An ISU student has received the Top Hand award for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.Ann Witt, sophomore in animal science, received her award in San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 4 at the national convention. Witt also won the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association Top Hand award Dec. 9 in Des Moines for the Iowa convention.”I started because of the incentives that were offered,” Witt said. ” My father was the top recruiter in the state in 1997, and since he won a saddle, that is what got me going on it.”The Top Hand program is to reward members who recruit new members for the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association, said Brent Bryant, state membership director. There is also a national program which rewards members who recruit for the national organization.”I won state in 1999 and 2000 and tried for the top in the national competition last year and got runner-up,” she said. “My mom went with me to Arizona last year, and I wanted both of my parents to be there, so I set the goal to win top in the nation for 2000 and have both of my parents there.”In the state contest, Witt received prizes such as watches, belt buckles, shotguns, jackets and a saddle when she won the state competition. In the national competition, she won boots, shirts, another saddle, free plane tickets and accommodations to the convention.”I felt good when I won because all of the work paid off,” Witt said. “Knowing that when you get people to join, you have helped them cross a bridge, and it lets them know other cattlemen have the same feelings and share the same ideas.”While in San Antonio, Witt took tours of the Alamo, the River Walk and participated in the NCBA team cattle penning competition. “The competition starts by each county receiving a list of prospective members, and I contacted the members I knew first,” she said. “Then I drove around and wherever there was cattle I stopped and asked them to join. A lot of the people’s response in the first year was that no one asked them to join.”She said what helped her sell the national membership was that Merial, which makes Ivomec pour-on, gives a rebate on its product to new members and because of Environmental Protection Agency regulations.Ann comes from Acardia where her family raises purebred black Angus cattle. She owns almost 70 head of cattle, and her family also puts their bulls in the ICA-bull test program. She also has interests in horses; she owns two and is interested in rodeo.”I am going to stay active in the national and state membership drives, but I want to be more active at school with the clubs I am in,” she said.