County Fair Feature: Rodgers creates impressive show legacy
For so many across the Cowboy State, the annual county fair is a fun and exciting time to celebrate agriculture and the Western way of life. For competitors like Brylee Rodgers, it’s also an opportunity to see countless hours of hard work and preparation finally pay off.
A native of Casper, Rodgers originally got involved with showing through a family friend who wanted her to exhibit a steer for them.
This will be Rodgers’ seventh year showing at the Central Wyoming Fair.
She will be exhibiting six animals in total across three divisions and has been working with her 4-H and FFA breeding ewes, market steers and breeding heifers since last September.
Keeping busy
Caring for six show animals and making time for competitive travel in addition to the daily duties of ranch life is a full-time job in itself, but Rodgers prefers things this way.
“I wouldn’t know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t busy,” she laughs.
Rodgers says every day around the ranch comes with “a long list of stuff” to get done. In addition to caring for her show animals every day, she helps her dad Mike Rodgers work cattle and train horses, squeezing in rides between washes and feeds.
“It’s a rush to get everything done in the mornings and the afternoons, but the middays are slower,” she notes.
Her days at home typically start at 6 a.m. and end around 9 p.m., packed with ranch duties and a meticulous feeding, washing, exercise and grooming program for each of her show animals.
Rodgers’ daily schedule doesn’t slow down when she is on the road. In fact, show days are even more jam-packed, including double washes, full-fitting, equipment set-up and breakdown and routine feeding, in addition to the time actually spent in the show ring.
The buzz of show days has become routine for Rodgers and her younger sister Maddy who shows sheep and cattle as well.
The duo has traveled to Utah, Nebraska, Montana and all throughout Wyoming on the show circuit. Some of Rodgers’ favorite venues include the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas and the Powder Basin Classic in Gillette.
No matter where they are, Rodgers emphasizes keeping animals comfortable and safe is always the number one priority.
Building a legacy
Rodgers has built an impressive show legacy from humble beginnings.
“My very first animal I started with was a commercial Hereford I pulled out of our shipper pen,” says Rodgers. “Her name was Izzie, I still have her today – she’s out in the pasture with a calf.”
Rodgers usually keeps her breeding heifers each year to go back into her personal herd, which also includes registered Shorthorns and Simmentals.
She sells her market steers at county fair and reinvests the profits into her business Rocky Ridge Cattle Company.
“Heifers are more my thing than the steers because they can stay and have calves,” she says. “Their legacy kind of lives on.”
Rodgers has plans show a legacy calf this coming fall, but currently her most successful animal is a breeding heifer named Fergie, purchased from South Dakota in an online sale.
“She’s helped me win showmanship classes, and she’s been overall supreme breeding heifer or in the top end of it all at a couple of the last shows we’ve been to,” Rodgers says. “She’s a sweetheart and a blessing in disguise.”
Rodgers appreciates the opportunities showing, selling and breeding have given her to build her confidence and her cow herd.
“Being able to have responsibilities and show off something I put a lot of my time into is great,” she says.
Starting somewhere
Rodgers is quick to emphasize the deep impact showing has had on her life. She believes getting involved with programs like 4-H and FFA is “really good for younger kids” and recommends the experience to anyone with an opportunity to get involved.
“Don’t be afraid to start,” Rodgers says. “We all start somewhere – you just have to be able to put in the effort and know wherever you start, you can only get better from there.”
“If you don’t try it, then you don’t know how your life might change because of it,” she concludes.
Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
