Show you be old to raise cattle child menace hits livestock show youngsters have won in ten years by ARNOLD PATTEN released by western newspaper union CHICAGO once upon a time you had to be a lydeard ly beard cattleman or your entry stand a chance of winning the top honor at chi cagos international livestock exposition the th e grand champion steer award nowadays youve got to be a youngster and probably a girl at that for if recent experience peri ence is any criterion the grand award at this years show december 2 to 9 may four championships of Sho very likely go to a beardless youth who will thereby prove that modern scientific cattle raising can compete any day with the old fashioned rough and ready tactics four times in the past 10 years the ile has gone to animals shown by youngsters who in earlier years were politely tolerated by the adult showmen its quite an honor too because the winning steer is selected from among two ur or three thousand of the finest beet beef animals north america can produce dropped barriers in 1916 the child menace began in 1916 when a special competition was in 1 produced trod r 0 for steers lambs and pigs owned and exhibited by farm boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 20 A few years later and oldsters still rue the day top winners of the junior contest were permitted to compete in open classes despite a bit of jealousy these veterans were a little proud of farm youth on that dramatic day in 1928 when 12 year old clarence goecke a 4 H clubber from iowa trudged into the ring and defeated d all contenders with his hereford baby beef dick like all winners dick was auctioned off at premium prices to a hotel or railroad or maybe it was a steamship line anyway he brought a new all time record of 7 for each of his 1150 pounds that meant and the proceeds were used to found a hereford herd on the goecke farm out in marshall 1 I w ar 2 M g YOUNG WINNER AND A GIRL AT THAT irene brown 14 year old 4 her from mercer county illinois leaves the show ring with her grand champion aberdeen angus steer county and to provide for the education of clarence his brothers and sisters today all iowa farm folks know clarence as a member of the goecke family firm successful cattle feeders brown wins next year the same year young goecke won the championship a reserve champion ribbon in the junior classes went to another iowa elliott brown next year elliott came back and won the grand championship with an angus steer lucky strike this steer brought even a better price a pound which is still a record today young brown 4 I 1 I 1 i IN LOS ANGELES verl anderson 18 of Treemon Tree monton tont utah took top honors in the great western livestock show with Snick lefritz shown here a nine month old steer has a purebred aberdeen angus herd not until 1935 did another youth come through at that years show 19 year old cleo E yoder also from iowa took the grand championship with pats blue ribbon yoder is now fa farming in partnership with his brother and building up a herd of purebred beet beef cattle from the head start they had in 4 H projects just to prove that beef cattle raising is becoming a sissy business the 1938 championship went to of all things a 14 year old girl men and boys alike hung their heads heads in shame when irene brown an illinois lassie paraded her 1130 pound angus steer around the ring later he was sold for the only proud male in the stands was D A brown irenes father who runs a acre farm in mercer county and maintains a purebred angus herd break record this year this year according to the expositions sit ions management young america is coming back stronger than ever boys and girls from 13 states have listed entries for baby beeves which they will exhibit in the junior contest most youngsters come from midwest states and oth ers from montana new york oklahoma and texas the graybeards wont really be too angry if another teenage teen age exhibitor wins this year get them off in in a corner away from the huff and bluff of the show ring and apt to be pretty happy about the whole thing tomorrows farmers are starting young you see and what father hope his son will be a better man than he was |