The phrase, “There’s no time like the present,” applies indisputably to Curtis Throne and his ambitious vision for the future. With hopes of running a herd of Red Angus cattle someday, this 13-year-old looked for an out-of-the-box solution to get a head start on his future plans.
Last year, Curtis applied and was selected for the Ozark Empire Fair Foundation Beef Heifer Program. This new program provided a Red Angus heifer, donated by Merrilyn and Larry Ellison, of Harmony Hills Red Angus, to an applicant actively involved in his or her FFA or 4-H program.
Larry and Merrilyn helped start the Ozark Empire Fair Foundation years ago and are both 4-H beef cattle leaders. Larry, who switched over to Red Angus in 2002, is also on the National Red Angus Board of Directors. They started the Youth Heifer Donation Program in order to give kids interested in agriculture opportunities that may not have been available otherwise. “Our children, and now our grandchildren, have been blessed to grow up and have cattle to show. We wanted another child, who maybe wouldn’t have the ability to buy as good quality of a heifer, to have the same opportunity our children did,” Larry said.
Curtis has grown up helping out on his family’s farm in Niangua, Mo. His parents, Chad and Patricia Throne, grew up in the area on farms as well. Curtis’ siblings include a sister, Courtney, 18, and a brother, Kevin, 9. Farming, especially cattle, is a family affair. The family owns about 262 acres, which they use for producing about 500 round bales of hay, 4,000-5,000 square bales and running, 42 momma cows and two bulls.
Though he has grown up around cattle, showing them is a relatively new endeavor for Curtis. He got involved through his 4-H group and now has three show cattle. Savannah, as he named his Red Angus heifer from the Ellisons, has provided Curtis with the opportunity to “get experience showing a better-quality heifer and, eventually, start his own herd,” he said.
Curtis said he looks for every opportunity to improve his cattle and show knowledge, and has gotten great advice from his grandfather, who used to raise Red Angus, from his sister’s boyfriend, judges and even Larry Ellison himself.
Even though Curtis’ mom claims he listens well to judges and friends with showing experience, the best advice for showing comes from his Grandpa David, Curtis said. “It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it,” he quoted his grandpa from memory. Curtis said one time he forgot his show stick and had to borrow one, at the Lawrence County Fair. He’s kept this advice in the back of his mind ever since.
Curtis’ management routine for his heifers includes buying 200 lbs. of Richland mix from the Grovespring MFA for his three show cattle. He feeds Savannah morning and night, has a 7-8 acre pasture that she can graze and even lets her in the yard on a lead rope, to prepare her for show.
However, showing wasn’t the only thing on Curtis’ mind when he applied to the Youth Heifer Donation Program. Curtis’ constant eye on the future motivated his interest in the program. “For me, it’s not about showing and winning now. If I show good now, 20 years from now I’ll have a 10-15 year head start on other breeders,” he said. Not only does Curtis plan to have a Red Angus herd on a farm someday, but he also plans to attend College of the Ozarks to become an agriculture teacher.
As for the future of the program that gave Curtis this opportunity, Larry hopes that other breeders will get involved. “Hopefully, the program will continue. Curtis was required to agree to donating the first heifer his heifer has back to the foundation, so that will help. We are also encouraging other breeds to do the same to get more heifers out with other kids,” he said.
So far this show season, Curtis has placed grand champion in the ‘all-other-breeds’ classes at the Ash Grove, Willard and Morrisville livestock shows, and Intermediate Showmanship and Grand Champion Red Angus Heifer at Grovespring’s Show-Me Ozarks Youth Fair.
