My story starts out very similar to Mat Johns. I was not born into a family farm. I did not show my first feeder calf at the county fair at the age of 5, in fact I come from a family that knew absolutely nothing about cattle. I come from a family of truck drivers and crop farmers. My dad and grandpa farmed as well as hauled seed corn, however quit farming before I was born. I got involved in the cattle business and showed my first calf at the age of 13. Her name was Delilah, she was a yellow/white Simmental heifer and I showed her for a neighbor. She ended up being Champion Simmental, and from that moment I was hooked. My parents supported my passion, however were not in a position to help me financially, and they, and along with myself really knew nothing about cattle. Since I could not afford the good cattle or even had a facility to keep them, my neighbor continued to let me show his cattle. As I gained experience, I was able to understand that these animals were not the best, and that if I wanted to compete, I would need to find a niche. This is when I really started sharpening my skills on clipping/fitting and showmanship. I went through my 4-H career and never really won a lot, Res. Grand at my county fair once, a breed champion here or there, but I worked hard to improve, paid attention to the families that were winning and asked a lot of questions. In Indiana, I was fortunate to watch people like the Sinclair Bros., Chad Wilson, the Patton family and numerous others. These were the people that I constantly watched to improve myself
Showing cattle lead to better evaluation of livestock, and in turn, a partial ride judging scholarship at Black Hawk East (BHE) junior college, however my judging career was short lived as all I wanted to do was work on show cattle. After spending only 3 months on the judging team, Dan Hoge gave me the opportunity to begin working for Todd Caldwell, who lived only 30 minutes south of school. Todd has been a major influence for me and a major supporter of our program. We are still good friends and trade cattle quite often. The amount contacts that I made while working at Todd’s was huge. I begin to meet people that gave me the opportunity to travel with them on larger showstrings to the major shows all across the country. My spring semester of my freshmen year is when things took another leap. I had to due an internship and I chose to go to work at Kirk Stierwalts. What started out as an 8 week internship, ended up with me staying all summer working on cattle and helping conduct his show cattle clinics when they were still held at his house. This is where my interest in show cattle education was sparked. To be able to learn from Kirk on a daily basis was invaluable. Kirk always told me that he could tell I enjoyed the education part of it, and continued giving me the opportunity to assist him with clinics when he was in the Midwest. I had the opportunity to work side by side with one of the industry greats, and the education and experience I received there are a large part of why I am in this business and I can honestly say that internship introduced my to one of my best friends
Following graduation at BHE, I moved home and started Vansickle Cattle Co. in 2000 with 2 cows. We now run approx. 40-50 cows. Of these, there are a handful of high powered donors that have excelled our operation to the next level and we have recently begun to see quite a bit of success at not only the local and state level, but the national level as well. When I started our cowherd, I did not know a lot about that either, but was very grateful to have a mentor by the name of Kevin Newman that lived close. I would constantly go by his place or call him with questions. Sometimes, I would just show up over there and listen….you can learn a lot by keeping your mouth closed!
Recently, I have been rewarded once again for my hard work and dedication. In January, John Sullivan gave me the chance to become the Eastern Rep. for Stock Show University. In this role, I have been able to connect with a significant amount of people to discuss and teach show cattle education.
I want to thank Matt Lautner for asking me to tell my story on my entrance into this industry. It has been a chance for me to take a trip down memory lane as well as inform people that you don’t have to be “born” into something. I think the youth and industry professional spotlights are one of the best ways to connect with people that often don’t understand why we do what we do. Regardless of your opinion of the “fluffy cow” craze, use each chance you come into contact with someone as an opportunity to agvocate and educate. It truly is so much more than a competition to see who can have the prettiest cow. It is a passion and a way of life for those of us who choose to be involved with it. It is the teaching of life skills like dedication, hard work, good sportsmanship, and pride that we convey to the young folks that choose to complete this project. I am not sure if consumers will ever be able to identify fluffy cows with the product that is served to them. As livestock enthusiasts, we know the difference between hairy, teddy bear like cows and the ones that served on a consumer’s plate. Fluffy cows have given us that chance to open dialect with individuals on the outside of the agriculture industry, and inform them that within every industry in the world, there are niche markets. Fluffy cows just happen to be ours.
