By Emmy Powell
Communications Specialist
Growing up, Kyleigh Hemken would spend her days feeding cows with her grandpa on his cow-calf operation. She enjoyed helping with ranch work.
She then began showing heifers but soon found a passion for showing pigs. By fifth grade, she knew that’s what she wanted to do.
“Showing pigs was my thing. I never really cared as much about the placing of my livestock as much as I cared about showmanship,” Hemken said. “Showmanship was more important to me than anything else. And that was mainly because showmanship wasn’t about the animal, it was about the showman and what the showman knew and how they took care of their animals, how they showed them.”
Throughout high school, Hemken continued to help with her family’s cow-calf operation and became involved with 4-H. She later became a Texas 4-H Livestock Ambassador and attended Texas 4-H Congress.
She wanted to grow her knowledge of agriculture and advocacy, so she attended her first Texas Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher Conference and competed in the Collegiate Discussion Meet before her first semester of college began. At the conference she met Laura Henson, an instructor at Tarleton State University who would later become Hemken’s advisor for Tarleton’s Collegiate Farm Bureau chapter.
“When I got to Tarleton in the fall, Collegiate Farm Bureau had just started,” Hemken said. “My first year in the chapter, I handled all social media. Now, I am the president, and I am more than pleased to say that our chapter has grown. We have more students this year than we have in previous years.”
Hemken noted that Texas Farm Bureau and the chapter prioritizes youth and young adults. She emphasized the importance of networking and professional development as a college student. She also says involvement in agriculture is vital for the future.
“We really need to bring awareness to what farmers and ranchers do, along with support for our farmers and ranchers in this world,” Hemken said. “We need to bring more awareness to everybody, and Texas Farm Bureau gives us a platform to stand on and has the resources to back it up about what agriculture really is.”
Hemken is a junior and studying animal science with a concentration in animal production.
After graduating, she hopes to become a lobbyist to help farmers and ranchers.
“I love the logistics side and the legislative side of it,” she said. “I like to help other farmers and ranchers with not only their herd and their ranch and what they’re doing back at home, but ultimately way later in life. I would like to be a lobbyist to help look at those bills and help inform them about bills in our state legislature and in Congress.”
Leave A Comment