Champion Shorthorn Bull At The Ohio State Fair

My brother and sister in law showed the Champion Shorthorn Bull at the Ohio State Fair this week.  I know our dad and grandpa are proud!

I think dad told me that Grandpa George Winkle bought a Shorthorn herd nearly 100 years ago.  That old Shorthorn based herd was the genetics for the farm I grew up on, a general livestock farm in Brown County, Ohio.

I can't forget the white steer calf dad picked out for me when I was a child.  I showed him at the Brown County fair.  He was wild with blue eyes and I try to forget him dragging me through the show ring and running up the grandstand with women screaming and purses flying.  You know why I love crops so much that feed the livestock.

Charolais cattle had just come to the states and everyone thought this white steer might be a Charolais.  He wasn't, he was an offspring of Grandpa's Shorthorn herd.

Dad and grandpa loved their cattle because they used the pasture and hay we could raise on that farm without erosion and they helped pay the bills.  Beef has always  been a high choice for meat consumption in the US and I always figured they always will.

It takes a long time to build up a good herd so Jeff and Susie have done a spectacular job building their herd to the point they could produce a Champion Bull.  My hat is off to them, I know what hard work it is.

Cattle are record high prices and feed is cheap this year.  The livestock men and women just might be having their best year ever and it was hard earned and high time for it to happen.

Showing livestock taught my children a lot of good things I see in their families.

Grandpa had no idea what he was starting, did he?

Ed Winkle