Raising The Steaks

Last night was the 2008 Tehama County Beef Ambassador competition, where a year ago I was a nervous wreck wondering why exactly I was applying for this job. A couple of the local CattleWomen told me about the contest a month before and said I should go for it. I thought it was funny that they were asking me of all people to go for this, considering I raised sheep and goats. But I did it, I prepared a speech and answered a few questions and after sweating bullets standing in front of this group of CattleWomen, I got the job. So after a whirlwind year of fun and exciting experiences, here I was back where this all began.

I arrived at the contest location and saw the prospective competitor sitting in the back of the room, shuffling through notecards and biting her nails with fervor. I couldn’t help but relate to how she felt, probably sitting there wondering how exactly this all was going to work. We were asked to sit down for dinner with the contest following afterwards, so I found the same seat I sat in last year. It felt so different sitting there now that the year is over. It was a kind of calming, comforting, and humbling to think how far I’ve come over the course of this year.

After dinner and before the contest was to begin, the CattleWomen asked me to sort of recap on the year and give some advice to the new ambassador. The first thing I said and what I think the important part of my message was that I wouldn’t have made it without the help of the CattleWomen that were there that night, as well as the ones all across the nation that are fighting for our industry every day. The CattleWomen are the backbone of our industry as wives, mothers, grandmothers, ranchers, and without them the industry would crumble. These ladies are there for you whenever you may need help and only want the very best for you. I’m proud to represent such a wonderful industry and to come from a county where our CattleWomen are as strong and supportive as these ladies are. If there’s only one thing that our new ambassador can take from this, let it be that she knows of how much these ladies love and care about this industry and the people within it and only want her to succeed.

So, needless to say, the torch has been passed and we have our new 2008-09 Tehama County Beef Ambassador, Rochelle Borror. I’ve been fortunate to have known her for a long time and I know she’s got a great year ahead of her. I hope to support her right along with my fellow CattleWomen and give back to a program that has given so much to me.

Tags: beef ambassador, youth

This entry was posted on Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 10:55 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.