The entire beef industry was seeking increased growth in the late 60's and early 70's, and Shorthorns were no different. It is my opinion that the mating decisions over the next decade or two had a profound influence on the development of the Shorthorns we have today. Perhaps it was the introduction of Charolais or maybe producers just got tired of marketing cattle that matured at 900 pounds. TPS Coronet Leader 21st led the charge in Shorthorns for some time. I leafed through a 1971 issue of The Shorthorn World and the vast majority of the cattle advertised were Leader 21st descendants. It wasn't even close. As always, breeders were searching for the next generation. Several Australian bulls, Dandaloo Royal Duke, Kelso Ignition, Bogan Yalta, Merriwong Smuggler, and Lone Pine Grand Society were among the bulls that were used, but with limited success. It wasn't until Mandalong Super Flag came along that the Australian bulls made a significant impact, in my opinion. It could be argued that he became accepted after he won a major show.

There was an obvious quick solution to satisfying the demand for increased growth rate. That was the Milking Shorthorn. There had been cattle shown for several years that seemed to be entirely different than their pedigree would suggest. Rumors that Milking Shorthorn blood had found its way into the ASA herd book were rampant. Soon it became legal. I will not debate whether the ASA opened their herd book to let Milking Shorthorns in or the AMSS allowed cattle recorded in their registry out. In some cases that is an argument similar to the one between citizens of neighboring towns after their schools consolidated. Fifty years later and there are still hard feelings. Some breeders adapted, some didn't. I have no argument with either. One of my youth Shorthorn heroes was Billy Anderson. He had some of the best Scotch type Shorthorns anywhere. My wife, Kathie, met Billy's daughter a few years ago at a Bible study meeting. She said Billy got out of the business because he couldn't deal with the type change. He was not alone. I came across a large ad in The Shorthorn World a year or two after the ASA/AMSS arrangement and a noted breeder spent some time stating that he would never use anything but straight beef breeding. Two or three years later he had several Milking Shorthorn bulls.

If you wanted to compete in the show ring, your odds improved if you used some Milking Shorthorn genetics. We had had some success at that time, but thought that a little new blood would help. The Mysha Herd of Noren and Marcia Shaver-Floyd was about 15 miles from us. They had one of the more noted Milking Shorthorn herds in the Midwest. Their herd bull was Ridgewood Tracy, a bull advertised to weigh 2,700 pounds. Marcia and Noren told me the story of how they had purchased him as a young calf in Missouri and brought him home in the trunk of the car. I was told he didn't look like much then, so they hid him from Noren's wife until he looked presentable. Their faith in him turned out to be more than justified. We purchased a son of his, Mysha Mollie's Model, not long after the herd books were opened. I believe the AMSS charged $850 to trace and release the pedigree of bulls and $250 for cows. Ridgewood Tracy had already been double registered, so we paid the $250 fee to record his dam and then followed with Model. Model was more of a dairy type as opposed to what I considered dual purpose. He was big framed and long bodied. He worked well on our beef type females, the majority of which had some Leader 21st breeding. I have always thought that some of the best Shorthorns we raised were the original dual/beef type crosses, combining what I considered to be the best of both worlds. Model's daughters were excellent producers in our herd for a long time.

We had been attending the Milking Shorthorn show at the Iowa State Fair for a couple years just to see what was going on. One year we watched a Belgian horse show while we were waiting. There had to be 15-20 mares in the class we watched. The judge made his trip down the line from the rear of the horses, then back down in front of the horses. As the judge finished his walk past the front of the mares, the ring announcer stated that in spite of their size, draft horses were extremely docile and rarely kicked. No sooner were those words out of his mouth than the mare at the end of the line planted a hoof directly into the thigh of the judge. He went tumbling backwards, but didn't appear to be severely hurt. He completed the class like a trooper. I can't remember where the inconsiderate mare placed, but it would have been understood if the judge moved her down the line a little bit.

It was evident that some Milking Shorthorn breeders were striving for the 'dairy' look and others were content with the dual-purpose type. The AMSS had opened their herd book to outside genetics, most notably the Illawara from Australia, so the selection of dual type breeding was shrinking. When we went through the barns, it was impossible to ignore the show string of Graham Land and Livestock Co. from Minnesota. Clark was the star of the show as he was advertised as weighing nearly 3,000 pounds. They also correctly promoted the polled factor. They had the right cattle at the right time and promoted them the right way. Soon they came out with a bull named Great White Hope that had tremendous success as a young calf in the beef Shorthorn show. Grahams were at the top of their game and history shows they were greatly rewarded for their efforts. I attended the Graham dispersal in 1975 in Waverly, Minnesota. There was a tremendous crowd evaluating the cattle on offer and it was apparent it was going to be a successful sale. The only question was just how successful. It was also obvious that I would not be able to afford to buy anything. I climbed into the loft above the sale ring in the round barn and watched in amazement. I won't go into all the details, there are plenty of sale reports available, but the average of $3,200+ was shocking. This was a time when it took a pretty good one to bring $1,000.

After the sale I drove to the Milking Shorthorn herd of Thomas McCammon in southwest Minnesota. He was scooping out the milking barn when I got there after forgetting to turn off a water hydrant. It wasn't all water in the barn. We spent some time looking at the cows and he had an impressive herd, though I didn't purchase any. I was nearly out of gas when I reached a small town in northern Iowa. Of course, I was out of cash and didn't have a credit card. I did have a check book and talked the gas station owner into taking a check. I told him he could hold my driver's license and camera in exchange for taking the check if he wanted and I also only needed to buy enough to get home. He took my check and I got to keep my license and camera. Try that today!

Not long after the Graham sale, Marcia Shaver-Floyd called me and said she knew of a family that had a dual-purpose type bull I might be interested in. The Bill Jones family of Washington, Iowa, had a bull named Justamere Todd for sale. I called them and made arrangements to see him. Maybe I was young enough that love at first sight was still an option. They priced him to me, but it was a little out of my range. I was honest with Bill and told him I only had so much to spend and we reached an agreement. He delivered the bull, weighing in excess of 1,600 pounds, in a pickup with a stock rack. The bull's rear feet were on the open tailgate. This was a deal that was made by a young person with no consultation with the owner of our farm—My Dad. He was not impressed and said we had Model and didn't need another bull like that. Fortunately, he allowed the bull, and me, to stay.

Todd's sire, Foxdale Favorite Robin, had been purchased and registered with the ASA by some relatively new Shorthorn breeders, K & K Shorthorns, owned by Kay and Kevin Lamparek, of Swisher, Iowa. I scratched together the $250 to register Todd's dam, Justamere Jane, and then Todd with the ASA. I entered Todd along with two offspring of Mysha Mollie's Model in the Iowa State Fair. I also showed in the FFA show, so my stalls were along the south wall of the beef barn at the fair while the rest of the open show Shorthorns were in the three or four aisles at the north end of the barn. I had a constant stream of visitors to the stalls to take a look at Todd.

The bull show was very strong that year. K & K Shorthorns had won the Illinois State Fair with Duke of Swisher, another son of Foxdale Favorite Robin, and they had a younger bull that had also won his class there. Bar 4 Shorthorns had Hilltop Lancer 457, a son of Nodak King's Tradition, that would eventually be National Champion.

Lonny’s daughter Betsy holding Grand Champion Bull Banner from 1975 Iowa State Fair

Marcia Shaver-Floyd stopped by my stalls and told me the other breeders were worried. Todd showed as a senior yearling, won his class, and was named Senior Champion. Hilltop Lancer 457 had won the junior division and Duke of Swisher was reserve junior champion. As I entered the ring to show for Grand Champion honors, my brother, Randy, muttered to me the tried and true show business phrase, "Break a leg." Todd won the show, but I really can't remember any feelings or emotions I felt. I guess I was numb.

Then it was off to the Minnesota State Fair. It was my first trip to Minneapolis, we didn't have a trailer, so I borrowed one from a neighbor. It had to have rained 5 inches and the trailer was still full of water when I got to the fairgrounds. All the tack, hay, straw, feed, and show box, was in the back of the pickup. No tarp. What a mess. The first thing I did at every show I attended was to go to the office and find out where my stalls were. I walked into the office, introduced myself, and they told me I was in the annex and go find some stalls, which were not assigned. The annex was full. There were no unoccupied stalls. I had the same three cattle that I had shown in Des Moines, and I needed to find a spot for them. I finally talked some people into letting me crowd in. Todd was towards the northwest end of the barn and the other two were near the northeast corner. The show box, feed, etc., was in the aisle. There were no tie-outs at the Minnesota State Fair at that time, so I slept on the show box and mucked out the stalls every morning. Show day mercifully arrived. The judge was Lloyd Hatch of Pleasant Dawn Farms in Canada. Many of the top cattle from Des Moines were there in addition to some pretty good ones from Minnesota. Todd was named Grand Champion again and Hilltop Lancer 457 was reserve. Winning the show was of course the best thing about the trip, but a close second was being introduced to deep fried cheese curds. I think Dad even started to like the bull.

After winning two shows, I was considering going to the 'Big Ones.' Jack Ragsdale, manager of Sutherland Farms in Kentucky and one of the founding fathers of the North American International Livestock Exhibition, attended the Iowa State Fair and encouraged me to show at Louisville. So, I entered at the American Royal in Kansas City, the NAILE in Louisville, and the International in Chicago. K & K Shorthorns had several Foxdale Favorite Robin offspring and I had gotten to know them at the Iowa State Fair, so we decided to travel together. They had 5 head, I had 1, so I helped them with their string in exchange for part of the travel expenses.

I had only read about these shows in The Shorthorn World, so it would be an understatement to say that I was really looking forward to the trip. Kansas City was first. I will admit I was a little disappointed when I got there. The facilities were a little dark and dingy, not what I had imagined. The cattle were outstanding. The first bull I looked up was Great White Hope since he would be in my class. He was impressive. He had been purchased in Graham's sale by Mrs. Miller of Hannibal, Missouri, and was being shown by Weaver Angus Farm of Peoria, Illinois. He won the class and I was second and beaten out for Reserve Senior Champion by a 2-year-old, Heckland Superman from Colorado. I was not disappointed to be beaten by Great White Hope, but really thought I should have won the reserve banner. Hilltop Lancer 457, the reserve champion at the Iowa and Minnesota State Fairs, was Grand Champion. Steve Torgerson of Minnesota was handling the Bar 4 show herd and had done a masterful job.

Then it was off to Louisville. We met Kathie and my young daughter, Betsy, along I-70 and soon pulled into Louisville. Jack Ragsdale met us even before we were unloaded and promptly made motel reservations for us. I can't say enough about how much Jack helped turn that event into what it is today. The facilities were first class and the cattle were even better. I spent many hours just walking through the barns in amazement. There was again a big class of impressive bulls in the senior yearling class. I think there were 5 bulls that had won at least one State Fair. Great White Hope again won the class and Windholme Farm was second with a son of Melbros Stronghold, and I was third. All the cattle were so well presented, I did the best I could. Perhaps even more impressive was the after-show party. I had never seen anything like it. A group of us, Bill Marsden, Mike Studer, Floyd Frederickson, and a few others, went to the Executive Inn later for dinner. Everything was served ala carte. Quite different than what a young, inexperienced farm boy from central Iowa was used to. One of the participants smashed his baked potato on his plate and smothered it with butter and sour cream. He promptly passed out, his head landing on the plate, blowing little bubbles in the potato topping. Something I had never seen before!

Chicago's International was the next stop. This was the trip I was looking forward to most. Every fall we would wait impatiently for The Shorthorn World to arrive with the International show report. I couldn't wait. My first impression of Chicago was not good. We drove along city streets to the stockyards and I was perplexed by the steel bars on the windows of all the buildings. Another first experience for me. The facilities were even less impressive than what I saw in Kansas City. I believe it was the final International, so I was still glad to be there. The first place we went was to a cafe located close to the stockyards that was famous for their 'sizzling steak.' The waitress warned us ahead of time that it wasn't what it used to be. She was right. Todd won his class and was named Senior Champion. Great White Hope was not there.

In January it was off to the National Western in Denver. I had not seen the mountains since a trip to California when I was 3 years old. I didn't remember them. The trip had been worthwhile even just riding there in the truck. Popping over the hill on the interstate and seeing the majestic mountains in the distance was awe inspiring. I had seen almost all of the cattle in the show before, but I always enjoyed how the cattle changed from show to show. They all had hair, even mine because of the cold weather. I believe there were 6 bulls in the senior yearling class. Again, almost all of them had won a state fair. Great White Hope was first and ended up being Grand Champion. I was second and won the reserve Senior Champion banner. Packards were third with Kahoa's Charmer 19th. In the final line up, Peter Packard leaned over and told me I should have won the class. I thanked him, it made me feel good, but I don't know as if I agreed with him. Great White Hope was extremely good, he was fitted by some of the best in the industry, and was shown in the ring by noted cattleman Roger Worthington of Weaver Angus Farm. Justamere Todd was shown and fitted by me. I am not ashamed to admit that all the honors Todd won were because of him and in spite of me.

Lonny with Justamere Todd (Reserve Senior Champion Bull) at the National Western Stock Show

Next Shorthorn Heritage Article: Show Tales

A Shorthorn Heritage (Part 5): On the Road