I grew up in Ames, Iowa and had very little interest or access to livestock opportunitys for most of my youth. At a certain point I was hanging around Ames and I was getting into a lot of trouble. You have heard the story before but I was hanging around the wrong crowd.
My parents decided to build a house in the country. We moved into the rural community of Slater, Iowa and the first group of friends I made all had farm & livestock backgrounds. I thought they were cool for showing cattle!! That sounds like a weird statement to me now after I have been around cattle for 15 years, but at that time that it is easily the best way to describe my energy and excitement to learn more about steers, heifers, pigs and other show livestock. It was different from anything I had previously been involved with. I didn’t know a thing about cattle or how much work it would take, but I wanted to try it!
My best friends parents paid for my first calf, it was a heifer and we named her “Bunny” because she was born on Easter Sunday. She wasn’t an expensive calf, but she was mine! Every chance I got I was on my way out to the barn to work with her and my biggest sense of fulfillment came from the fact that she was “mine.” When you are that young, there are very few things you can call “yours.” I learned a lot that first year: from feeding to grooming to showing and a lot in between. I never knew how much work and time it took until I started caring for my 4-H project. It was worth it and I loved every minute of it. That next summer after spending countless hours getting her looking the best I possibly could I was rewarded by being named champion commercial heifer. There were 30 other heifers in the division and to me it felt like i walked out with the state fair champion banner.
The point of this short story is that we all weren’t born into this great industry.
Many find it just by chance similar to the way I did. Now 15 years later I make my living from this great industry. If I hadn’t met Bunny or that magnificent family that got me started it’s tough to say where I would be today. I fully support the opportunity that has been given to the cattle industry with these show calves on the Internet sites in 6 different continents. If there is anyone out there with ideas on how we can use the platform to connect with non agriculture people feel free to give me a call at anytime this summer.
Respectfully,
Mat John | MLC Sales Director
515.509.3552
