Small stature doesn’t stop 10-year-old girl from showing big steers who’s boss

Grace Baxter, 10, of Globe, works with her steer at last week’s Douglas County Fair. Despite her small stature — 4 feet tall and 60 pounds — Grace has a commanding presence with the 1,300-pound steers she works with. Grace has taken home the title of Grand Champion Market Steer, the best-in-show honor, the last two years.

Standing about 4 feet tall, and weighing around 60 pounds, 10-year-old Grace Baxter isn’t large by any means.

But the 1,300-pound steers that she shows at the Douglas County Fair’s 4-H Livestock Auction know she’s the boss.

“Sometimes you got to be real careful because they might kick,” said Grace of the animals she raises and trains at her family’s home in Globe. But Grace, after years of training steers for the 4-H competition, is careful, and tough.

“You smack ’em around on the nose sometimes,” said Grace of keeping the steers in line.

Grace’s training has paid off. For the past two years she has won the title of Grand Champion Market Steer, the event’s best-in-show honor.

It’s a pretty big deal.

“Is this a dream? No, it’s real,” said Grace of her reaction to winning the honor for the second time on Aug. 7.

Grace’s dad, Jeff, got her involved in the Baxter family business, raising cattle on their 160-acres, when she was 7, and her sister, Faith, 7, showed her first steer this year.

Grace’s work begins when the family travels the region looking for a young steer that has the pedigree to become a champion. It’s less than a science, said Grace’s mom, Dana. They look at how steers from a particular farm have turned out, but it’s only a rough guide.

“You’re going on instinct,” she said.

After a picking a steer that looks like it might have what it takes to wow the fair judges, there’s a lot of hard work to turn the steer into a champion.

A steer needs to be large and muscular, but not too large, she said.

The routine Grace has devised — the right amount of feed and the right amount of exercise — successfully kept Cal, this year’s steer, in top condition, and he weighed in at a target 1,340 pounds this year.

Grace is rewarded for her hard work in a variety of ways.

For starters, a significant amount of money gets added to her college fund when her steers take home grand champion. The steers are auctioned after the event, and bidders contribute a “premium” to the per-pound price of the animals. Grace gets to keep the premium bid, which this year was $6,000, contributed by the Douglas County Friends of 4-H and the American Angus Hall of Fame. A meat-packing company then buys the steer for a per-pound price, which for Cal, was around $1,000.

Dana said her daughter used to be shy before 4-H. Now, she gets up in from of hundreds to show her steers.

“We really like the personal growth,” Dana said.

Grace, who is entering fifth grade, simply enjoys working with the animals.

“You get so used to them, you have a connection,” she said. “The cow’s my best buddy.”

Every year, though, it’s difficult for Grace to lose her buddy. But she said she understands the sacrifice helps put food on people’s tables.

“Everyone lives and dies,” Grace said to Cal this year, “but I don’t want you to die.”