Brooks saw many successes during her time as a junior member, includ- ing winning the John Woods Memo- rial Scholarship in 1995 and 1996; receiving the Eldon Flowers Award in 1996; placing first at the national show in Orlando, Fla., in 1989, winning a heifer from LB Ranch in Texas; winning another class at the 1991 show coor- dinated by her family in Montgomery, Ala., and taking home a heifer from Grey Rocks Ranch in Selma, Ala. But Brooks’ successes weren’t what made her junior experience for her. “The relationships you build in the association are incredible,” she says. “I met Heidi Wells from Illinois early on in my show career, and we were pen pals for years, up until several years after we went off to college. Eventually we lost touch, but a few years ago she sent a Christmas card to my parents’ house, and we reconnected and stay in touch. The friendships that were made through showing were incredible.” After her NJSGA career wrapped up in 1995, Brooks went to Auburn Univer- sity, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture business and economics. After graduation she worked for the National Agriculture Statistics Ser- vice in Richmond, Va. “I was the cattle statistician and handled all kinds of agricultural statistics for four years and then transferred to Columbia, S.C., to do the same there for three years,” she explains. Ten years ago, Brooks moved to Huntsville, Ala., just 25 minutes from where she grew up, to be closer to her family as her dad battled cancer. “I took a job at Red Stone Arsenal as a program analyst. I handle a lot of the analytics for Army recruiting in the southeastern region,” she says. Her brother, Mike, also a former NJSGA member, works at the Arsenal too, as an engineer. Bunny showing her favorite cow with her brother, Mike, at her side at the 1991 NJSGS in Montgomery, Ala.

Bunny, center, with her cousins, Hadley and Kennedy, at the 2018 NJSGS in Texarkana, Ark.

Bunny, right, ringside at the 2018 NJSGS in Texarkana, Ark. with her cousin Brooks Burton.

Brooks, who now lives in town and is a diehard softball player, doesn’t make daily trips to the barn to feed as she once did. “Back in January of 2014, our family sold off the cow herd as my dad was in his ending phases of cancer,” she explains. “Growing up with cattle, I really enjoyed the shows, but I enjoyed the prep work at home more, working with the cattle on the farm. Going into the show ring wasn’t my favorite part, it was the people and the work before.”

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