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    #AgLife: Fair kids – Irelynn Campbell – a family tradition

    There may be life off the ranch, but any Fremont County farmer or rancher will tell you – The #aglife is “the good life!” #Aglife is a County 10 series, brought to you by Wyoming Community Bank, that pulls the curtain back on farm and ranch life in Fremont County.

    Irelynn Campbell of Shoshoni comes with a strong family background in beef production. Her dad Jock and mom Chera, with her older brother Cannon, are all involved in the family business.

    Jock runs up to 3,500 head of cattle at one time, so the challenges of managing that many often unruly bovines passes down to the next generation almost magically.

    Irelynn is also a championship-caliber rodeo athlete, qualifying for the Junior High National Finals Rodeo in barrels and breakaway roping this past season. She is an incoming freshman at Shoshoni High School and plans to play basketball for the Lady Blue as well.

    Irelynn showed a pair of animals this year, one a Charolais and the other Angus. She picked them out of the family herd last January.

    “I picked them out when my dad started sorting them,” Irelynn said. “I look for big calves that have the potential to grow and that will show well.”

    After picking out her calves, she sets them on a regimented feeding program with cracked corn, grass hay, and pellets.

    “We feed grass because they’ll bloat on alfalfa with the grain we’re feeding,” Irelynn said.

    Calves grow fast and need to be worked with long before the fair begins.

    Irelynn Campbell worked on proper presentation form in the show ring {h/t Randy Tucker}

    “We put them in a tub, and scratch them so they get used to us,” Irelynn said. “Then we put halters on them in the tub so they’ll get used to it. Later I’ll work with them in a pen and spray water on them to cool them off. In the little pen I’ll brush and train their hair for the show.”

    As training continues she’ll lead them for a while, then let them go on their own to get used to the process.

    She had to train the pair this year beginning in early July since she was competing at the national finals in Georgia for a couple of weeks in June.

    Irelynn shared her secret for getting her animals to handle well, “You want to make it their idea,” she said.

    Being raised with cattle, horses, chores, feeding and all the other hard work that goes into a ranch operation is great preparation for showing cattle at the fair, but it’s still fun to compete.

    “I like sowing steers,” Irelynn said. “It’s a good experience.”

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