By Justin R. Lessman

It seems fitting the person compiling the definitive history of Jackson County youth involvement in the Minnesota High School Rodeo Association competed in the very first MHSRA State Finals Rodeo in 1956.

That person is Jackson County’s own Gwen Fleace.
Fleace, of rural Round Lake, is in the process of documenting local youth involvement in the MHSRA for the Jackson County Historical Society. It’s a history that began with Fleace nearly 70 years ago and continues to be written today.

The first MHSRA State Finals Rodeo took place at the Plum Creek Ranch near Walnut Grove in 1956. One Jackson County contestant competed there — Gwenlyn Pigman atop her horse, “Sally,” Pigman being just one of seven girls in competition. Pigman won the barrel race and finished third in pole bending, then was crowned rodeo queen.
“This organization has grown so much and made many changes and additions since that time,” Fleace — the former 1956 rodeo queen — said of the MHSRA. “Jackson County has over the years had many young people who have represented Minnesota on the Minnesota state team in national competitions.”

Not surprisingly, Fleace was among the first, competing as a part of the Minnesota team at the National High School Rodeo in Reno, Nev.
“During the early years, there was only the high school state finals, which was the road to national competition,” Fleace said. “Even as other things have changed and improved over 69 years, so has high school rodeo. There are now regional rodeos, which can carry some points into the state finals.”
Other changes include the addition of a junior-high division, with its own national finals. More events have been added to the competition, as well.
“There are more competitors, there are added events and the younger kids come into the high school division with some rodeo experience,” Fleace said.

As part of her work documenting the history of Jackson County youth involvement in the MHSRA, Fleace is compiling a list of names of Jackson County contestants who rode in state finals rodeos from the first in 1956 through the present year of 2025. The names include several national qualifiers, including Arlys Pigman, Marjorie Pigman, Rolland Kutzbach, Dennis Meyerdirk, Cindy Voss, Carolyn Rogers, Pattie Fleace, Sonja Dahlin, Ian Fleace, Tanner Marie Christoffers and Sadie Hotzler. The list also includes three MNHSRA rodeo queens — Fleace herself, Dahlin and Barb Sodemann.
“Jackson County has had many very good rodeo contestants over the past 69 years,” Fleace said. “We have had three MNHSRA rodeo queens. We have had three men who have served on the state board of directors for this organization.”

Though Fleace has done much toward compiling the definitive history of Jackson County youth involvement in the MHSRA, she acknowledges more is yet to be done.

“This is a work in progress at this time,” she said, adding though she has taken great pains to record all of the names of Jackson County competitors, she may be missing some.

She encourages those who may be able to fill in blanks to contact her to help.

“This is a project that is still in process,” she said. “I am planning to do more research and then submit my story to the Jackson County Historical Society.”

By Justin R. Lessman

Jackson County farmers Jerry Ackermann, David Pomerenke and Zach Post are always ready to talk about the benefits of cover crops and no-till farming.

Recently, they were able to do so with U.S. Sen. Tina Smith.

Smith visited Jackson County this past spring to learn more about local soil and water conservation efforts under way at present and how federal funding freezes might affect them. On her visit, Minnesota’s junior senator heard about how important certain federal conservation programs are to both local farmers and the environment and how any funding freezes or cuts to them could devastate farm operations and landscapes.
Ackermann, who farms near Lakefield, said programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program have been instrumental in incentivizing farmers to integrate into their operations practices that not only help the environment, but also benefit the farmer.

“There are some good programs,” Ackermann said, though they never seemed to be adequately funded — or to adequately fund — even before talks of funding freezes and cuts began.
Ackermann, Pomerenke and Post gave Smith a crash course in the benefit of environmental practices programs like CSP and EQIP promote, including cover crops and no-till farming.

“It does make a real difference,” Ackermann said of the approach, listing moisture control, yield gain and reduced herbicide costs as benefits.

Additionally, Mark Gutierrez, executive director of the Minnesota Soil Health Coalition, said cover crops improve water quality, sequester carbon, prevent soil erosion and reduce nutrient leaching.
That’s a public benefit, Pomerenke said, warranting a public investment in such incentive programs.

“It’s an incentive — a carrot — that a lot of guys need in order to give it a try,” Pomerenke said. “It’s a way to allay concerns and make people more willing to try it.”

Smith pledged her support for the local ag economy and resistance to any policy that poses a threat to it.

Ackermann also pitched Smith on an idea to promote conservation practices through federal crop insurance. He suggested a discount on crop insurance premiums for farmers who integrate conservation practices like cover crops and no-till farming into their operations.

“Guys who are doing it get a crop insurance discount, and guys who don’t want to do it pay more,” he said. “It’s saying to farmers, ‘If you want to do it the right way, we’ll help you out; but if you’re not going to do it the right way, we won’t help you as much.’”

Smith said she would keep the suggestion in mind as talks on the federal farm bill progress.

The Jackson County Central FFA Chapter is churning out prospective dairy industry leaders.

The chapter this year fielded state-qualified milk quality and dairy evaluation career development event teams that went on to fare well in state-level competition. In fact, both teams struck silver at the 2025 Minnesota State FFA Convention earlier this spring in the Twin Cities, with the JCC FFA Chapter’s milk quality team finishing 31st in the state and the chapter’s dairy evaluation team landing 37th overall.

Hadleigh Nosbusch of rural Jackson paced the chapter’s milk quality team, finishing as a gold-ranked individual. Other team members were Julia Bidne, Paige Benda and Jess Dvorak.

Joshua Thompson of rural Windom led the chapter’s dairy evaluation team, finishing as a gold-ranked individual. Other team members included Levi Thompson and Nicolas Haley.

As members of the milk quality team, Nosbusch, Benda, Bidne and Dvorak were asked to complete a written exam on milk production and marketing, evaluate milk samples for flavor and quality, identify cheeses, evaluate sediment pads and milker parts for defects and demonstrate problem-solving skills in distinguishing real and artificial dairy foods, merchandising dairy foods and current issues in marketing dairy foods.

As members of the dairy evaluation team, the Thompson brothers and Haley were asked to complete a written exam relating to the dairy industry, evaluate dairy cattle on physical characteristics, give oral reasons explaining their placing of a class and analyze a herd record as a team.

Laura Bidne, JCC FFA Chapter advisor, said most chapter CDE teams prepare for competition with the assistance of community members who volunteer their time and expertise.
“Almost all of them have help from our community,” Bidne said.

For example, JCC FFA Chapter alumnus Noah Thompson helped coach the chapter’s dairy evaluation team this year.

“As always, we are grateful for the many community members that help us prepare the kids,” Bidne said. “Almost all of them have some community help along the way.”