Memories Showing Cattle
Typical girls my age obsess about things like makeup, shopping, and getting dressed up. I too enjoy doing girly things once in awhile, but my favorite hobby is not the typical “girl” activity. My favorite hobby is working with cattle on our farm.
I have been showing cattle since I was 8 years old. Each year I have gone with my dad to pick out the calf that I thought would turn into the best market animal. Each year I have watched the calf grow into a steer or heifer and worked with it almost every day if not every weekend. For countless hours each summer, I have poured my heart and time into making my animals look the absolute best they can.
I’m now 17 and on my 11th year of showing, a far cry from the 8-year-old girl I was when I started. The best memories I have with my dad and brother in my entire life are driving to cattle shows and laughing until we can’t laugh anymore.
Along with this sense of joy my cattle bring, with each new season comes heartache. Just this past week, I let my steer and heifer go for the year. Even though I know there will always be new ones in the future, I am inconsolable when the old ones leave. The more I work with them, the more attached I get. It’s like making a great new friend in kindergarten only to be left sad and upset when they move away the next year.
People who aren’t as familiar with cattle walk through the barns at fairs and shows and always point and say, “Look, a cow.” When I hear this, I think about how many kids there are out there who saw these creatures as “just cows” when they were young. But for those who have grown up and spent years working with cattle as I have, they become something different. To some a cow is just an animal, to others just a source of income, but to me it is a friend and a passion that gives me so much happiness.