our youth: AG KIDS
Showing Red
A 4-Her’s knack for calm chills the crazies in Euro-cross steer
AUGUST 2015
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
By Christina Loveless
It all started last year when John
Bruner, Jr. started showing pigs, and
then he slowly moved into showing
cattle. Then he met a European cross
steer named “Red” that family friend
Tony Austin, picked out for him. It
was like at first sight.
Red and John just clicked. “I just
thought it was pretty cool,” John Jr.
said.
John Jr. is a freshman-to-be at
Brock High School and plays offensive right guard for the Eagles football team. He also participates in
the Spring Creek 4-H program and
has won a number of awards in the
show ring, including belt buckles and
ribbons, as well as Grand Champion
at Brock and Reserve Champion
at the 2015 Parker County Youth
Livestock Show held this past June.
Outside of showing cattle, John
Jr. takes care of a number of other
animals; he has goats and sheep
along with his two head of cattle.
But it all really started with Red.
Whatever John needed Red to do,
Red did. Red was calm, had no problems and he never gave John Jr. any
problems either.
“He wasn’t crazy, that was the
good thing about him, he was always
calm,” John Jr. said. At the Parker
County Youth Livestock Show 2015
in June, Jerry Durant and Plains
Capital Bank bought Red. “They
never had any issues; it was just one
of those things,” John Bruner, Sr. said.
According to John Sr., John Jr.
keeps things calm, and keeps the
animals equable and slows down
the pace, so the reaction is different.
“The complete success out of that
steer was all on him,” his father said.
These days, John Jr. is looking
to the future and making plans for
the coming year, and they definitely
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involve showing cattle. “Hopefully I can get another steer like Red,” John
Jr. said, with just a hint of wistfulness.
John Jr. plans to participate in the major shows, like San Antonio and Fort
Worth. He wants to continue showing cattle, either another cross or a
pure breed.
In Parker County, 4-H is much more than an organization for kids to
participate in. It’s a culture. But, 4-H wouldn’t be what it is without the
help of the people in Parker County, the ones who care. “They support the
kids,” John Sr. said.
John Jr. highly recommends other kids start showing animals because
it helps them learn valuable life lessons, such as responsibility and taking
care of another living creature. One of the most important things he’s
learned is that it’s about taking care of something else, waking up early
and taking care of his responsibilities that have to be taken care of. “It’s
like a community, and they kind of help you, and you can help them — it
… makes you better,” John Jr. said.
There’s always something to do in 4-H; plenty of events that range
from small to large. “There’s always something. Sometimes there is a little
cost involved, and sometimes there is a lot of cost involved,” John Sr. said.
“But it does [present] the ability for people to learn how to sustain themselves.”
Next year John Jr.’s goal is to place as well or better than this year, and
he’s set his sights on pursuing a higher education — at Oregon State.