First let me say, this post was so much fun for me because was able to hear new stories from stock show mentors that I really respect.
We wanted to bring you the stories of three guys we’ve watched excel as stock show mentors to young people over the years. Read on to know what these three amazing mentors had to say.
Stock Show Mentors
It takes a special kind of human to be a great stock show mentor to a young person. To take someone under your wing and share your knowledge is a powerful thing. We’ve spent the last 25 years working with young people and I can’t explain how rewarding it is to see them succeed.
Recently, a friend congratulated us on a successful show weekend for our kids and “the level of involvement your kids have in every stage of those cattle.”
It was touching that he recognized the kids’ hard work but more importantly, it really made me think of all of the people who positively influence and build confidence in our own kids. Their stock show mentors.
There is a pride in knowing guys like that and an appreciation for what they are willing to give young people that warms your heart.
All across the country, there are great stock show mentors. We wanted to showcase a few guys who simply excel at teaching kids this industry.
“Obviously this is a business, but to me it’s more than that.”
~ Blaine Rodgers
Blaine Rodgers
A truly admirable trait is a teacher who makes teachers. You’ll find that in Blaine Rodgers, who now resides in Missouri. While he is incredibly competitive and passionate about having cattle looking 12 o’clock, he still manages to train some of the best fitters you’ll find in the process. He’s mentored guys like Marc Miranda, Travis Coy, Justin Click, Jacob Rodriguez, and Travis Bartels.
Blaine told me the things that stand out over the years are the wins for the kids who worked for it. Over the years, he’s worked with kids that have competed at every level in this industry. Some kids have been financially able to buy more competitive cattle and some have had nothing.
“Obviously when they have the means it makes it easier to help them be successful, but I’ve always thought whatever they put into it, I’ll give them in return. Some of my favorites were the kid’s who weren’t able to give the most but we’d find one that was a diamond in the rough.” He cites kids like Marc Miranda, who was “the toughest kid” he’d ever met. He’d work his tail off, never complain and achieve success.
Their Program
He went on to say, “In our program, we do this as a team. Of course, you take care of your own stuff leading up to the show but when we are there we work together. Even if we can’t stall together, we have everyone in the same fitting area. Honestly, people give me a bad time because we have so many people in the backdrop pictures. It’s important that everyone who had a part in it feels like they were involved. We all work for it, plus you can remember who was there in the picture.”
From a non-ag family, his dad was in construction and his mom had shown “like one sheep.” While they weren’t livestock savvy, they were incredibly supportive of him. His dad was the 4-H leader of whatever Blaine happened to be showing in order to support him. His first heifer was a Brangus for the Replacement Heifer program at his county fair. After the sale, when Blaine went to thank his buyer, he gave half of the heifer back to Blaine. That man was Fred Roth, he “basically took my whole family in.”
Blaine was at Fred’s ranch the night the heifer calved and unfortunately, it was born dead. They grafted a calf on her. Blaine would go to brandings at the ranch, stayed with them a couple of times and basically “fell in love with cattle in general.”
The Rowlett family helped him early on and encouraged him to go to Kirk Stierwalt’s fitting clinic when he bought his first steer. “He became my idol because I thought that was so cool and I learned a lot. So I just started clipping on all of my own stuff and completely messed them up. I learned that way…for years.
Along the way, I met some local families as well as Shane Geist, while livestock judging in FFA. I’d hitch a ride for my steer and crash in their hotels. My way of paying back for all of that was to fit for them because they all had tons of cattle at the shows. There I was exposed to Bobby Maddox and Kurt Jergens and guys like that who knew way more than I did. I was that pesky kid who wasn’t afraid to ask questions and it slowly evolved from there.
I don’t know that I had one mentor, I was like a gypsy that ran around and gathered all of the information I could.”
As he got older, Clint Cummings encouraged Blaine to buy 15 open heifers from Christy Collins. “It was right as the Meyer 734 deal was getting popular. We got something like 100% AI conception on them, some unrealistic number, and all but two got Foothill Abortion (A tick-borne disease in CA and NV) and aborted all of their calves prematurely. Everybody told me I was crazy because I had no money and I had no ground. But the more they told me that, the more I wanted to prove them wrong.”
Blaine has not only gained knowledge from people who were older than him but his good friends of the same age as well. Nick Reiman was hugely influential in his life. “We were in college and wouldn’t have 20 bucks to buy burgers but we’d spend $20,000 on steers not really knowing where they were going.
We had late night conversations and would bounce ideas off each other. Some of the very best mentors and guys that motivate you are guys that are your age. I can’t tell you where I met some of my best friends, we just met somewhere along the way on the show road.”
He stated, “I think everything we do in this business needs to prepare young people to be better contributors to society. I think the best place they can learn to be a team player is right here. It’s always an individual sport to some extent and you create your own destiny but when we get to the shows, we try to make an environment to contribute to that.
As adults, we can get caught up in stuff but kids are pretty naïve to that. “They only get caught up in negativity if we as adults have put them in the position where they think that’s okay.”
When asked about mentoring young people, Blaine said, “A lot of it for me is that it’s a way for me to feel like I can contribute back. I mean you can’t repay the Fred Roths in life that gave you everything, but you can pay it forward. Obviously, this is a business, but to me, it’s a lot more than that.”
“You have to take the time to do it with them and let them learn the process.”
~ Bobby Lax
Bobby Lax
Today, Bobby Lax is undoubtedly one of the best teachers you will find when it comes to young kids with cattle. They can ask him a question about anything to do with fitting or clipping and he never makes them feel like they’ve bothered him or asked a dumb question. He encourages them and tells them it’s okay if they mess up. Bobby talks a great deal about “try” in kids.
His Start
I asked him about his start with cattle and he told me his story. “When I was 8, my grandma sent me an Angus heifer. When I was 10, she had a heifer calf and we sent her to Big Jim (Jim Vietheer) to take to Reno. So, I went to my first Reno with him and Darrell Hansen.
“They told me she was gentle so I showed her in the junior show. I got thrown around like a lawn dart. Jim Dismukes had to come out and help me show her. They told me whatever I do, do not let go. I was a farm kid with two older brothers, so I didn’t let go. They have a picture of me and I’m perfectly parallel to the ground, still hanging onto the halter. Darrell told this story this fall at my wedding.”
I know this sounds crazy, but every year at the county fair, we’d take 8 or 9 head and dress everyone. We’d glue every leg, every tail head and that’s a big part of how I learned. Then I spent my Falls at your place learning how to clip steers from Frank. I worked for Brian Stoller at all of the national shows and learned a bunch there. To this day I’m still learning.”
Most Important Traits
I asked, “What do you like to see in kids?” He simply replied, “Try.” “If a kid doesn’t have the try and want to do it, it doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t think I’ve ever had one like that but I’ve seen them. Hailey Traynham wanted to dive right in there. She got to the point that she wanted to work on her cattle and didn’t want anyone else to do it.
I guess that’s what’s cool about our industry is most kids have the try and want, they just need to be taught. You have to take the time to do it with them and let them learn the process. They learn what happens if they pull the hair the wrong way or put too much glue in the leg, clip it too tight. It’s just a process, they have to learn. “
“If they have passion, they will try harder…it’s no different in sports…or in life. It’s cool to see when they succeed, not necessarily when they win. Hailey worked and worked and you could turn her loose on a set of front legs and know she could handle it. Recently, Neal Thomson called Bobby to tell him that Hailey went to Ft Worth with him.
“She’s awesome,” he told Bobby. It makes you feel good to have a part in that.”
Succeeding in Life
Bobby is passionate about kids succeeding in life. “That’s really what our business is, it’s teaching them how to be responsible, achieve their goals, how to succeed. They learned because they had to go and take care of that steer or heifer every day. Those kids are achieving their goals because they are doing the same thing in life. The good kids that have the will and try to succeed will go out and do something for themselves.”
Achieving Goals
“Another satisfying thing is that growing up doing this, I was always considered the kid. Now Frank, Darrell, Jim and guys like that will ask me to run a topline for them. They’ll ask me if I can get one ready for them. So that means I’ve achieved my goal when the guys I always looked up to are asking me to get their cattle ready. All of those hours you worked and all of the watching…you did it.”
It’s pretty cool when you have the recognition of your stock show mentors.
“It’s neat to see tremendous growth from year to year. Not only in fitting but in general knowledge of their animals.”
~ Travis Bartels
Travis Bartels
Travis Bartels is regularly trailed at shows by one or more young showman who think he’s just the coolest! Originally from Oregon, we’ve watched Travis from the time he was about 12 years old, he set himself on a trajectory to become one of the best.
His Start
Travis’ dad and grandfather raised Gelbvieh cattle. When Travis was 11, they started raising show cattle and going to shows. KC Bare would help clip his heifers for him and he started learning from there. Travis said, “When I started going to jackpots in California, I didn’t know anyone. I would walk around and watch.”
He went on to tell me that his Dad was a huge influence and supporter of his growth. His dad would tell him they needed to get a heifer in the barn to wash her so Travis could clip her and never restricted him from jumping in and learning by doing. From there, he bought heifers from Shane Strickler who further guided him in his early years.
When Travis was around 16, he went to the Super Bowl Jackpot in Merced, CA. It was his first exposure to guys like Blaine Rodgers and Shane Geist. While he didn’t know them, he watched and learned. “It was my first exposure to guys at that level,” he said.
Headed to Denver
Next, they bought a steer from Todd Fair to go to Denver. Todd worked it out with Blaine Rodgers to help him in Denver and Travis credits that trip for learning so much of how to clip, fit and manage cattle a such a high level. “I guess Blaine saw potential in me because from there, he’d have me come down and help at shows like CA State Fair.”
Travis had mentors who were willing to encourage him. As well, he has the drive to observe, improve and was willing to mess things up in order to get it right. “When you have to do it all by yourself, it’s different. I don’t know how many times I went into a class with only three legs fit.”
Today
Fast forward to today. In the event you’ve never seen Travis get one ready, he does an amazing job.
Now, Travis is helping KC Bare with his kids. KC helped Travis when he was a kid, so it’s special to him.
Watching kids grow is his favorite part of working with them. “I see kids that show because their parents want them to but I like kids who do it because they want to. It’s neat to see tremendous growth from year to year, not only in fitting but in the general understanding of their animals.”
He went on to say he likes people who are “always trying to learn. Just because something works for one person doesn’t mean it will or won’t for another. Always be open-minded about things.”
Apparently, Travis and I share a pet peeve of cattle being clean and dry. You can check out the post here…Nope, he’s not clean or dry.
An Important Lesson
He recommends that if you think they are dry, don’t run your hand along their bodies to check. Use your blower. Point it straight into the hair and run it all over the body. If you see moisture, they aren’t dry. The side of their bellies, up in their armpit and the front inside of their back legs are usually still wet.
A Funny Story
I asked Travis for an educational but funny story. He said he was showing at the Pacific International (PI), in Oregon and Jimmy Williams was judging. Seriously, I think anyone who has shown under that man has a good educational story.
Anyhow, he’d been rushing between the sheep and cattle barns and headed into his showmanship class with his Shorthorn heifer. Travis was not among the three kids to be pulled in his heat.
He was frustrated. “That heifer was money” in a showmanship contest.
When Jimmy Williams went to the mic, he was fighting with himself. “I’m not saying if the young man with the Shorthorn heifer is the best in the heat, but this young man simply doesn’t have his shirt tucked in.” He asked Travis to bring the heifer to the center and set her up. He told Travis that it was his lucky day.
“I’ll bet you have your shirt tucked in within about 5 seconds of leaving the ring,” Mr. Williams told him. Travis made the cut and I’m guessing ever since that day he always checks his shirt before entering the show ring.
Paying it Forward
Do you know what is really cool? Watching people who are younger than you grow into amazing talent. Frank says he remembers watching these three guys when they were just kids starting out. Today, he watches them get cattle ready and thinks, “Wow.” They all had their stock show mentors and are paying it forward.
This industry is so great because age gaps don’t matter, a person’s background doesn’t matter. All that matters is your openness to learning and that you’re willing to mess things up in order to get them right.
Just this past weekend, Chance, our 8-year-old was encouraged by Travis and the McKinzie boys to fit his heifer’s front leg. He was so excited to do it “all by himself.”
Go walk around and watch what the best guys and gals are doing. So often we put the really talented people on a pedestal and are intimidated to talk to them. We see them at shows when they are really focused on a task and hesitate to approach them. Go out and find your stock show mentors.
No matter where you are in the country, I’ll bet that if you just step out there and approach the guys and gals you idolize, you’ll find them to be really good people. It’s my hope that these stories give you the confidence to become the stock show mentors of the future.
