We caught up with Jaci Falkenstien, the exhibitor the Grand Champion Market Goat at the 2024 Aksarben Stock Show. Learn a little more about Jaci below!
If you had to use one word to describe the people supporting you, what would it be?
Family
What was something that you have had to overcome as a showman to get to where you are now?
Something I had to overcome as a showman was wanting to always be perfect. This internal mindset caused me to be very nervous and to get really flustered if anything happened that wasn’t ideal. This would cause the animals to feed off this energy and nothing good came from this. My brother said, “You have to stop showing to ‘not lose’ and ‘show to win’!” He is saying I had to stop trying so hard to be perfect and just work with what I have to make it the best possible. I have used this quote a lot this year to change my mindset and work to create a partnership with my animal. We then just show off this partnership in the ring. While I am still very anxious before I go into the ring, this has helped me to work through the nerves and keep me from doing my best in the show ring.
If you could pick any animal you’ve ever had to be on your show string your whole show career, what animal would it be? Why?
If I were to pick any goat I have ever shown I would pick the wether that won Aksarben in 2022. I loved the personality he had. He was always sweet and worked really well. His name was Went because he came from Went Show Goats. He is also one of the highest quality wethers I have ever shown giving him an advantage. This sounds a little odd, but I liked him so much simply because he made life easy. He worked awesome; he always drenched really well; and he was just a delightful animal to have in the barn who was phenotypically correct in so many ways.
If you had to pick a favorite judge, who would it be and why?
So this is a hard question for me, but if I were to pick a favorite judge it would probably have to be Skylar Scotten. I always like showing to Skylar because his style is very similar to what our team likes. More importantly, I have always appreciated that he is really easy to follow, and if you don’t win, he will describe exactly what he sees and usually you can see it for yourself.
If you could pick another species to show, what would it be? Why?
If I had to pick another species to show, I would probably pick cattle. My older brother, Trace, raises cattle and I enjoy helping him in his barn. I have shown cattle before, and I enjoy working their hair, and I like looking at them when they are all fluffed up.
How do you want to impact the livestock industry?
I want to impact the livestock industry by bringing up the next generation of showmen and mentoring them to acquire a strong work ethic and be disciplined. I currently help young showmen from my local area. Watching them grow as showmen and as individuals has been very rewarding. It has also been a challenge to break things down to the beginning building blocks to see improvement by setting and meeting goals.
