August 23, 2025 • 10 mins
On this edition of ACF 411, Russ is joined by the Champion of Champions and Reserve Champion of Champions from the 175th Allen County Fair!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And we're back to another edition of ACF four one one,
the official podcast of the Allen County Fair powered by Nutrient,
and I'm your host Truss Decker and joining us in
the podcast parlor today. We're on the final day of
the fair, so we've got like very important people in
the podcast studio today. In fact, we have the Champion
of Champions and we have the reserve Champion of Champions,
(00:22):
so Olivia and Anna, welcome to the podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So let's start with the Champion of Champion, so Olivia.
I was in the I was actually down at the
show arena when they were making the announcements and I
think you were both pretty surprised because you looked pretty
excited down there. Let's just talk about the whole fair
week for you. What projects did you show this week?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I had two market hogs.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And my market steer, and how did they do?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
My market steer one the overall champion of the steers
and I got fourth overall. I won the Beef Showmanship
and I was fourth overall market Hall with my guilt
and won that swine showmanship as well.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And how many years have you been showing here at
the Allen County Fair.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I think I'm pretty sure I'm really bad at with
these years. But I was am on my seventh year
of hogs, and I think my fourth year of my steers.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Okay, and you're from Allen East, right, Yes, so you're
in the Allen East f FA. I am pretty active
there as well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, the chapter president, yep, I thought.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I remember seeing your names. Yes, well, congrats. That's a
lot of work.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So passing the mike down to Anna for a second,
So Anna, tell me about your week at the Allen
County Fair.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
It was pretty good. I show beef steers. I had
a breeding heifer and a baby feeder calf. I had
both champion be feeder calf and champion heifer. I was
Roger Reserve Champion beef Showmanship and sixth were all born
and raised and beef show with my market steers.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So I'm gonna ask the question of both of you,
but and I can go first, So Anna tell me.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
For folks that don't know, I mean, they come.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Out to the fair and they see the projects and
they know it took a lot of work, But how
much work does it take if you you had a
steer project that's gotta be.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is that a whole year's commitment.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Uh, probably more than a whole year's commitment.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So talk talk us through a lot of people don't know,
So talk us through the whole process of you start
with you gotta go out and buy a steer, right.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Well, my steers are mostly born and raised, Okay, but
Olivia's aren't. So we've had mine since he was a
little baby. I picked him when he was a baby
as well, so he's been worked with ever since he
was weaned. Uh. He started getting rinsed every day from
like March and the march to the fair. And I
(02:54):
didn't work as hard on showmanship, but I still worked
pretty hard. So oh yeah, it's just a lot of
hard work and commitment to make sure you keep going
with the animal the whole year.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So when you talk about rinsing them, that's kind of
like giving them a little shower every day?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
About if they like it, sometimes sometimes they will hate it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Because they're not used to it. I mean, you don't
do that for all your cows.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Right, Uh, No, just the show cows. Like when you
first wash them, they're doing to be crazy. Like my
first my steer. This year will's near Next year he
will jump in the washrack, tries to killing himself, but
he's getting better the more you do it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So yeah, and then do you have to feed them
and do all that kind of stuff all year?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Yeah, feed them morning and evening, clean their pens.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So so I'm a horse guy, so I don't know
a lot about cattle, but so I assume they eat
some kind of like some kind of grain or something
a couple of times a day.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, they will eat grain, corn, barley, what kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So, Olivia, tell us about how much you know with
your projects? How much time every day were you spending
on your project?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
This year? My year, he wouldn't grow hair as fast
as my previous years. So we started. We got them
in about October and we just about every other day
until i'd say middle of March where I started rinsing
them every day. And then here in the summer after
I finished school, we went to twice a day and
(04:32):
it was just a lot of i'd say probably two
three hours per wash, and it it takes up a
lot of my time in my day, but I enjoy it.
So just being in the bar and listening to music,
being present with my animal. Just it's an inseparable bond
that you create with those animals, and it's just really
cool thing.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So you know, when you watch you guys in the
in the rings when you're competing, I mean, those are
big animals, and I would imagine they don't just on
their own want to walk behind you and stand nicely
for the judges. How long does that process take to
get them to the point where you can actually show
them effectively?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Me and my family we do jackpot shows throughout the
winter so they get that ring experience. But I know Anna,
she works her butt off. Everybody in that steerbarn works
their butt off just to walk their steers around and
work with them with the showstick, just to make sure
that they will be well acting enough to present them
(05:32):
to a judge here at that kind of fair.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So I've got to ask this question again, not being
a cattle person, but have you ever lost one in
the ring where they just took off on their own.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I'm thinking Anna has.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Personally, I don't think so yet. I'm gonna have to
find some wood to knock on. I don't think I
have yet, Anna, have you I have had many.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I had a shorehorn steer last year. He got away
every time he got in that show ring every time.
I think there was one show he didn't, and then
I think it was like twenty twenty three my market steer.
He ran around the show at Ohio Bfexpo for like
ten minutes. It was not very fun.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Do other kids come out to help you try to?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, I was just sitting there like awkward, like, uh,
I don't want to, like I want to hope, but
I don't like goin and mess up, like what if
I do something wrong? And then he likes yeah, So
I just sat to the side and let the officials
trying to catch him. He got like dead last. I
mean he was athletic, that's right.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
He should have got points for his athleticism, right, yeah,
because he's doing a lot more running than the other gals.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You think the judges would give him some points for
that because you could tell him you taught him how
to do that, you know, make sure you take credit
for that what h throughout the week. So you both
have been in the fair for a long time. Obviously
you enjoy it. What keeps bringing you back here after year?
And Anna, you've already got the microphone, so I'll start
(07:05):
with you.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Uh, probably just probably showmanship. I really like doing showmanship,
seeing how much better I get over the years, Like
last year I got fourth overall and now this year
I got reserve champion, So that shows like a lot,
and probably the Steer Show. My biggest goal is to
win the Born and Race Show show off all that
(07:27):
hard work. I definitely didn't have a brother who wanted
to even know he didn't do any work, but when
he talks about that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So showmanship is actually when you're leading the animal around
the ring and those kinds of things and making it
stand for the judge and stuff, which you didn't do
apparently last year right when it took off. Yeah, Olivia,
what for you? What keeps you coming back every year?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I really enjoy just spending time with the people.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I like.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It's a you learn so much about the other people
in your community. And we like our beef barn. We
don't have as many exhibitors and or family just in
that barn, but we're such a tight knit group and
everybody can you can get help from anybody, you can
get advice, and everybody is always proud of each other
and they're always congratulating, and it's just it's such a
(08:15):
fun environment to be in, either the hog barn or
the beef barn. It's just such an warming, inviting place
where I'd like to keep that going on for future generations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And so you are the champion of champions of the
twenty twenty five Allen County Fair. So that's pretty neat.
Talk about that competition. So you have people from all
the different species, right, So there's rabbit people and horse
people and cattle, so talk about what that competition is.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I it's such a cool experience to be in because
not everybody gets that opportunity, Like you have to win
your department, so you get to be able to be
a part of it and just going around and learning
from each other. It's fun to see what other people
know that you don't, and you're learning new things about
other animals that you could carry on, like you could
(09:05):
go show a go after this because you might be
good at it and you might have not known. But
just it's really fun to just go around and experience
new things.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So anything you learned today that you didn't know before.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I'm not very good at dairy goats or horse showmanship.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, they're a little tougher than a steer.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah. A lot of technical things, lots of knowledge technical things.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So before I let you go, and I really do
appreciate you taking time because last day at the fair
is very busy day.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So one of the things we've asked everybody this week
is one of the things that the fair is fair food.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's everywhere. What is your favorite fair food of all time?
On the fair grounds.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh, I'm a big fan of the Italian ice stand
down there. It's I get the lemon and it's pretty good.
Or cheese curds, either one.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Italian ice or cheese curds.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right, Anna, what's your Guilt's your what's your favorite
fair food?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
There is a shaved dice place right outside the sheep barn.
The people kind of know me there. It gets kind
of embarrassing going there, but yeah, that's my favorite for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And do you have a favorite flavor?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Uh, Skittles?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Definitely, very good ladies.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Congratulations to both of you on being Champion of the
Champions and reserve Champion of the Champions of the twenty
twenty five Allen County Fair. Thanks for joining us into podcast.
And we'll be right back after this
And we're back to another edition of ACF four one one,
the official podcast of the Allen County Fair powered by Nutrient,
and I'm your host Truss Decker and joining us in
the podcast parlor today. We're on the final day of
the fair, so we've got like very important people in
the podcast studio today. In fact, we have the Champion
of Champions and we have the reserve Champion of Champions,
(00:22):
so Olivia and Anna, welcome to the podcast studio.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
So let's start with the Champion of Champion, so Olivia.
I was in the I was actually down at the
show arena when they were making the announcements and I
think you were both pretty surprised because you looked pretty
excited down there. Let's just talk about the whole fair
week for you. What projects did you show this week?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I had two market hogs.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
And my market steer, and how did they do?
Speaker 2 (00:49):
My market steer one the overall champion of the steers
and I got fourth overall. I won the Beef Showmanship
and I was fourth overall market Hall with my guilt
and won that swine showmanship as well.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
And how many years have you been showing here at
the Allen County Fair.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I think I'm pretty sure I'm really bad at with
these years. But I was am on my seventh year
of hogs, and I think my fourth year of my steers.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Okay, and you're from Allen East, right, Yes, so you're
in the Allen East f FA. I am pretty active
there as well.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yes, the chapter president, yep, I thought.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I remember seeing your names. Yes, well, congrats. That's a
lot of work.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
So passing the mike down to Anna for a second,
So Anna, tell me about your week at the Allen
County Fair.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
What have you been doing?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
It was pretty good. I show beef steers. I had
a breeding heifer and a baby feeder calf. I had
both champion be feeder calf and champion heifer. I was
Roger Reserve Champion beef Showmanship and sixth were all born
and raised and beef show with my market steers.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So I'm gonna ask the question of both of you,
but and I can go first, So Anna tell me.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
For folks that don't know, I mean, they come.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Out to the fair and they see the projects and
they know it took a lot of work, But how
much work does it take if you you had a
steer project that's gotta be.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is that a whole year's commitment.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Uh, probably more than a whole year's commitment.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
So talk talk us through a lot of people don't know,
So talk us through the whole process of you start
with you gotta go out and buy a steer, right.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Well, my steers are mostly born and raised, Okay, but
Olivia's aren't. So we've had mine since he was a
little baby. I picked him when he was a baby
as well, so he's been worked with ever since he
was weaned. Uh. He started getting rinsed every day from
like March and the march to the fair. And I
(02:54):
didn't work as hard on showmanship, but I still worked
pretty hard. So oh yeah, it's just a lot of
hard work and commitment to make sure you keep going
with the animal the whole year.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So when you talk about rinsing them, that's kind of
like giving them a little shower every day?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Is that?
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:11):
About if they like it, sometimes sometimes they will hate it.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Because they're not used to it. I mean, you don't
do that for all your cows.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Right, Uh, No, just the show cows. Like when you
first wash them, they're doing to be crazy. Like my
first my steer. This year will's near Next year he
will jump in the washrack, tries to killing himself, but
he's getting better the more you do it.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
So yeah, and then do you have to feed them
and do all that kind of stuff all year?
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Yeah, feed them morning and evening, clean their pens.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So so I'm a horse guy, so I don't know
a lot about cattle, but so I assume they eat
some kind of like some kind of grain or something
a couple of times a day.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Yeah, they will eat grain, corn, barley, what kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So, Olivia, tell us about how much you know with
your projects? How much time every day were you spending
on your project?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
This year? My year, he wouldn't grow hair as fast
as my previous years. So we started. We got them
in about October and we just about every other day
until i'd say middle of March where I started rinsing
them every day. And then here in the summer after
I finished school, we went to twice a day and
(04:32):
it was just a lot of i'd say probably two
three hours per wash, and it it takes up a
lot of my time in my day, but I enjoy it.
So just being in the bar and listening to music,
being present with my animal. Just it's an inseparable bond
that you create with those animals, and it's just really
cool thing.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So you know, when you watch you guys in the
in the rings when you're competing, I mean, those are
big animals, and I would imagine they don't just on
their own want to walk behind you and stand nicely
for the judges. How long does that process take to
get them to the point where you can actually show
them effectively?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Me and my family we do jackpot shows throughout the
winter so they get that ring experience. But I know Anna,
she works her butt off. Everybody in that steerbarn works
their butt off just to walk their steers around and
work with them with the showstick, just to make sure
that they will be well acting enough to present them
(05:32):
to a judge here at that kind of fair.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
So I've got to ask this question again, not being
a cattle person, but have you ever lost one in
the ring where they just took off on their own.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I'm thinking Anna has.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Personally, I don't think so yet. I'm gonna have to
find some wood to knock on. I don't think I
have yet, Anna, have you I have had many.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
I had a shorehorn steer last year. He got away
every time he got in that show ring every time.
I think there was one show he didn't, and then
I think it was like twenty twenty three my market steer.
He ran around the show at Ohio Bfexpo for like
ten minutes. It was not very fun.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Do other kids come out to help you try to?
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, I was just sitting there like awkward, like, uh,
I don't want to, like I want to hope, but
I don't like goin and mess up, like what if
I do something wrong? And then he likes yeah, So
I just sat to the side and let the officials
trying to catch him. He got like dead last. I
mean he was athletic, that's right.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
He should have got points for his athleticism, right, yeah,
because he's doing a lot more running than the other gals.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Right.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
You think the judges would give him some points for
that because you could tell him you taught him how
to do that, you know, make sure you take credit
for that what h throughout the week. So you both
have been in the fair for a long time. Obviously
you enjoy it. What keeps bringing you back here after year?
And Anna, you've already got the microphone, so I'll start
(07:05):
with you.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Uh, probably just probably showmanship. I really like doing showmanship,
seeing how much better I get over the years, Like
last year I got fourth overall and now this year
I got reserve champion, So that shows like a lot,
and probably the Steer Show. My biggest goal is to
win the Born and Race Show show off all that
(07:27):
hard work. I definitely didn't have a brother who wanted
to even know he didn't do any work, but when
he talks about that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
So showmanship is actually when you're leading the animal around
the ring and those kinds of things and making it
stand for the judge and stuff, which you didn't do
apparently last year right when it took off. Yeah, Olivia,
what for you? What keeps you coming back every year?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I really enjoy just spending time with the people.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
I like.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It's a you learn so much about the other people
in your community. And we like our beef barn. We
don't have as many exhibitors and or family just in
that barn, but we're such a tight knit group and
everybody can you can get help from anybody, you can
get advice, and everybody is always proud of each other
and they're always congratulating, and it's just it's such a
(08:15):
fun environment to be in, either the hog barn or
the beef barn. It's just such an warming, inviting place
where I'd like to keep that going on for future generations.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Right.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
And so you are the champion of champions of the
twenty twenty five Allen County Fair. So that's pretty neat.
Talk about that competition. So you have people from all
the different species, right, So there's rabbit people and horse
people and cattle, so talk about what that competition is.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I it's such a cool experience to be in because
not everybody gets that opportunity, Like you have to win
your department, so you get to be able to be
a part of it and just going around and learning
from each other. It's fun to see what other people
know that you don't, and you're learning new things about
other animals that you could carry on, like you could
(09:05):
go show a go after this because you might be
good at it and you might have not known. But
just it's really fun to just go around and experience
new things.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
So anything you learned today that you didn't know before.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I'm not very good at dairy goats or horse showmanship.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, they're a little tougher than a steer.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah. A lot of technical things, lots of knowledge technical things.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
So before I let you go, and I really do
appreciate you taking time because last day at the fair
is very busy day.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I know that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
So one of the things we've asked everybody this week
is one of the things that the fair is fair food.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
It's everywhere. What is your favorite fair food of all time?
On the fair grounds.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Oh, I'm a big fan of the Italian ice stand
down there. It's I get the lemon and it's pretty good.
Or cheese curds, either one.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Italian ice or cheese curds.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right, Anna, what's your Guilt's your what's your favorite
fair food?
Speaker 4 (10:10):
There is a shaved dice place right outside the sheep barn.
The people kind of know me there. It gets kind
of embarrassing going there, but yeah, that's my favorite for sure.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
And do you have a favorite flavor?
Speaker 4 (10:24):
Uh, Skittles?
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Definitely, very good ladies.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
Congratulations to both of you on being Champion of the
Champions and reserve Champion of the Champions of the twenty
twenty five Allen County Fair. Thanks for joining us into podcast.
And we'll be right back after this
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