Ash Grove’s Morris a champion in show ring

Dedicated FFA’er shows cattle year round, and it’s paying off with success
 
A student at Ash Grove High School has won championship ribbons at the North American International Livestock Event (NAILE) in Louisville, Ky. Junior Ryleigh Morris, 17, won the Grand Champion Red Angus Junior Show Female & Reserve Grand Champion Red Angus Open Female ribbons during the competition with her Red Angus heifer, Lazy J Miss Hillari, more commonly known as Ginger. NAILE was open to competitors from across the country who were under 21 with heifers that hadn’t calved.
Morris said that the judges at NAILE were looking for: Soundness, structural correctness, capacity or volume, style, balance and femininity in the animals being shown. She added that these qualities aren’t found in show cattle by accident.
“It starts with the right kind of heifer and a person who is willing to give it all they’ve got to make them the best,” she said.

Morris has a high rate of success in cattle showing
Winning the championships at NAILE was only the latest feather in Morris’ cap.
“I have been very grateful to be successful in the show ring,” she said. “My biggest accomplishments include Champion Junior Showman (in) 2017 and Champion Intermediate Showman (in) 2020 at the National Junior Limousin Show, (as well as) Supreme Female at the Ozark Empire Fair in 2017, 2020 and 2021. I also was the third overall open female at the 2019 Tulsa State Fair.”
Morris said she actually shows cattle year-round in three different showing seasons. The first is what she calls her “Jackpot Season,” which takes place from February through April.
“It is little mini-shows that are held everywhere, but I just attend the ones in the Midwest,” she said. “These are usually just one or two-day shows that are more for local people in that area.”
Her summer season takes place from May through September.
“We usually attend Junior Nationals, the Ozark Empire Fair, and many state fairs, which includes the Missouri State Fair and Tulsa State Fair,” she said.
Finally, there is the “major season,” which takes place from October through January.
“These shows are the most competitive shows in the country,” she said. “People from all over the United States come to these shows to compete for many national championship titles. (They) include the American Royal in Kansas City, the NAILE in Louisville, Ky., Dixie Nationals in Jackson, Miss., National Western in Denver, Colo., and the most recently added one, Cattlemen’s Congress in Oklahoma City, Okla.”

Success comes from hard work
Morris’ success in cattle showing didn’t just happen by chance. Getting Ginger and the other show cattle (she shows both Red Angus and Limousin) ready for competition, she said, requires a lot of time and attention.
“Every day, I am in the barn by 5:30 before I get ready for school to feed (them),” she said. “And then, as soon as I get home from school, I wash them, work their hair, exercise, and feed them. I do this every day to prepare for the next show.”
Morris does more than compete in cattle shows. She is a vice-president of the Ash Grove FFA Chapter and is also a competitive public speaker, who took part in the Area Fall Public Speaking Contest last fall.
“It was a great experience, and I encourage everyone to try it,” she said.

Plans for the future
In the immediate future, Morris said she hopes to breed Ginger and continue her line.
“After her last show,” Morris said, “we will calve her out and, hopefully, she has a healthy baby calf so we can further her success in the production of her offspring.”
As for her own future, Morris said she plans to further her education after high school.
“I plan to attend a junior college that is still undecided,” she said, (and) then go to Oklahoma State University to be on the Livestock Judging Team and major in Ag Communications and/or Ag Business.”