Caledonia Argus

Showing Angus cattle a hobby for these ambitious teens

Posted: 5/13/03

by Jane Palen
Managing editor

Conversations between most teenage girls covers the topics of boys, school, parties and clothes. But for Beth Meiners and Amber Miller, best friends since the first grade, the conversation is likely to include cattle. Angus cattle, to be specific. The two CHS sophomores have been showing Angus cattle for the last two years, and despite the hard work involved, are confident that whatever the future holds for them, it will involve cattle.

About three years ago, Beth expressed an interest in showing cattle. Her father, Gary, steered her to Richard Leary of Leary Angus Farms, and Beth bought her first calf from him. Richard, she said, has been a great source of knowledge and assistance to her and Amber as they have worked with the cattle. Beth wanted someone to show with, and Amber was up for it. Beth lives in the country and has a farming background, but Amber has always lived in town. Still, she has always shown a keen interest in animals, and says she practically grew up at the Meinersí house. Both girls were already in 4-H, and showed horses before developing an interest in Angus.

The first step in preparing an animal to show is to break them so that they behave in the ring. It can take anywhere from a week to a month to get the animals accustomed to being handled. They brush their coats, and then put a halter on them so they get used to the feel of it. They just drag the halter around the pen for a few days Then they are tied to a post. When they stop fighting it, itís time to train them for the show.

Breaking the cattle is no small task, and the girls point out that each animal has its own personality. Since they are no match for the animals in strength, they must train them so that they can be managed in the ring.

Once the cattle are broken, preparing them for the show is a time-consuming task. They are set in front of fans for about 12 hours per day, and given baths twice a day. The idea, explained Beth and Amber, is to drop the body temperature so that the hair grows longer. In the summer, the cattleís coat loses length.

ìWe try to stop that,î said Beth.

The cattle are always brushed forward to give the appearance of greater fullness in the body.

ìI knew it was going to be a lot of hard work,î said Amber, who has two part-time jobs in addition to going to school and working with the cattle.

On show day, the work starts about five hours before the show, which sometimes means getting up at 5 a.m. The cattle are washed, and dried with a blow-drier, then fed and watered. Once in the chute, they are clipped and sprayed to make them look blacker. Once they tried dying the cattle, but the result was just short of disastrous. The girls laughed at the memory.

ìWe wonít try that again,î said Beth.

Last year, the girls did a number of shows in the area, including Lancaster, WI, Allison, IA, Pipestone, MN, and St. Paul. Beth also attended the Denver Stock Show, where she was first in her class for the fall beef heifer division. This year, they will travel to Louisville, KY for the National Junior Angus show in July, and hope to attend the World Beef Expo in Milwaukee.

Since both girls will celebrate a birthday while at beef shows, they have an arrangement. Amber will do the chores by herself on Bethís birthday, and Beth will do the chores on Amberís birthday.

For Beth and Amber, the best part of participating in the shows is meeting people. Everyone involved is friendly and ready to help. They meet people from all over the country, and become acquainted especially with people from Minnesota who they see at various shows. They exchange e-mail addresses and keep in touch between shows. And there are even boys at some of the shows!

In addition to becoming involved in the shows, the girls are involved in other activities that help further their knowledge of the industry, including 4-H, FFA, National Junior Angus Association and Minnesota Junior Angus Association. Both showed cattle last year at the state fair for 4-H. While attending shows, they also participate in activities related to beef such as a beef quiz bowl and beef cook-off.

Beth attended ìcow campî last summer in Oklahoma to learn more about showing, and both would like to go to LEAD training in Ft. Worth Texas this year. LEAD stands for Leaders Engaged in Angus Development.

For the future, Beth plans to attend the University of Minnesota where she hopes to major in both animal science-genetics and elementary music. She will pursue a minor in agribusiness. She is an accomplished musician with the flute as her specialty, although she also pays the piccolo and clarinet. She hopes to give music lessons at the elementary school level. She is hoping to develop her herd through the heifers she is buying to help finance her college education. At the present time, she has 10 head of cattle and two calves.

Amber is not quite sure of what she will do after high school, but is confident that her experiences will serve her well in the future.

ìWhatever I do, I know Iíve learned from the experience,î said Amber.

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