Keith Enjoys Showing Cattle in 4-H

Brandie Keith of Anderson joined 4-H because she wanted to show cattle.

A senior at Victory Road Christian Academy, she has been in 4-H for five years.

"I got started in 4-H because I wanted to show cattle," she said. "My dad never would let me do it when I was little because he thought I'd get hurt. I finally talked him into it one year. I started out with a Jersey heifer. The people who were helping me with her told me I needed to get in 4-H because it would help me with it."

She showed dairy cattle for a couple of years and then switched to beef cattle. She has gone to a couple of 4-H events, including Youth Civic Leaders Summit. Shortly after that, she became club president and has been president for four years.

Through 4-H she has done a variety of cattle shows.

"Certain counties will only let you show, if you're not from their county, if you're in 4-H or FFA," she said. "You have to attend 80 percent of the meetings. Through 4-H we get to go to a lot of different cattle shows that we normally wouldn't get to go to."

She continued, "We have a beef program in our 4-H. We teach the younger kids what to feed them, how to wash them, how to dry their hair and some of the other daily-care things that go into it."

With the cows, she does not have time for much more in 4-H, she said.

"I usually come home, take care of them and, by the time I get done with that, it's usually late," she said.

Keith and her younger brother, Hunter, recently went to the Tulsa State Fair to show their purebred Simmental heifers. She noted Oklahoma has two state fairs -- one in Tulsa and one in Oklahoma City. She placed third in the Simmental show with her heifer, Stella, and her brother placed fourth with his heifer, Bridget.

Keith said this more than likely is the last time they will show these cows, and now they will just live out the rest of their lives on the farm.

"It's definitely something you've got to have a passion about to do," she said of raising cattle. "I was raised around cattle, so I just naturally took to cattle, I guess. It's definitely a thing where you've got to work with them and you've got to form a trust with them, or it's just not going to work. It teaches you a lot of responsibility -- having something that depends on you for whether it's going to get to eat or not, whether it's going to get to drink or not. It teaches you a lot of good characteristics you're going to need throughout your life."