2020 marked the 40th Anniversary American Junior Simmental Association (AJSA) National Classic!  This year’s event was held in Brookings, SD.

Iowa had a large group of junior members attend, there were 45 Iowa youth with 77 head of cattle entered.

Write-up from the AJSA Website: July 11th through the 16th, Brookings, South Dakota welcomed 463 exhibitors from across the nation for the 2020 National Classic. On Sunday, July 12th, during opening announcements, AJSA members donated 573,951 pop tabs, equaling 453 pounds, to the Ronald McDonald Houses of South Dakota. Throughout the classic, exhibitors as young as eight years old and as old as 21 competed in required educational contests such as Cattlemen’s Quiz, Calvin Drake Genetic Evaluation Quiz, Judging Contest, and Sales Talk.

From July 14th to the 15th, 697 head of cattle were evaluated during the Bred and Owned and Owned Shows. On the final day, July 16th, juniors competed in Showmanship. The event concluded with an awards ceremony naming the Top 20 in each age division (Junior, Intermediate, and Seniors) in respective contests, recognized merit scholarship recipients, awarded the Herdsman of the Year, and revealed the 2020-2021 AJSA Junior Board of Trustees. The ceremony underscores the importance of young people and their growth through AJSA. Despite challenges due to COVID-19, the event was successful due to the efforts and support of many individuals! The junior members and families who attended this National Classic are deeply grateful to so many who made this event happen. This National Classic will always be one to remember as our history continues to grow little hands into big leaders.

Grace Greiman of Goodell was re-elected as an AJSA Trustee (fourth from right).

Carli Henderson of Wiota received one of only twelve Silver Merit Awards (second from left).

IJSA members, be sure to apply for the Bronze Merit Award next year!  The application and other information now gets sent to ASA and youth are recognized at the AJSA National Classic Banquet.

The AJSA Regional and Classics are more than just another cattle show!  Youth are required to compete in four of the five  educational contests, Cattlemen’s Quiz, Genetic Evaluation Quiz, Public Speaking, Sales Talk, and Judging Contest, in order to compete in showmanship and the cattle show (For 2020 it was three of the four, as there was no Public Speaking contest).  Iowa Juniors have a long history of placing in numerous contests and overall standings.  Please open the links below to see the Iowa results.  Full results are published by ASA in September 2020 issue of  The Register.

Iowa Results:
2020 National Classic Iowa Results


*National Classic event photos can be viewed and purchased at http://pearlspics.com*