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It’s hard to know how to describe checking a big win off your bucket list, but for me I guess the best words are that it’s all a part trusting God’s plan. My name is Creighten Werning. I am sixteen years old and I live with my family on our ranch near Emery, SD. I was recently selected by Brandon Callis as the Supreme Breeding Heifer at the 2026 South Dakota State Fair with my Chianina heifer JSUL Who Dat 507N. She is a BNWZ Dignity on JSUL Who Dat 1602Y bred by Sullivan Farms that we purchased from Recknor Cattle in Iowa. My Dad and I took a heifer shopping road trip through Iowa and Illinois last fall. She was our favorite heifer of the entire trip, and we weren’t even sure we’d be able to afford her but when the sale closed, we were excited to have the bid. As is probably the case with any livestock kid, I have dreamed of winning our State Fair since my first show 8 years ago. Back then, I held the halter on the Champion Market Heifer, and I think I was so nervous I almost scratched a hole in her chest during the Grand Drive. I got my start showing livestock at just 5 years old winning the SD State Fair Open Market

Swine Show with a cross barrow named Owen that we bought from Ben Olsen in Irene, SD. Showing pigs in my early years gave me a lot of confidence in the ring and I enjoyed success at the SD Summer Spotlight with both the Breeding and Market Swine banners, Pork Expo and in the Iowa Swine Series. I got the Reserve Champion Market Hog slap at the SD State Fair in 2021 with a cross barrow from Zach Schweke. That same year, I showed a fall Purebred Simmental Relentless sired heifer from Tim Schaeffer that was 3rd Overall at the State Fair. The next year, I turned it up a notch and decided I wanted to focus solely on showing cattle. My Dad found a Here I Am steer at Wade Rodgers that helped me hang the purple banner in Huron that year under Jack Ward. That win really fueled my passion for the cattle ring, and it’s been pedal down since then. Wanting to build our donor pen on the ranch, I’ve really focused on the heifer show and probably two of the better heifers I’ve shown never got a spot in the Top 5 at State Fair. The first was a Daddy’s Money from Chance Austin that was Supreme Heifer at the 2023 SD Summer Spotlight. The

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