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ROAD WARRIOR

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 9, 2007
Messages
1,865
Location
Iowa
Just wodered how everybody got into the cattle business (large or small) . I was born into it my great, great grand mother had a very highly respected herd of shorthorns back in the late 1800's . I guess there has been cows in the family ever since.
 

red

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 20, 2007
Messages
7,850
Location
LaRue, Ohio
was in 4-H & FFA growing up although my parents weren't farmers.
Went into ag sales after college. Met my hubby selling feed to him. He proposed to me in front of the feedlot. The rest is history!!!

Red
 

ShowStopper

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
91
My mom was in 4-H from the beginning and she got us into it when I was 7. We started out with hogs. Then my sister decided to do the catch a calf contest at National Western and it has been in us ever since..we were hooked from that point onward.(to the cattle anyways)  ;D ;D ;D
 

jason

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 26, 2006
Messages
3,046
Location
Emporia, Kansas
Grew up in 4-H showing animals.  Also have a brother that is a vet and a younger sister attending school to be a vet.
 

knabe

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
great grandparents farmed on both sides.  next generation farmed.  parents on both sides went into business and military, worked on family farm in summers.

i was involved a little in college, then at about age 40, was able to afford a small patch, saw a maine cow of my neighbors, turned out it was a double bred cunia, then bought a couple at a dispersal because i was disatisfied with the price/quality of meat and the tenderness/marbling on grass genes of maines got me piqued cause i work in a genome center.  didn't research enough about recent progress of other breeds, just mainly interested in "ancient" history of dual purpose breeds such as shorthorns, maines, etc.

kinda regretted i didn't go the fullblood route.  just found out one of my heifers got 3 tenderness stars(one for each gene) and one quality grade marker from a son of a fullblood.  she's homo for two of the tenderness, hetero for one and homo for a quality.

found this place looking up genetic defects, found a few boards, then was pointed this direction.  lots of fun and quite an array of people.
 

OH Breeder

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
5,954
Location
Ada, Ohio
ALmost all of my heritage is from farm folks. My grandmother was quiet the geneologist and traced us back to Captain of Mayflower William Bradford, 11th generation decedants. We came here as farmers and in one way or another have always been farmers. I grew up in a large family. The entire clan got involved in farming, we had hogs, sheep, chickens and cattle. A horse to ride for fun. The farm fed us and dad worked at a factory as well. The farm paid for most of my college. I left it for a while my father passed and I returned to cattle because I couldn't get it out of my blood.
I found this web sight through Mrs. Red. Has been alot of fun and a GREAT group of people. Learned more than I ever have from any other sight.
 

frostback

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
2,068
Location
Colorado
I was not lucky enough to be born into farming,I grew up in town, a cops daughter. I always said I was born in the wrong family as I had lots of cousins that did 4-H but they lived to far away to help. I got my start with a family that showed sheep, they let me keep them there and I worked and helped every weekend. Then I got the chance to get my first steer and was hooked ever since. I got loans to buys steers and then saved to buy my first 2 cows, shorthorns that most of my herd go back to. It is in my blood though like I said I have uncles and cousins with cattle, I was giving a photo of my grandpa with one of the first Charolais heifers that came from France. Mom remembers him leaving for Quebec to bring her home.
 

Show Heifer

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
Messages
2,221
I was fortunate enough to be born into it. Raised on a family farm that has been in the family since 1843. And now, I am running it.  Started showing when I was 8. Loved it, but never was forced. And honestly can't ever remember caring whether I won or lost.
Funny thing is, when I was growing up, I was scared to death of cows (loved the calves, hated the cows)....had a cow that hated my guts and would take me every chance she would get...but would leave Dad alone. I hated that cow. But now, I work with them everyday, and never give it a second thought...funny how things turn out.
 

genes

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
392
Me too Farmboy.  I remember my Dad used to sit me in the truck or up high on some bales while he did chores, so I would be safe :D  (And now that I think of it, it was probably best for him that I was too scared to run around underfoot.  Then I started getting used to him, and got my first show steer at 7.  Dad showed me how I could jump in the manger to not get squished if he moved, and he led the steer for me, but I could hold him and set his feet.

 

knabe

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2007
Messages
13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
oh breeder, awesome on the bradford link.  i just finished reading a great book about the pilgrims through philips war.  when i saw the link to church's shorthorns, and now your link, i thought of the book.  i grow melons and beans in my corn now from that book just for fun.
 

OH Breeder

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
5,954
Location
Ada, Ohio
You had to know my grandmother. She graduated from a local private university in 1902 which was practically unheard of in that day. The one thing she ALWAYS wanted us to be proud of was our heritage. She was big in history and family trees. SHe lived to be 94 and drove up til she was 94. SHe had 25 laying hens and 25 head of suffolk sheep  SHE tended to everyday. So, if I hadn't mentioned it, she would haunt me. I was able to get a grant from Daughters of Mayflower compact when i went to college. Her geneology paid off.
 

shortyjock89

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
4,465
Location
IL
Well, I guess it's time for Shortyjock89's story hour, with your host, SJ89 a.k.a. Justin Olson.  Okay, I'm the fifth generation to live and work on this farm we have in East Central Illinois.  My great great grandfather came from Southern Sweden in the 1880's.  He came to Illinois and learned how to farm the land. On top of that he learned our Currency and our language.  He was a very enterprising man.  His son, my great grandfather, acquired alot of farmland in his life and started our beef herd in the early 1900's.  We had Shorthorn with a couple of Hereford and Angus thrown in.  We also had a top notch dairy division that included Jerseys for showing and Guernseys for milking and fostering orphans.  We also had Duroc and Landrace pigs.  When my grandfather started running the farm, he sold the Shorthorns and Herefords and the Dairy cattle (after my uncles got done showing them).  He concentrated on having an excellent Angus herd and did really well with them.  I think he won our state fair a couple times, and sold some really high dollar cattle.  He also sold Duroc x Landrace pigs for terminal cross show barrows.  My dad didn't like the Angus calves because they were so hard to break, so he showed Shorthorn steers locally, and showed Chi's on the national level with a family he knew.  My dad was also really into team roping and other such rodeo activities.  After my dad was done showing, all the cows got sold except for feeders, and then the Horses left when I was about a year old.  Then, when I got a little older, we got back into the Shorthorn breed and I've been showing ever since.  I'm proud of my heritage and the determination that my ancestors had to make a better future for our family.

I really enjoy reading about all of your folks' families and it gives the Planet a real sense of community I think!  (clapping)
 

OH Breeder

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2007
Messages
5,954
Location
Ada, Ohio
shortyjock89 said:
Well, I guess it's time for Shortyjock89's story hour, with your host, SJ89 a.k.a. Justin Olson.  Okay, I'm the fifth generation to live and work on this farm we have in East Central Illinois.  My great great grandfather came from Southern Sweden in the 1880's.  He came to Illinois and learned how to farm the land. On top of that he learned our Currency and our language.  He was a very enterprising man.  His son, my great grandfather, acquired alot of farmland in his life and started our beef herd in the early 1900's.  We had Shorthorn with a couple of Hereford and Angus thrown in.  We also had a top notch dairy division that included Jerseys for showing and Guernseys for milking and fostering orphans.  We also had Duroc and Landrace pigs.  When my grandfather started running the farm, he sold the Shorthorns and Herefords and the Dairy cattle (after my uncles got done showing them).  He concentrated on having an excellent Angus herd and did really well with them.  I think he won our state fair a couple times, and sold some really high dollar cattle.  He also sold Duroc x Landrace pigs for terminal cross show barrows.  My dad didn't like the Angus calves because they were so hard to break, so he showed Shorthorn steers locally, and showed Chi's on the national level with a family he knew.  My dad was also really into team roping and other such rodeo activities.  After my dad was done showing, all the cows got sold except for feeders, and then the Horses left when I was about a year old.  Then, when I got a little older, we got back into the Shorthorn breed and I've been showing ever since.  I'm proud of my heritage and the determination that my ancestors had to make a better future for our family.

I really enjoy reading about all of your folks' families and it gives the Planet a real sense of community I think!  (clapping)

SHorty I agree with you. It is great to read who people are. I think that is one of the nice things about this planet is its true community feel. There are some real characters on here! ;)
 

DL

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
3,622
I am a throwback to my South Dakota rancher and Iowa farmer ancestors from my Mothers side of the family (Danish thru Ontario to Iowa and SD). My Fathers side landed in Buffalo (Germany & Ireland to Ontario to BFLO) which is where I grew up (Go Sablres  ;D - can't help it).in the country but not on a farm. Did 4H but (yes it is true) showed horses. Moved to MI to go to school - bought a cow - bought a farm - more cows - to the delight of both sides of the family!
 

bluegrass

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
193
Location
Bagdad, Kentucky.
I was definetly born into it. Most of my early memories are of cattle and cattle shows that I went to with my parents. I have seen some great old film of both of my parents showing steers back in the 60s. My great grand mother on maternal side was a Hatfield but was very young at the end of the fued. My grandfathers brother worked for a very prominent Hereford outfit when he was a young man, they took the cattle to Denver by train in those days.
 

Malinda

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 16, 2007
Messages
160
I have always told folks that farming and cattle go back so far on both sides that I just don't have enough sense to do anything else.

I'm 4th generation on the paternal side. The three previous generations were livestock dealers. My Dad was born in Kentucky and he and my grandfather used to go on trips to buy livestock; they rode horses, packed guns and had a set of border collies. They would travel around buying livestock and then when they started home they would backtrack and pickup what they had purchased and trail them home. As a teenager, my Dad left Kentucky and came to Ohio. He bought a thrashing machine and the income from that is how he purchased our farm. In addition to his livestock business, he farmed corn, beans, wheat, oats and hay.  We used to run Herefords. Dad may have only had a fifth grade education in a one room school house, but he is still the smartest man I have ever met and he did it all on common sense. He could do math in his head like a computer.

My maternal side of the family had many farmers, but the most noteable of the Stanton clan was Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War under Lincoln during the Civil War. Old Edwin was a character: a genious, a nut, a crook and do I need to say....a politician. He was the first attorney in the U.S. to use temperary insanity as a defense. James Stanton was a POW during the Civil War. After the war he and his wife Malinda Jane moved to Kansas but came back to Ohio after 3 crop failures. They had a daughter Sarah Jane, who had a daughter Malinda Jane.....I'm the fifth to be named after granny. My grandfather Emery Stanton was a farmer but could easily be remembered the most for his fishing abilities. He was also quite the gardener; he had a HUGE garden and told me one spring that he would give me a nickel for every weed I could find. I worked diligently all summer to increase my savings account, but only made a dime.

When I was 5 a neighbor had a Holstein cow die having a heifer calf. Dad gave the neighbor $5 for tha calf and brought it home for me to raise. When we sold her first calf Dad sat me down in the barn and gave me my first education in finance. He took out $5 so I could pay him back for my calf then he took out what I owed him for feed. Dad brought the first Charolais into Ohio in the 50's and by the time I was 12 I had saved enough money to buy 1 purebred Charolais heifer or 6 halfbloods. I started with the 6 and worked my way up. I was one of the first Junior members of the AICA in Ohio.  I raised Charolais from 1962 until1992 and had a Reserve Grand Champ with a Charolais while I was in 4-H and that was the highest any Charolais influenced calf had done in any show until that time. The AICA called, flew in, took pictures, made a big deal out of it then wrote a postage stamp size article about it in the Charolais Banner, almost on the last page! I started with the Shorthorns in 1995 (I think). I used to run about 30 cows and had between 65 and 70 cattle in the feedlot.

I worked as a registered nurse and nurse anesthetist from 1971 until 1999 but have always stayed with the cattle; just can't get them out of my blood.

I have really enjoyed reading the other posts. We have travelled different roads but ended up in a common place.

Malinda

 

sawboss

Well-known member
Joined
May 31, 2007
Messages
296
Location
Nacogdoches, TX
I got started in High School FFA.  Now that the boys are truly old enough to handle the show animals, they are involved in every aspect.  They are fortunate to be the fifth generation to farm and raise cattle on our place.  It was a working dairy farm until the late 1960's, then sat stale in only grazing land until my wife and I took over 9 years ago.  Last year we raised 55 acres of watermelons and the boys sold enough in front of the house "their melons" to pay for their show animals and their feed.  I once read a quote in Texas Trophy Hunter's Magazine that stated "Teach a child to hunt and fish, and there is nothing that a drug dealer can teach them"!  I also feel this way about show animals, athletics and simple family time.  If I expect there to be a sixth generation working this farm I better work as hard raising my kids, as I do our livestock.
 

justme

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
2,871
Location
Missouri
My dad was as city as it gets, and my mom grew up the daughter of a (don't gasp) a horse trader.  Her father was the 5th generation of butchers.  I loved any kind of animal I could get near.  Had more ponies than I can count.  I was a 4-H'er from day one....but had to take the "girl" projects to become a lady (boy they failed on that one lol).  My freshman year of highschool and very active in FFA also, I sweet talked a boy into selling me a lamb, and brought it home in the trunk of his cutlass.  I thought my parents would die.  Took my little $25 lamb and won my class...studded dog collar and all.

I eventually added pigs, then a holstein steer feeder calf.  I sold my projects and kept adding more.  Finally graduating to a steer.  I eventually went to Ohio State University ATI and majored in beef.  Got married to a farmer, sold our Ohio farm and relocated to Missouri.  The rest is history


Sadly, I'm neither a butcher (tried it, but kept apologizing to the cattle before they were put down) or a proper lady (I try but its hard when theres poop on your shoes), but love every minute of it.
 
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