My siblings and I first began exhibiting dairy cattle at the Kansas State Fair when I was in high school. Since then, we have only missed a few shows, and I was struck as we were preparing for this year’s iteration by a question from a friend.
“Why do you take cattle to the state fair?”
The answer used to be tied to our 4-H participation and the fun we had with friends. While the latter is still true, no one in our string exhibited a 4-H animal this year. Still, as I thought about it, we go for the same reasons.
- To show our animals to the public.
- To provide a space to compare genetics to others in the region.
- To spend time with our friends.
- To work toward a goal and learn about ourselves.
It’s the last reason I’d like to focus on for the remainder of the blog. As I write it out, it honestly seems a little lofty for a show where I spend most of my time covered in cow hair and worse. That being said, I can’t help but say it’s true.
Each time we work with our show cattle, I learn patience, grit, and perseverance. If you’ll humor me, let me provide two examples from this years’ experience.
This summer we had a nice 2-year-old cow that had yet to be halter broken. As the months progressed leading up to the show, I often had conversations surrounding her behavior. I thought that she might be one of those cows that just wasn’t meant to be a show cow, and every time I decided to give it a break, I’d find myself returning to the pen to try another strategy with her.
In the week before we left for the show, the 2-year-old finally came around. Persistence is what it took. She needed the time to get comfortable around me and trust me. I can’t help but think about how many times I give up on people and animals because I don’t have the time or perseverance to continue working with them. As a manager of people and animals, there is certainly a lesson for me here.
The second story belongs to a friend of our family. My earliest memory of showing at the county fair included my friend Doug, who helped me lead my boisterous heifer around the showring. Doug has been exhibiting at the Kansas State fair for 50-plus years, and although he is retired from milking, he has kept a single cow housed at our farm. For the first time this year, his cow won Grand Champion of the Holstein breed. He would tell you that it was his stubbornness that brought him back to the show year after year, but I will call it grit. The most rewarding part of getting to watch him win was watching his grandson lead the cow in the ring as Doug beamed at him from the end of the lead-rope.
Although we’re not 4-H members anymore, we can still learn these important lessons. They are the intangible ones that make us better people when we interact with employees, neighbors, and friends.
The author is a dairy farmer in Kansas and a former associate editor at Hoard’s Dairyman. Raised on a 150-cow dairy near Valley Center, Kansas, Maggie graduated from Kansas State University with degrees in agricultural communications and animal sciences.
