60
Palmetto Pride. David bought them each
a steer a young male and since then,
they have been showing, buying, and
selling steers and heifers, generally using
the money they make from selling their
animals to buy new ones, plus feed and
any gear that needs to be replaced.
The twins have always been bright, sweet
and big hearted but so introverted as
children that they had trouble making eye
contact, even with their grandfather. Once
they joined H that changed, their mother
said. The girls are reserved and serious,
are high achievers in school they can’t
pass up extra credit assignments, their
mom said, even though they have straight
As, and are extremely competitive,
especially with each other.
But they are comfortable talking to
anyone, making presentations, speaking
publicly, and doing community service.
That’s all due to H and their passion:
raising beef cattle to show and sell.
“We found the thing that their hearts just
ached for and that they love,” Jessica
said. Sarala followed in her older sisters’
footsteps, and this year, their little brother
Oliver, 8, will join H. In fact, the sisters
bought him his rst steer with money they
made at the fair in January.
Life Lessons Learned
It’s perhaps inaccurate to say it all started
with the twins, because Jessica and her
two sisters also raised cattle, in the same
barn, in the same stalls, and in the same
10-acre pasture her daughters use today.
In high school, Jessica and her sisters
even started their own cattle company.
Jessica’s girls have learned what they
know about raising cattle from her, and
from their grandfather.
And the list of what they’ve learned is
long. It ranges from how to castrate a bull
to the science behind how hay converts
feed. It includes marketing and nancial
know-how.
They’ve learned responsibility, respect,
and compassion for living things. They
purchase vaccinations and deworming
medicine for their animals and know how
to recognize signs of illness. They keep
meticulous records, especially detailed
budgets so they’re clear on their income
and expenses.
They pay for feed, hay, soap, combs,
harnesses, a trailer, and show sticks. They
pay for registration fees for shows, clinics,
and hotels they stay in for the clinics. They
work hard at tasks that can be physically
demanding, and are not afraid to get their
hands dirty, literally. They’re happiest in
T- shirts, cut-offs, and cowboy boots.
On a recent Sunday, after mowing their
neighbor’s lawn, the girls arrived at the
barn, where they immediately tied up
their calves with halters attached to the
stalls a type of training that teaches
the calves to hold their heads high when
being shown in a ring.
They cleaned manure from the stalls,
gave their animals hay, fresh water,
and feed, and weighed them using a
special measuring tape. Later that day,
they accompanied their grandfather to a
market in Wauchula to sell a heifer and a
cow. Once a week, they wash the cows
with a hose and then blow them dry a
process that takes about an hour.
The week of the fair, the work ramps up,
and the girls tend to their calves each
morning before school and each night,