Livestock is where Kate's passion for agriculture all started. For over 10 years, she and her family have raised Boer meat goats. They have traveled many miles to find or make the best breeding stock. The ultimate goal is to achieve show ring success with livestock raised on the farm. In the process of showing livestock, they have met so many new friends that turned into family.

Kate's agriculture and livestock experiences opened the door to many leadership opportunities. One of the most rewarding and memorable was her time as a State Vice President of the Iowa FFA.  Her time in the blue corduroy jacket taught her self-discipline, organizational skills, and the proof that hard work will lead to great opportunity. Maybe most importantly, she also gained 9 more best friends and “family” members. Not only did the team of 9 support her through the next steps, but so did her teammates from the Junior Iowa Meat Goat Association (JIMGA). Throughout Kate's year of State office, she continued to lead the JIMGA as the president; coordinating events for our members and working with the other board members to create involvement and advocate for the goat industry. Advocating at the state level was intriguing, but she wanted to try to impact more at the national level. As her time in the blue jacket came to an end, she chose to replace the time by serving on the Board of Director’s for the Junior American Boer Goat Association (JABGA). As the Reporter on the Board, Kate provides content for the national social media pages and gathers support for the association. As a group, the JABGA organizes the national junior show, which takes significant time, organization, determination and passion from each officer. Kate is excited to be serving the nation, representing the industry that started her journey in agriculture.

Connections are valuable. Kate learned to seek friendships from those you want to turn into family. Creating connections not only where your hobbies lie, but also where your peers are. Make the effort to connect in a community with people of different backgrounds that can open your eyes to new experiences. The connections Kate has personally made in the livestock industry, at college, during spontaneous adventures, and all else, have encouraged her to push forward and achieve her goals. They have also filled her spirit. Kate would encourage anyone to make connections and learn from them! Those connections may lead you to a new friend or a new opportunity that you likely wouldn’t have tried before. 

Discovering something you're passionate about should come easy and without question. In 2018, Ashlyn Huff and Kate decided to hold a goat show, Iowa’s Best of the Barns. Why not start an event doing what we loved most - educating youth and showing goats? SO WE DID IT. After all the planning, all the online orders, all the phone calls, and all the sponsors, we realized attacking goals you are passionate about is actually fun and rewarding. The support for Iowa's Best of the Barns has been unreal. The annual experience truly opened their eyes as to how much your supporters want to see you succeed. Kate learned so many things from this event planning and hosting experience. One key learning was to be very supportive when someone comes to you with a passionate idea.  Kate now knows she wants to be part of seeing it succeed.  

We all love what we love, and that’s what motivates us to be involved and advocate. Kate's love is nearly everything in agriculture! Her involvement has included 4H, FFA, raising goats, showing goats, serving industry associations on boards, serving the Miss United States Agriculture organization, working towards an Agricultural Communication degree, and now graphic design and livestock services with Simply Passionativ. She has learned and continues to learn. She advocates and educates others by being vocal about what she knows and what she loves! Advocating can take on many different forms, but at the end of the day, Kate's advocacy goals are to educate, inspire and help others flourish in the agriculture industry. Advocating is truly the favorite part of her day-to-day life!

With or without experience, we all have the option to embrace the choices we make in life. Kate chooses to embrace what she loves and is passionate about. She took a leap of faith and started Simply Passionativ, where she can be involved in capturing what other people are passionate about too.  It’s been a life changing experience and she loves it!  Another day, on an impulse, she decided to apply for the Miss United States Agriculture program. She didn't really consider herself to be a pageant girl, but she sure is a big ag girl. Fast forward a few months and she was crowned the 2024 Overall Midwest Miss United States Agriculture and then the 2024 National Miss United States Agriculture. She's been embracing the advocacy opportunities these titles have delivered. Kate has visited classrooms of all ages, informing them about the industry that feeds the world. She feels honored and blessed to be embracing the agriculture opportunities that have been presented to her. Kate would encourage anyone to chase their dreams and opportunities. The outcome will be what you make it when you embrace your choices.     

Livestock, Leadership, CONNECT, Passion, Advocate, Embrace.