The ranch started out small. 20 cows and a borrowed tractor. About the time my husband Brett was starting this adventure, I was just starting high school. While he was learning the feed rations for bulls and the calving ease of his heifers, I was cheering at football games and participating in FFA contests.
Four years later I was offered a scholarship at the local community college. Meat Judging. What the what? They were going to pay for my schooling if I joined the Meat Judging team??? I mean I knew a teeny tiny bit about it. I had gone to two contests in my high school career. Mainly because it meant a day out of school and cute boys. The college coach said I was perfect! He could train me the correct way and not have to break any bad habits. (There are bad habits in Meat Judging???) But onward we went. 
First meeting in a small classroom with nine other kids who seemed to know way more about a carcass and processing plant than I could ever know. Next we loaded into a passenger van and traveled two hours, one way, every Wednesday to the closest meat packing facility.
Emporia Kansas. Just pulling into town with the windows down, a rather unusual smell would fill your nostrils. That is the smell of beef, pork, and money. We would arrive in the parking lot and robe ourselves in layers of clothing, gloves, steel toed boots, giant freezer coats, and hard hats. I was still really skeptical that this was an actual profession, a legitimate way to pay for my college. But in we trudged.
What a sight it was! Beef carcasses stretched to the rafters rolling by on a track, stopping every few seconds for the meat “inspector” to grade the carcass. Wait. He’s dressed like me. SO this is what we are doing! I am blonde remember.
So for hours and hours, until our toes were numb and our noses frozen, we would inspect carcass after carcass. Learning what a yield grade was. What each of the bones and muscles were called. How to tell this hunk of meat was once a bull or a cow.
Emporia Kansas was our gym, if this was a workout. Week after week, until we were fit.
Then the fun began! As a small town girl, my travel experience was slight. This college Meat Judging was all over the Midwest. Which meant we would travel a week at a time, rambling across states to compete with other college teams. Kinda like sports events without the cheering crowds, concession stand or celebrity status. BUT we did get nifty uniforms and a steak dinner after the awards ceremony. Ha!
I had no idea that God
was preparing me for my future. Twenty years later my hunky and sometimes overly ambitious husband decided that since we had fantastic beef, we should be selling it to people. So here we are using his vast knowledge of cows and the cattle industry, and me using that long ago acquired college education. Stick with us to learn more about this adventure in cattle, kids, and Christ. Oh and steak, there will be steak.
Thanks for stopping by!
Libby
