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cattle judging started,” he said. Core began working in sales for Syntex Animal Health after graduation and helped Phil build their cattle program at Core Farms. Meanwhile, after graduating from South Dakota State, Deb obtained her master’s degree from Colorado State. While there, she served as the assistant coach on the CSU judging team. Life was exactly as she planned as a kid. She moved to Iowa when the Iowa Beef Expo hired her as its executive director. Around this time, Deb started livestock judging again, working at county fairs in the state. Her new job brought her to the Iowa State Fair in 1991. At the fairgrounds in Des Moines, she walked past a man in his late 20s. She didn’t notice him. But he noticed her. “She doesn’t know it yet,” Mark Core told his friend as they walked past Deb, “but she’s going to marry me.” A LOVE FOR CATTLE — AND SOON EACH OTHER Mark Core didn’t need long
to make good on his boast. Mark and Deb began dating in fall 1991 and were engaged four months later, on March 1, 1992. They married in September that year and raised two daughters, Bailey and Kennedy, on their Pleasantville farm. Bailey and Kennedy showed cattle as kids, and their parents mentored dozens of other children. They loved the lessons livestock showing taught and the work ethic it instilled. “I truly believe that God gives each of us as parents different tools to raise our children,” Deb Core said. “You know, your tools may be different than my tools. “He gave us cows and livestock.” The Cores started judging together and earned a reputation as top-end livestock judges. They had a philosophy of judging young exhibitors how they wanted their daughters to be treated when they showed. Their opportunities grew. Between them, the Cores judge about 20 shows a year.
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