Like lots of farm families across the region, state fairs are a big part of summer. Hear from the Duxbury Beef crew on why state fair is important and what they are up to!
Work Hard. Play Hard.
In our family, we recognize all major holidays, including but not limited to: Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the South Dakota State Fair. My parents have been coming to the fair for all 37 years of their marriage, but they have been camping in the same camping spot for the last 30 years. Over the last 30 years, I joined the family, we’ve had an endless number of friends and family members stay with us, and now you can find 5 little kids running around like wild animals at most hours of the day. The State Fair is one of our most favorite times of the year.
This year, we exhibited cattle in the open Charolais show on Tuesday. Our family has raised Charolais cattle for 25 years, and we enjoy any opportunity we can to represent the breed. On Thursday, we got to watch our favorite guy (Dale) compete in the Stock Dog trials with his border collies. In Stock Dog trials, a handler and his dog are required to run 3 sheep through a small “obstacle course” and end up in a pen at the end. Getting through the course and into the pen is considered a successful showing, and they call it “penning”. You have a 5-minute time limit to get your sheep penned before your opportunity expires. The fastest time into the pen wins!
Dale and our hired man Adam both competed with their dogs yesterday. Adam and his dog, Midge, won the preliminary round in their division. Dale and his dog, Tilly, were 2nd place in the finals of their division! It is so fun to get to cheer on two of our favorite guys do something they enjoy. Dale has supported us kids in everything we do, and Adam works tirelessly at the ranch every day. It is such a pleasure to get to cheer them on in their sport.
In everything we do, we do it with our family at the forefront. We work hard. We play hard. We do it all together.