Kari Winslow looks toward the Calapooia River from the back porch of her family’s home on Crawfordsville Drive and talks about one of her 4H cows.
“She weighs 1,800 pounds and she had a bull calf that weighed 800 pounds at six months,” Winslow says with pride.
Just 18, Winslow knows her stuff when it comes to livestock. The daughter of Butch and Karen Winslow recently won several honors at the Linn County Fair, including being named Reserve Master Showman.
“Kari is a mentor to 4H kids,” her mom said. “She spends a lot of time helping the other kids. She’s what a person thinks of when someone says 4H.”
It was local farmer Ed Graville who introduced Winslow to the 4H program.
“From the time I could walk Ed told me I could pick out anyone of his sheep for my project,” Winslow said. That time came in 1992 when she was in the fourth grade.
“My cousins, Tami and Pam Winslow were all active in 4H as well,” Winslow said. “It’s been lots of fun. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve met so many great people.”
Five years ago Winslow’s 4H program branched out from sheep to include polled Herefords.
“I got tired of bending over all the time,” she said with a laugh about the switch from showing sheep to 1,200 pound cattle.
“I wanted to show polled Herefords because I like their disposition,” Winslow said. “My parents also liked looking at the white-faced calves.”
Although her cattle herd isn’t large, it has been quite successful based around the bull Trifecta.
Her cow, Arianne, has produced several award-winning offspring including the champion and reserve champion cow, and the best polled Hereford herd.
Winslow’s herd include two cow-calf pairs and one heifer. She also owned a bull, Hunter, that was the second high selling polled Hereford bull at the Hermiston bull test station.
4H has allowed Winslow to build her leadership skills.
She has been president of the Calapooia Critters 4H club, has served on the Linn County and State Executive Councils and was 4H liaison to the fair board.
Her skills led to a two year stint as president of the Junior Polled Hereford Association. A week before the Linn County Fair, Winslow and her dad were in Billings, Montana for the national show.
“There were 900 head of cattle there,” Winslow said. “It was very impressive. We had lots of fun and saw some tremendous cattle.”
Winslow credits her 4H club leaders, Ron Blackwell and Sudi Lamb, with her success in the showring.
“Ron and Sudi spent a lot of time with me. We’d work animals one day a month. It finally paid off,” Winslow said.
She also agrees with her mom that to be successful in 4H, parental involvement is a must.
A recent SHHS graduate, Winslow works as a veterinary assistant with Dr. David Larson. She plans to enter LBCC this fall to study biological sciences.
“I’m not sure what I want to do, whether it will be in human health or animal health, but I do know I want to keep raising cattle,” Winslow said.
Winslow shares of her love of animals and 4H with her sister, Tera, a junior at SHHS. The two have shared before-school chores for years. Their dad has also helped out a great deal, they said.
“I guess if I could have done anything different, I would have tried projects in some other areas,” Winslow said. “I barely scratched the surface of what’s available in 4H but I didn’t have much time left after working with the animals.”
Winslow said she doesn’t plan to show anything at the state fair but will take some animals to the Lane County Fair in Eugene.
“It pays better,” she said with a laugh.