Truth from the trenches
By Melissa Hart

With the laundry done the barn towels washed, dinner in the Crock Pot, the subs made for hungry football players, the volleyball and football uniforms washed and the house ... well, in need of a touch up, I headed out the door and headed west to Waterloo, Iowa, for the National Dairy Cattle Congress.

While some may think of this as just another cow show, others know better. With a century of history backing this one-of-a-kind show, the well-known brick barns on the Cattle Congress grounds in Waterloo swarm with activity for a few short days in September.

With cattle worth thousands of dollars lined up in the dimly lit barns, the breeders from all corners of the country loaded up their precious cargo and brought them to America’s Heartland to celebrate days gone by.

Through wars, the Depression and a dairy economy that has left once-thriving farms now empty, this show has prevailed. This year it will garner not only top-quality cattle, but top-quality breeders of dairy cattle as they gather to sell, buy and show their livelihood.

As I write this, I’m in a dusty show arena with a computer on my lap, a sale ring in front of me, ring men screaming bids, an auctioneer chanting his rhythm and deep-pedigreed cattle parading as they change owners for thousands of dollars.

I am in the middle of history in the making. I’m in the spot where champions were awarded their rosettes; where millionaires invested in the dairy industry, and where giants of today were being formed and fashioned into the movers and shakers of the industry.

In this place the big bulls of the 40s, 50s and 60s were the main attraction. The men who worked with them were respected, and the breeders who bred them were also the ones who milked the cows, fed the calves and pitched the manure.

While the big shows in Madison Wis, Harrisburg, Pa., Louisville, Ky. and Toronto, Canada boast the biggest and best quality shows in the industry, this year, in this place, in these legendary brick buildings, the boasting comes not from numbers of cattle or the sparkle of displays but the rebirth of a legendary place and the celebration of legendary people and peek into the past with the breeders of the future. It was Waterloo. It is Waterloo. And hopefully it will be Waterloo again.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Melissa Hart may write to her in care of this publication.