A Tribute to a Show Steer

By Sen. Cynthia Lummis

Hats off to the kids who are up before dawn, feeding, watering and caring for their show steers. They sacrifice sleep, time with friends and after school activities to follow this dream. They put their blood, sweat and tears into raising the best show steer they can, fully knowing only one can win.

They bond with an animal who has knowing eyes, all the while aware of the fate awaiting this precious creature. This kid is betting it all – their time, money and effort to produce a grand champion steer. They know the winnings from this show steer might just put them through college.

Hats off to the moms and dads who are driving the trailers, hauling the feed and filling the gaps. They wake up with their kids, manning the cold alongside them as they go about their chores. They invest time and money into this steer, and send up a prayer that this investment pays off. 

Hats off to the families who choose to buy steers to feed their families from local kids who have worked all year to produce the best steer they can. They are empowering another generation to choose the Wyoming way of life, living on the land that raised them. 

Hats off to the show steer impacting two families; the family who raises it and the family who is nourished by it. There is no way of knowing what goes through its mind in those months it lives as part of the family, but after raising steers myself for years, I can assure you, an unexpected bond certainly forms. 

Fair season is over for the year, but families are already preparing their show animals for next year. Kids are putting on their coats and heading out into the below freezing mornings to freshen up water and feed next year’s steer.

Raising kids who work hard is hard work, and there is no endeavor better proving this than fair. My steer showing days are long over, but my hat is off in applause to each of you who is living the very best life Wyoming can offer.

Keep doing the hard work, and keep fighting for our Wyoming way of life. Keep feeding families with the very best our fine land can produce. You are proving day after day, just by showing up, that you will do great things. 

Cynthia Lummis is a U.S. senator for Wyoming. For office locations and contact information, visit lummis.senate.gov.