Assignment Iowa Classics; 211; Waterloo Cattle Congress

This week from Waterloo. During the early 1980s the I was State Dairy Association decided they needed a gimmick in order to attract more people to their annual meetings and they reasoned that if they had an exhibit of live counties rather than just lectures about cows they would attract more people and they were right. In 1910 the first cattle Congress was held here in Waterloo and during just one day 5000 people paid admission to see about 25 of those. Since then the Congress has expanded to a nine day end of the season agricultural exposition which attracts the best of the best of farm animals. When you come here you can see all kinds of horses and sheep goats cattle and of course dairy cattle. There are lots of exhibits of farm machinery and their demonstrations of farm skills and home craft lots of entertainers to both from and the big names. One of the people who is responsible really for making Congress a success is right here and we're going to talk with him now.

Has a Waterloo. President of the board of directors. And he's been president for 11 years and he's been on the board for 19 years. Find out a little bit about the congressman and how it's your parent's right. To everybody in this community or family. Member stands out in your mind. From. What I remember remember I remember the day. A lot of beautiful horses. I remember

gradually when they started bringing other animals and started going kind of commercial until after 1965 when we could not afford to bring another bridge. I heard that one had rather.

Well it. Was the best. For all of.

Us. To get it right. People.

Don't know what it is look like. The founders were emphatic about 200. Years ago. I got. Something Right.

Oh boy. Yes. As a matter of fact.

This is. Something. The member from. Well the original starting was four years ago. The purpose of course was double or triple fold number one was to give some new lights to entertainment Byrom was newly appointed secretary and came to me and said Do you have any ideas and we can talk things over and

there was an exhibit at the Mississippi Valley Fair of nature were breed associations were putting on booze and bringing in some other cattle and I just can't combine these thoughts along with some other cattlemen in an aisle and we kind of started the breed's building four years ago from that origin. Any that explain exactly what this is. All hollow breeds is about just what it says it is. It's a building where people can walk through and see and read about and gain information about every forseeable breed of animal. Not only in cattle but swine and sheep and goats and horses and dairy cattle in one setting without having to traipse across the entire fairgrounds. This is one of the first at least in the Midwest to our knowledge it probably was one of the first of its kind because of the scope that we covered but I'm sure there were other exhibits putting together various species but to put all the species into one setting we think it

could possibly been a first. What do you think urban people get out of this. I think they enjoy it. I think we are very particular in the building. We try to make sure that everything's clean and neat at all times and when people come from the city out to see a fair I think they appreciate this and not having to waddle through some miles that are collaterally. And I think yeah. And it keeps them kind of aware of agriculture in specific in this case animal science and what this field as is done genetically in producing and importing and changing breeding programs as good as for cattle breeders. Well I received some comments both ways some breeders have said that this building distracts from their own shows but the majority of them appreciate the opportunity to come in here and witness and see various breeds that they have maybe had no chance to observe before and

also for individuals with new breeds because we are in a phase in a flux of new breeds being imported that allows those breeds to be exhibited at a fair where for instance yesterday and today in our beef show here at the cattle Congress we were only showing four breeds of beef cattle. And this allows them to see 28 breeds. You always have the same number. My aim is to get as many as possible. That is a challenge that I don't think I'll ever be satisfied with because every year I strive to get more and more and there's always last minute problems that are going to arise with people with certain breeds and. The original working with decades ago in America and that was really the introduction of one of the new breeds that we found in the early 50s actually through Mexico and that started

the whole ball game as far as we're drawing only and realizing that this building is not only beef but it's a minute ago something about a cray cray different exotic culture and specifically with the livestock industry realizes the thoughts that go into trying to get producers to think that a new breed is going to change their breeding program and make them more money and give them what they are showing them with the Packers and everybody is looking for the new breeds that were being and continue being introduced into this country. Really. Tremendous we've gone from 20 years ago working with four breeds to today working with some 50 or 60 breeds of beef cattle and the same things happening in swine and in sheep.

We see certain breeds of sheep. Now the Finnish land race for instance that began to help people get multiple births and out of season breeding so other breeds of sheep or other things and same with look home and the regeneration of land race and lot a new breed interest in all areas a lot of names that I certainly have never seen before. But the animal to me that's interesting because so different from looking at the island. Yes and they're a beautiful animal and some people would not say they're beautiful but they really are and very very attractive to just can enjoy their own majestic luck but they're a breed that is very very common to the very cold winter weather that the British Isles have and so are northern states would thrive with a Scott island but it's a breed that will probably not catch on in the middle and southern states because it's just simply drive mainly for the hardiness and Colden and thrives

on little of nothing as far as vegetation is very durable type animal. Here we have about five or six fairly sizable Scott breeders in Iowa here. This is a breed that we're real fortunate to have had a lot of color. I was intrigued by the fellow. Now. When. Any animal take a beef or short horn in a purpose a chorus would make to have an animal that would be highly efficient on the buffalo roam the United States long before there were such things as corn concentrates to fatten them so they got they inherited this ability to grow and produce red meat of very low quality grass and never domesticated in Buffalo.

They just utilized it and of course never wasted it for me. Then we wasted around talking to some passing fancy promoters of course the world's answer to an energy crisis that we can feed an animal that would be superior to all these new breeds can't survive not everyone can survive. We've been aware that the Canadian government has been working with breeding of Buffalo breeds for some years and most of their research points out the

advantages fertility in the animal would be basically an infertile female. When they say they have a percent in other words of the total animal originates from the Buffalo. And my philosophy or my belief is that. Time will tell. I've never tasted it. I'm sure it doesn't have that much difference and there are people in Iowa that are very staunch Buffalo supporters that are really promoting the buffalo. We had a Buffalo last year in the bridge building and we came very close to having one this year hopefully next year we'll get something that's fairly new. There are so many breeds from Italy. That you could name one that you were Marquis and

we've seen the Iowa State Fair that won this year was a quarter. And if you looked at. Kansas City and Denver and many of our shows that have opened their shows the marquee Jonna crossbred Angus steers have been doing very well so those are large white breeds of cattle and frost on British breeds they come up with a combination of length and scale and yet maintain muscling in their terminal breed cross. That means that if we're going to use them in a breeding program would probably breed them to a female for a slaughter animal to go to market. That. Certain breeds certainly have so much more size and framework that we couldn't justify keeping a female in the breeding herd because of the patience she gets so large mans too much total feed to keep going through the winter months. And if we can keep our cow sized to an efficient

level then we can use these larger breeds maybe in a cross breeding program. The average person never even thinks of that. I majored in animal science as an undergraduate at Iowa State and the things that were being taught then of course still fundamentally apply but there's just increasingly new things coming out every day in the field of agriculture and my field of science and where we think that. Everybody has to keep up with a lot of things. Look at I think. We've had some problems.

That is you go back in to American history and the fact that that particular beast was utilized by the western and Indian and cowboy rancher operations basically is the origin of meat for the American table and most of those came from Spain and up through Mexico again and their characteristics of course are very very hardy durable animal that withstands heat a lot of the stresses of insects and parasites and so they do not have the confirmation that the American people say would like to look at it and put on the table as far as a large. Juicy steak. But they do

have a very strong durable adaptability to certain climatic conditions. What do you think are particularly noteworthy. Well again I'd be kind of stepping on other people started to point out ones that I think are noteworthy but we have a lot of very interesting reads one of the reads and as I work with the bridge building in the last four years and we started with around 17 or 18 grades and I progressed up to 28 in the area we've been able to see the percent of some of the new breeds. Much more character the first year we're talking about with a half caf. The next year I might be able to get a half blood with a three quarter cap the next year or three quarter blood. And as we build the percent of blood of that breed into the animal we see some beautiful characteristics in the Normandy. If we go down through here you'll notice the Normandy is like a Dalmatian. It's white with black spots

and the cow in the calf aired in the breeds building has a definite mark of a true enormity of the work that this is not anything related to research and it's not scientific. All you have to do I guess is be a little bit crazy to try to attempt something like this and work hard at it. Speaking of crazy you have a strange breed of. One of the other buildings. And I always thought. Well you talk about the herd. Right and basically lost any real programs but they are a breed that's maintained their identity and we do have a breed that brings it up in fact he was a student in our program so he supports this particular function and that allows us to get the watermen me the advantage.

I'm not real familiar with their individual characteristics per se but I would say that some of it would just be novelty and uniqueness. Thank you I know that you did a little extra work in the morning before the crowds got here. Yeah now go back and talk to the board of directors of the whole thing. Remember. Remember.

Hold. Me.

Just. Fly. Away. Every year.

For more than. About the weather this happened in. And out of the National Congress at Waterloo once again meet the stars of our show.