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recently. “He was so excited about it. So intrigued about it.” The family watched out of the rolled-down windows. The Vermeer round baler collected the hay and shaped a bale in its chamber. The big, round baler bundled bales far bigger than anyone anywhere had seen before Vermeer’s creation. As the bale was about to be ejected, Lloyd Core directed his family's attention. “Now watch,” Lloyd said, “It’s about to hatch an egg.” A FATHER’S PASSION FOR CATTLE PASSED DOWN Lloyd Core would never own a Vermeer round baler. But he left his son with a marrow-deep appreciation of farm life — notably the cattle business. The family was raised on the Pleasantville farm where Lloyd bred Hereford cattle. The farm was originally purchased by Mark’s great- grandfather. The family still lives on that central Iowa farm and uses the show barn his grandfather built in the 1950s. “I’ve got letters between my mom (Dolores) and dad when he was in the Korean Conflict, where he
the animal husbandry and genetic selection... those are just precious moments for me,” Mark Core said. “The happiest place on earth for me is checking cows in a side-by-side when the sun’s coming up and you smell the spring grass.” Eventually, he would meet someone who felt exactly the same. And she became his wife. HER DAD’S FIRST SON Deb Core was raised in Jackson County, Minnesota. She adored farm life, helping her father in the barn and taking care of animals. Most of all, she loved cattle. “I always said I was my dad’s first son,” Deb Core said recently. “I wanted to be in the barn. I wanted to be around cattle.” Her home county in southwestern Minnesota was rural and relied on agriculture. The way of life extended to the children raised there. Jackson County’s 4-H program boasted a widely respected cattle judging program. “In our county, every livestock kid’s dream was to make the Jackson County 4-H team,” Deb Core said.
Ron Harder was the coach of the Jackson County 4-H judging team. He held students to high standards and a good number became judges at established college programs. Deb was among them. “I knew from the time I was in seventh grade that I would go to South Dakota State and major in animal science and be on the judging team,” Deb said. “I never considered going anywhere else. “Never thought of anything else.” A LIFE-CHANGING CHANCE ENCOUNTER AT THE IOWA STATE FAIR Mark’s late brother, Phil, graduated from college first and began buying cattle here and there. In late 1984 as Mark attended Iowa State, his father Lloyd died. As a college student, Mark stayed connected to the family farm. It was during this time he competed for the Iowa State judging team, including the school’s national championship squad in 1986. “That’s how my passion for livestock evaluation and
would want The American Hereford Journal forwarded to his address so he could keep up on what’s going on,” Mark Core said. As Core got older, he would drive the family’s pickup while his father rode in the back and fed cattle. Mark and his older brother, Phil, showed livestock at local 4-H shows. Not long before Mark attended Iowa State University, the Farm Crisis struck. One in four Iowa farms did not survive the 1980s. The Core family farm was among those struggling. His father, forever the cattleman, was left to sell his prized Herefords for the farm to stay in the family. Lloyd and brother Phil began raising purebred hogs instead to make ends meet. “The pig industry was good and essentially helped us save the farm in the late 70’s and 1980s,” Mark said. But like his father, raising cattle captured Mark in a way that nothing else could. “The green grass and pastures, and the hay and forage management, and
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