Steve Miller, Journal staff | Posted: Tuesday, October 9, 2007 11:00 pm
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RAPID CITY - It's a
long way to the Central States Fairgrounds from the Rundel
farm/ranch at Levant, Kan.
Tom Rundel and his
two boys, Case and Colton, made the 479-mile drive to the Western
Junior Livestock Show in Rapid City for two main reasons:
competition and fun.
Rundel said they
came to the show for the first time in 2004 because Case, then 13,
had a steer that wasn't quite finished in time for their county
fair in northwestern Kansas and wanted to show him at some more
events. They found the Western Junior on the Internet and made the
trip north.
"The boys have been
bugging me for the last three years to come back," Rundel said. "It
worked out this year we could take a week off and come
up."
Rundel said the
boys have shown at bigger shows, but they like the Western
Junior.
"This is more like
our county fair," Tom Rundel said. "Everybody's really friendly.
Everybody's really willing to help you out. … This is a big show
but the atmosphere is a lot more laid back."
Wednesday
afternoon, Case and Colton were busily preparing their animals for
the junior and senior beef showmanship competition in the Soule
Building. Case showed a cross-bred steer calf and Colton showed a
bred heifer.
Case, 16, said he
was pretty new at showing cattle when he competed at the Western
Junior three years ago. "This show got me into it," he
said.
"This show is a
great opportunity to get them out and get them used to the whole
road trip and showing experience," he said of the
calves.
Case, a junior at
Brewster (Kan.) High School, gets a little nervous before the
competition, his dad said.
"Case is serious
about it," Rundel said. "It's a passion. He lives for
this."
Colton, who attends
Colby (Kan.) Public Middle School, isn't as serious about the
competition, says his dad, but the 12-year-old was quite confident
of doing well with his Maine-Anjou bred heifer. "I've done pretty
good with her. We went to a lot of spring shows and won a couple,"
Colton said.
"I plan to win my
first belt buckle up here," he said cheerfully.
His dad informs him
that first place wins a trophy, not a buckle. Colton doesn't seem
much deterred.
Tom Rundel said
showing livestock teaches his boys responsibility and ownership in
their projects. "I give advice, stand back and watch," he
said.
Besides the Rundel
boys, more than 200 4-H youths from South Dakota, Wyoming and
Nebraska are entered in the Western Junior, which continues through
Saturday. Special events, including an ice cream social from 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m. today and a supper at 5:30 p.m. Friday commemorate the
show's 70th anniversary this year.
The show concludes
with a livestock sale at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Show manager Jackie
Maude says the show typically draws 700 to 800 people, including
parents, siblings and others, to Rapid City for the four-day
event.
Many of them make
it a family vacation trip.
Tom Rundel, for
example, plans to take his boys to Mount Rushmore National Memorial
today.
"This works out
well for us, even though it's a ways to go," Rundel said of the
Western Junior. "We have fun with it. It's kind of our fall
break."
Colton has a
similar explanation for why he likes traveling to livestock shows
like the Western Junior.
"I get to go a lot
of places, meet a lot of people, I get to hang out with my brother,
try to win a few things here and there, and try and have
fun."
Contact Steve
Miller at 394-8417 or
steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com
