McMullen named National Grand Champion in Bred & Owned Division

Jill Holloway, Thomasville Times-Enterprise, Ga.
Updated ·4 min read

Jul. 6—PAVO — Kylee McMullen has one last belt buckle to add to her junior collection before heading off to ABAC in the fall, and it's a big one. McMullen won the title of National Grand Champion Bred and Owned Female at the ABBA All American Jr. National Brahman Show in Texarkana, Arkansas.

This was McMullen's third time competing in the Jr. National Show. Despite the distance, McMullen and her family see the show as an opportunity to show off their Brahman breed and draw interest to their business JM Cattle.

"Jr. Nationals is like the Super Bowl of Brahmans," said McMullen's father Jason. "Each breed has their own Jr. Nationals, but there's almost 3,000 people competing in the show and people from all over the country attending the show."

With it being McMullen's last show as a junior competitor, she had high hopes of bringing home a title, but never expected to be named National Grand Champion, especially after her calf Lady Pavo was only weaned earlier in the week.

"I feel really good," she said. "I can still show in open shows as a collegiate, but it felt really good to win with it being my last time," McMullen said.

McMullen was competing in the Bred & Owned division, meaning she owned the mother of the calf at the time of conception.

"The Bred & Owned is kind of the elite of the elite for the kids, because that means they owned the mama, got her pregnant and then showed the calf," explained Jason.

McMullen estimated that 300-400 individuals competed in the Bred & Owned division. However, Lady Pavo was the youngest calf to be competing.

According to McMullen, Lady Pavo was weaned only seven days prior to the show and had never been to a show before.

"She had no idea what was going on, but she did great," McMullen said. "She stood there and did what she was supposed to do."{

Jason shared that McMullen was originally going to take her cow, but two weeks before the show she underwent a C-Section, rendering her ineligible.

"We weren't even going to take the calf, but now I'm sure glad we did," McMullen said. "I had worked with her (Lady Pavo) with a show stick and a brush before at home, but she had never even been tied until we got there."

McMullen and Jason both stated how rare it was for a calf to be as calm and well-behaved as Lady Pavo was.

"Not patting ourselves on the shoulder, but it just speaks volumes of our breeding program, when you see how gentle the calves are," Jason said. "To be able to wean these calves from their mamas and haul them across the country is pretty unheard of at times."

Lady Pavo's picture-perfect behavior and quality care not only made the family proud, but brought recognition to the high standards held in rural Georgia.

"People from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and all the big states that have thousands and thousands of acres with thousands of cows were showing," McMullen said. "So, for me to go in there with a little homegrown that's the smallest and the youngest means a lot, especially because we aren't as big as other people."

McMullen's win concluded the end of an era for the Jr. National Champion, but brought her a few last mementoes. She won a new belt buckle, a beautiful leather banner and several bronze statues, along with a $1,000 AI (artificial insemination) scholarship.

The scholarship will help McMullen follow her own dreams of becoming a breeder after graduating from ABAC.

McMullen has not decided if she will return to Pavo upon graduation, but said all of the cows at the family home are in her name due to them previously being shown by her.

"If I do return home, I would probably live across from them (the cows) and my parents and I would share them," she said.

Both Jason and his wife, Jessica are proud of the work ethic McMullen has developed throughout her time as a junior showman.

There's a lot of blood, sweat and tears that have been poured into this over the years," they said. "There's been a lot of late nights in that barn; it's hard at times, but very rewarding."

McMullen said she will miss her time as a junior showman and having the younger show kids look up to her, but she looks forward to continuing her journey in open shows in the near future.