Fjeld wins ‘Scrambler’ honor

By Sara Qualley
Iowa Times Citizen
Agriculture is part of what defines Iowa. Iowa farmers feed the world, and Iowans who show livestock put the state’s animals on display. Jacob Fjeld, a junior at Iowa Falls-Alden High School, is one such Iowan. He’s been a 4-H member since fourth grade, has been active in FFA, and he’s a veteran of showing animals. For the past year, Fjeld has been involved in a program called the American Royal Calf Scramble. He recently traveled to Kansas City, where he showed his heifer and won the highest honor: Overall Scrambler.
The American Royal Calf Scramble is a scholarship program that gives Midwestern students in seventh through 12th grades the opportunity to raise their own breeding heifer with the aid of a voucher. There are a limited number of vouchers each year, and participants who are able to catch and halter a calf during the main event receive a $1,250 voucher. Throughout the following year, participants send progress and financial reports to show how their heifer projects have come along. They return to Kansas City one year later to show their heifers and attend a banquet.
Fjeld said that catching his calf during Calf Scramble was overwhelming, but he was determined to get the voucher.
“When I did it, there was so much adrenaline, I don’t remember quite exactly how I did it,” Fjeld said. “But I’ve seen videos of me tackling this calf, putting the halter on it. And everyone at the end just breathed in so much dirt. Kids were bleeding, and I had cut my face.”
Fjeld competed against 15 other kids to halter one of the 13 calves. He began his project by selecting an angus calf he named Kacey (for Kansas City) from Summit Farms, where he was helped by Roy Miller. Throughout the raising of Kacey, Miller helped Fjeld by suggesting feed, and shows that he could take her to.
“Really, every step of the way, he was a very major part of it. I’m very thankful for that,” Fjeld said.
Fjeld had raised a few calves before Kacey, but she was his first breeding heifer. He said it was “a big step” in what he’s been able to do and learn. Fjeld took Kacey to five shows throughout the year.
“The biggest challenge was her attitude,” Fjeld said of Kacey. “At home, she didn’t always like the grooming and all the practice that we did, but every time we got to a show, she would relax and always perform very well. I was always very proud of how we did and how far we came.”
After a year with Kacey, Fjeld returned to Kansas City to compete at American Royal livestock shows. It was his first competition in showmanship where handlers were judged, rather than the heifers, and he won senior showmanship. Fjeld said that was a big deal for him because this was his first time at an out-of-state show. After that, he went to a class where the heifers were judged, and Kacey placed second. After the show, Fjeld was interviewed and his record books and reports on Kacey were inspected. It was then that Fjeld received the Overall Scrambler award.
“I was very surprised,” Fjeld said. “I was also very proud of what I had done that year because it was a lot of hard work, and there was times where we went to shows throughout the year and didn’t always do very well. And so, I had to make my goals a lot more about what I wanted to learn and what I wanted to get better at.”
Fjeld said raising Kacey taught him the basics of raising a breeding heifer, which it what American Royal wants participants to learn. He said he also learned how to work closely with people who had experience raising a breeding heifer.
“Gaining those communication skills and being able to partner with someone was a great thing that I learned and experienced,” he said.
Fjeld encourages others to try the Calf Scramble.
“Just take the chance and apply because you never know what’s going to come for it,” he said. “A year ago, before I was even in the program, I wouldn’t have expected to have done all the things I’ve done in the past year.”