Our goal for her was to make it to the “Throwdown.” The Throwdown is a local jackpot show organized by volunteers who put on fantastic show. In order to qualify for this competition you have to win your county fair. Mike exhibited at the Fulton County Fair, qualified for the Throwdown and won Grand Champion Heifer. In true Mike fashion, she threw me around the ring to celebrate her win. I still have chills thinking about this night. All of us were anxious preparing for the Illinois State Fair to see how our livestock would do. Personally, before this year, I had never won a class at the Illinois State Fair as we never competed well at this show. So that was my goal for the week, I just wanted to finally win a class. When you show angus cattle you already know the competition is high and exhibiting angus cattle in Illinois is just as high of a level. To much of my family’s surprise, we ended up having a fantastic angus heifer show. Both of my younger siblings walked into the ring with me exhibiting each of the heifers we had worked on all year in the angus heifer drive. Coming from a family hoping to win our class to having three division winning heifers in the drive already made this one of the best state fairs. This in itself was a dream we would have never imagined, but the best part was that I was doing it with my siblings. After the judge selected Mike as the Champion Angus Heifer I was overjoyed thinking
we finally did it. We just won the Angus breed at the Illinois State Fair! It was incredible being able to share this win with my family and even my dad shared a smile or two. Supreme Champion Heifer drive arrived that night and I remember all of us were just praying for Top Five Land of Lincoln, but were excited to even have the opportunity to compete at this level. Walking into the ring I instantly got chills. This was an
five, but I’m so grateful for this opportunity.” After what felt like hours in the ring, the judge came around and slapped Mike as the champion. The crowd went crazy, and my knees went weak to the point that if Mike hadn’t pulled me up I would have been on the ground crying. I was so overwhelmed with joy that I dropped my show stick and swore I stopped breathing. To this day, people thought I was about to pass out with excitement.
Many tears of joy were shed that night from my family and friends and the feelings from that night are still surreal. Knowing that this heifer accomplished what she did with hard work, determination, and a team effort was the most valuable part of this all. My entire family and crew are extremely grateful for this incredible experience and it will always be one of our favorite memories as it took my family 19 years to get to this point. This win will forever be more than just a banner to me and
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entirely different ball game and I never had the opportunity until now to step foot onto a playing field at this level. Mike truly showed like a dream for the first time all summer and she did everything right. The adrenaline pumping through my veins made it hard to keep my cool but she stayed focused the whole time. Halfway through the drive, I noticed that the judge never looked at my heifer and in my head I was thinking “shoot it doesn’t look like we will be selected in top
was the best way to end my show season. It is something my family will humbly carry in their hearts forever. I hope others read this and see our story, that you can come from the very bottom hoping to do well at a county fair to then accomplish a lifetime dream. If you possess the passion, hard work, knowledge, and support of friends and family, you can accomplish things you never imagined you would. •
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