While the WI County Fair season only lasts a short time, the hard work to make it happen lasts all year. And that is especially true for 4H youth like Maddie Kruger, who raise and show livestock.
Maddie just finished up her third season of showing cattle at the Barron County Fair with her 4H club, Prairie Farm Pals. This year, she showed Dozer, who took home Steer Reserve Champion Market, the award given to the second-best steer at the fair.
Dozer, a crossbred Angus and Maine-Anjou, was more than a 4H project. Maddie—with the help of her parents, Ryan and Brenda—runs Kruger Cattle Company. The ambitious 11-year-old started the beef operations two years ago.
Kruger Cattle Company currently has eight cattle. Maddie hopes to increase that number to 40 by the time she graduates.
The Krugers put a lot of effort into their feeding program, and so far it’s been paying off. After the Barron County Fair wrapped up, the steer carcasses were judged on beef quality. In that competition, the steers belonging to Maddie and her younger brother Triton placed second and third out of 24 steers. “In two to three years, our hope is to be able to sell our beef directly to consumers,” said Brenda.
Maddie is in the process of buying breeding stock to potentially show next season. According to Brenda, as Kruger Cattle Company grows, “We can show steers and heifers from our own herd. That’s when it gets special.”
Maddie and other 4H youth appreciate the individuals and businesses who support them at the Barron County Fair Livestock Sale each year. But fair time is about so much more than selling livestock. “My favorite part of 4H in general is the friends that I meet through showing,” said Maddie.
To contact Kruger Cattle Company, send an email to Kruger.Cattle.Company@gmail.
Visit the Barron County 4H website to learn more about the organization. Youth in kindergarten through 1-year post-high school graduation and volunteers can join 4-H anytime.
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