The End of the Line

“Young man, you need to develop humility; take up golf.”

This line headed a cartoon on our refrigerator a few years ago. The sketch showed a couple with a marriage counselor receiving advice. For most of us would be golfers, it carries a great deal of truth. As a ten year old on the farm, I found a similar result when I launched my 4-H career.

Growing up on the farm meant lots of work. We all had chores from an early age. Days were long and the idea of 40 hour weeks wasn’t even considered. Later, Army training which also involved long hours but concluded at noon on Saturday seemed like a vacation. About the only break in the farming regimen came at fair time.

All of the McKees showed cattle at the fairs. There was the Warren County Fair, the All-Iowa Fair in Cedar Rapids, the Iowa State Fair, and the Dairy Cattle Congress in Waterloo. It was a family affair. It wasn’t a complete family affair because John and Ryle had switched breeds; they had Holsteins. But Wallace, Bonar, and Everett all had purebred Milking Shorthorns which meant that their animals could be grouped together under the McKee Farms label. We cousins (Beverly, Miriam, Jean, Wayne, Brenton, and I) between the age of 10 and leaving for college got to have animals in 4-H competition. All together, we typically had 25 to 30 animals in our group at the County and State Fairs. These were spread across various classes that included heifer calf, junior and senior yearlings, two year old, etc. The cattle not in 4-H projects could only be shown in “Open Class” competition, but the 4-H calves were typically shown twice, first in 4-H and then in Open Class.

There was one distinction between the County Fair and State Fair 4-H show. Since one could join 4-H if you were ten years old before the first of January, ten year olds could show their calves at the County Fair. At the State Fair, the 4-H rules required two more years of maturity. Since my father had been taking cattle to the fair with the other McKee’s even before I was in 4-H we took my heifer calf to the Iowa State Fair when I was ten to show in the Open Class.

At the County Fair, all of the Milking Shorthorns had been shown either by the McKees or the Hoovers who were in the same Greenfield Boosters 4-H Club as I. The McKees generally did better than the Hoovers so I probably placed below my cousins and above the Hoovers although I have no clear recognition of that contest. The State Fair Heifer Open Class of 1950 was a different matter.

We proceeded into the ring on command, 29 calves all born after July 1^st, 1949, and their showmen. Some of the showmen (and show women) were adults but nearly all of the 4‑H club members from across the state were showing their calves again. The judge was in the center of the ring watching us precess. After a couple of times around the ring he began to motion to individuals to position their calves in a line. The rest of us just kept on our slow march around the ring. Gradually the standing line got longer and longer; the rotating group correspondingly shorter. Finally, 27 calves were lined up and when the 28^th was waved into place, I took the remaining position.

Twenty-ninth place in a class of twenty-nine. Wayne or Beverly was probably at the top of the class; but I was at the bottom. Though I later held all the offices in my 4-H Club and represented the county on the 4-H Judging Team at the Waterloo Dairy Cattle Congress just three years later, I’ve never forgotten my first state fair experience at the end of the line.

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