Ruzicka and Chance to represent Floyd County at Governor’s Steer Show

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Delaney Ruzicka and her steer, Chance, will be representing Floyd County in the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show this year, and Chance will be shown by none other than Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

Ruzicka is 15 and will be a sophomore at Charles City High School this coming school year. She has been showing cattle since second grade, and this will be her first time in attendance at the show.

Ruzicka said Chance was born in 2019 and is a little over a year old. Chance was her younger brother’s show calf and placed at the Floyd County Fair, winning first place in showmanship. She said her brother is too young to show at the governor’s show, so the honor became hers.

“I’ve been around it my entire life,” Ruzicka said. “When I was little, my grandpa had cattle and he kept them at our house, so I’ve grown up around cattle. My brothers and I would be with our grandpa while he did chores.”

Ruzicka said she’s never met Naig personally, but she is definitely looking forward to it.

“That actually is really cool, and everyone who knows him has told me he’s a super nice guy,” she said.

Ruzicka said that one of her least favorite things about the steer show was asking people for donations.

The event, which raises money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Iowa, will be held on Aug. 15.

Organized by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and Iowa Beef Industry Council, the GCSS has raised more than $3.8 million to help provide a home away from home for families of children who are being treated in nearby hospitals.

Ronald McDonald Houses are now located in Des Moines, Iowa City and Sioux City. These facilities house the family members of seriously ill children being treated in area hospitals.

Twenty-five steers from across the state will be shown by celebrities and the event will streamed live online. The auction will follow the show.

Iowa State University will host the event, which has typically been held at the Iowa State Fair throughout its 38-year history, but this year’s State Fair has been essentially canceled.

“One thing that I’ve been told this year is that donations have been a lot harder to get,” Ruzicka said. “Everybody’s budget is closed down because of the virus.”

This year’s event will take place at 3:05 p.m. in Ames at the Jeff & Deb Hansen Ag Learning Center. This event will be invite only as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Floyd County has had at least one representative at the annual show since 2006. Charles City’s Bronson Forsyth earned a top-five finish with his steer, DMACC Delivers, in the 2019 show.

Dillan Dight, from Rockford, and his steer Rocky were also representatives last year. Alec Staudt, also from Rockford, won the top prize for showmanship with his steer, Bugs, in 2018 and Jayden Jorgenson of Rudd earned the purple ribbon with her steer, Hershey, at the 2017 charity show.