Fair Week Is Super Bowl For Wyoming’s 4-H Champions

GILLETTE — Betty was not enjoying the extra attention. The 15-month-old Black Angus heifer gave a baleful glance over her shoulder at 9-year-old Timber Elkins as she scrubbed dried manure off Betty’s back legs.

Timber squinted in concentration in the early morning sun as Betty mooed in resignation. It was showtime, and Timber and Betty were about to compete for the Supreme Cow contest at the Campbell County Fair.

The scrubbing will be followed by a rinse and blow-out to get Betty gussied up for the judges.

As Timber unrolled the hose to give Betty a rinse, her younger sisters Reagan, 7, and 8-year-old Morgan were busy helping their mom, Acacia, and stepdad, Shawn Acord, with other chores.

There was no shortage to go around as the family unpacked feed and water troughs and laid down straw in the temporary stalls where the cows and steers would spend spending the next week competing in a series of contests and exhibitions.

Betty’s primary job that morning apart from looking good was to be pregnant.

Based on the low-slung girth of her belly, Timber wasn’t concerned. In fact, an ultrasound later showed that Betty may be having twins with a judge declaring her “short and fat.”

After the preg check, Timber will show Betty in front of judges who will gauge both Timber’s skills in the ring leading her as well as Timber’s general knowledge about the heifer and the agriculture industry.

She’s ready with her notebook documenting Betty’s vitals as well as the age and weight at which she was bred and the cost of grain to feed her. The largest costs are the veterinarian fees for breeding, vaccines and other health expenses. At just over $2,710, the price of caring for Betty is double her value of $1,320.

If you ask Timber, medical costs are the most important issue impacting the ag industry today and preventing against diseases and ailments such as pink eye, which can spread through a herd in days.

Chores And More Chores

Such is the life of a Wyoming kid raising a 4-H animal for a county fair. The culmination of all that work and sacrifice comes at judging and at the annual livestock sale.

At the Campbell County Fair, the stalls around the girls were equally busy with other 4-H’ers and competitors unloading their animals and unpacking gear. There’s not much standing around for this group, who despite the early 7 a.m. hour, are perky and good-natured as they go about the chores which for them is just another day.

When their mother, Acacia Acord, saw the girls standing idle, she reminded them to go ask their dad, Shawn, if he needs help unloading the trailer and stocking gear. They run, not walk, to see how they can help.

This is Timber’s second year showing a steer and her first in the two-year Supreme Cow breeding contest. Next year, she’ll return with Betty and her calf, or calves, to further test her skills.

Morgan competed for the first time this year in the steer contests, but Reagan has another two years to wait until she can officially enter the ring. This year, she’ll compete in the peewee steer event for a ribbon and bragging rights.

Reality Bites

Betty was sandwiched between steers Billy and Sir Chrome-a-lot, who are all tied nose-in to the stall. The three bovines at this point are like pets; large, refrigerator-sized pets. All have agreeable dispositions and allow the girls to wash and brush them out without too much argument.

Only Betty will return home with the family, but the two steers were destined to be auctioned off at the Youth Livestock Sale, the last day of fair, which in Campbell County was last Sunday.

The sisters don’t want to think about that part quite yet and instead focus on the task at hand.

What’s not evident in the easy way the girls handle the massive 1,300-plus-pound steers is the hard work it’s taken to get them to this point.

Timber started working with Betty in November, which meant daily feedings and washings, as well as learning to lead her by halter. She started working with Chrome a month prior after he was weaned from his mother.

Morgan, meanwhile, started training Billy, a bum calf, from birth when she bottle-fed him.

Apart from daily feeds and baths, the sisters have to train the steers to be by leash.

This was no easy task, said Morgan, who one day was dragged by Billy through the corral.

“I had rocks in my pants,” she said with a big, toothy grin.

Reagan, though still too young to officially compete, also helped train by tapping the steers on the backside with a show stick, which is a long stick with a dull hook on the end that works simultaneously as a tapper and a back scratcher to keep them relaxed before the judges.

Often, this means the girls stay busy right up till bedtime, which they all take in stride as just part of ranching life.

Biggest Event Of The Year

The Campbell County Fair has a rich legacy in northeastern Wyoming, dating back more than 100 years.

Acacia, who grew up on a ranch in Campbell County, attended herself as a young girl and teen. Back then, however, her family dropped her off to spend the week sleeping in the animal stalls with other kids.

Today, it’s much different with most families camped out in air-conditioned travel trailers and RVs.

For many in the ag industry, the fair is the biggest event of the year.

It’s not just an opportunity to showcase their animals and skills, but also a rare chance for these normally busy families to get together to socialize and spend time with other ranchers and producers.

It makes for a long, exhausting week for parents, but the social aspect and camaraderie is a big part of fair and one of the founding tenets of 4-H, where youth support and mentor one another.

As if on cue, Robert Trigg walked past the girls leading his cow to the barn to get weighed and preg tested.

Robert, who is also neighbor to the Accords, is fair royalty in the Supreme Cow world and someone the girls look up to. He gave them an encouraging nod and wave as Timber untied Betty and tugged her into line.

Showtime

The girls are tired.

It’s a Saturday, the last day of fair, and they’ve racked up a handful of first-, second- and third-place awards for showing their ponies, cows and steers as well as a handful of art projects.

“This week feels like an entire month,” Timber said with a yawn.

But this is the big day and they’re just getting started. Today, they’re showmanship skills are on display in the beef show where they’ll show their mettle.

Unlike other competitions where the size and shape of an animal dictates the win, showmanship is all about the presenter.

Timber and Morgan said they’re ready to go. Not only are they dressed to the nines in fancy turquoise and plaid cowgirl shirts and big ribbons in their long hair to match their sparkly cowboy boots, but they’ve been practicing for months.

Regan was up first in the peewee cow contest.

Of the roughly dozen competitors, she was the only one who takes her animal — Sir Chrome-a-lot — into the ring without an accompanying adult. She doesn’t hesitate as she deftly led the steer around the ring in formation, stopping to ham for the judges with a big grin.

For her efforts, she’s awarded a ribbon in any color of her choosing, but when she reached for pink, older sister Morgan encouraged her to grab a first-place blue.

“You always want to go for the blue,” Morgan told her.

Meanwhile, Timber and Morgan are busy putting on the final touches to their steers, which involved spraying them with cans of “cow mouse” and blow drying and brushing it into formation.

Helping them is their older sister, 21-year-old Emily Acord, Shawn’s daughter from his first marriage, who guided them through the task, reminding them to brush the hair in the opposite direction to make it fluffier and smoother.

It’s when they are out in the ring competing against other youth where their skills shined and all the hours they put in training came into focus. Apart from the hulking size of the steers at more than 1,300 pounds, the girls were by far the smallest competitors among the dozen or so others.

While some steers tugged at their young handlers and didn’t stand still for the judges, both Timber and Morgan had no trouble keeping Billy and Chrome in line. Their skills were such that the judge commended them, ultimately awarding Morgan both first place and Grand Champion Junior Showman.

“It was only my first time,” Morgan said as she led Billy out of the ring and picked up her two ribbons.

Timber, meanwhile, earned third place in junior showmanship despite having one of the laziest steers the judge had ever seen.

Saying Goodbye

That day, the girls reveled in the limelight of their wins with the knowledge that the next day they would be saying goodbye to their beloved steers.

Prior to the livestock sale, the girls had both lined up a buyer, the First National Bank of Gillette. To earn the sale, both girls had to go door to door to several businesses accompanied by their mother to introduce themselves and make a case for the purchase.

That’s part of the process, too, of learning to be a rancher, Acacia said, just like parting with the steers that have become more like pets.

Last year, it was hard for Acacia and Shawn to see the girls bid their tearful goodbyes as they hugged the steers and cried into their hides. Their tears continued on the drive home, but ended when they promptly passed out from exhaustion from the long week.

This year, Timber took it much better than Morgan because it was her second year, Acacia said.

That’s part of ranching life, and both will be back next year.

Jen Kocher can be reached at jen@cowboystatedaily.com.