July 18, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Kendra Davis kdavis@hereford.org KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kati Felhman, Junction City, Kan., was honored as the 2018 Hereford Junior Herdsman of the Year, July 7, during the 2018 VitaFerm® Junior National Hereford …
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kati Felhman, Junction City, Kan., was honored as the 2018 Hereford Junior Herdsman of the Year, July 7, during the 2018 VitaFerm® Junior National Hereford Expo (JNHE) in Grand Island, Neb.
Felhman is the 20-year-old daughter of Howard and Debra Fehlman and has been around cattle her entire life. She says being named the Junior Herdsman of the Year was one of the most exciting moments in her National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) experience. The Junior Herdsman of the Year finalists are chosen by a committee of national advisors then participants at JNHE vote for the winner. For her, being selected by her peers to receive this honor was a wonderful surprise. She says she cannot put into words how exciting it was to hear her name announced at JNHE.
“It was quite an honor and pretty overwhelming to be selected,” Fehlman says. “Just to be nominated was an honor in itself, but to win the junior herdsman was a real achievement.”
Fehlman has been active in raising and showing Hereford cattle for a number of years and holds a strong passion for the Hereford breed. She attended her first junior national in 2008 in Kansas City with one heifer. Since then, she has grown her herd to 14 cows, from which she has raised and sold several bulls, and produced high quality females. She has also been fortunate to work with several ranches within the breed and also in other breeds. Working for other operations has allowed her to improve her own operation by gathering new ideas and meeting new people in the beef industry.
“It’s a very rewarding experience to follow cattle I’ve bred from feeding and fitting them for the showring and watch them become even better breeding cattle.”
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The 2018 VitaFerm® Junior National Hereford Expo was sponsored in part by Biozyme Inc., St. Joseph, Mo. The NJHA is one of the most active junior programs in the country with approximately 3,000 members. The NJHA’s mission is to create and promote enthusiasm for the breed while providing opportunities through leadership, education and teamwork. For more information about the NJHA, visit jrhereford.org.
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