Mickenzie Marks swung open the cattle gate Tuesday, Aug. 28, grabbed Lassie’s halter and led her out of the pen. With gentle force she tugged on the rope to guide the heifer around the small barn and then practiced keeping her still.
“I work with her on the halter and sort of just hold her like this for long periods of time so she knows what it’s like to be in the show,” Mickenzie said. “I also work with the show stick, which is what we use in the show to sort of keep them calm while they’re just standing there.”
Mickenzie, 15, of Hermiston, is hitting the road with Lassie to the annual Northern International Livestock Exposition, Oct. 11-19, in Billings, Montana. She is one of 25 young members who are part of the 2024 NILE Merit Heifer Class.
And she is the only recipient from Oregon in the class.
NILE is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of the livestock industry, agriculture education and preserving the Western lifestyle. NILE’s Merit Heifer Program helps youths get a start in the beef cattle business. Youths between 12 and 16 years as of June 30 of the given year and are members of 4-H or Future Farmers of America may apply. The nonprofit works with livestock producers to donate cattle to the program’s participants.
NILE requires applicants for the Merit Heifer Class to submit a personal essay, three reference letters, a $25 junior membership fee and a three to five minutes YouTube video. The video must be voiced by the applicant and provide an introduction, goals and objectives, facility tour and 4-H/FFA projects.
Each participant takes care of a donated heifer for one year. Recipients of NILE are traveling across America to showcase their expertise on how they have raised their cattle during the project.
Kessler Angus, of Milton-Freewater, donated Lassie, a 1 ½-year-old purebred black Angus heifer, to the program for Mickenzie. She said Kessler Angus selected Lassie because she has a good lineage and would be a good fit for her.
“I just went and picked her up, and got a little bit of information about their facilities,” Mickenzie said. “We toured their facilities and saw all the products that they used on their ranching. Then we took her home.”
Mickenzie said it costs $300-$500 a month for hay and grain to feed Lassie, which she pays out of her own pocket.
According to NILE, during the program, participants are responsible for raising the heifer, arranging for her bred, completing the record keeping procedure and bringing the animal back one year later as a bred replacement heifer for exhibit at the NILE Stock Show.
Mickenzie and the other program participants own their heifer jointly with NILE until the completion of the program, at which time NILE officials will sign off and the participant will take full ownership of the heifer.
Unlike a livestock auction at a county fair, the youths keep their cattle to get a leg up on starting their own herd and breeding cows.
A few yards away from the tiny cattle pen where she and Lassie worked was a large herd of cows in a corral. Mickenzie’s’ parents, Sara and Troy Marks, raise commercial cattle.
Mickenzie also lives and breathes raising cattle. Since kindergarten she has been a part of 4-H. Now she is involved in the 4-H livestock program and the Hermiston FFA Chapter.
“Mickenzie wants to work on raising cattle to train and sell to younger members,” her mothers, Sara, said. “She wants to be a role model and a leader. It’s just a cool way for her to work on building her herd and develop her own program.”
Although Mickenzie appeared to be ready for the event, she expressed some nervousness about how Lassie may behave after a 12 hour drive to Montana because she is the type of heifer that has a tendency to be opinionated about what she does and doesn’t want to do.
Mickenzie and Lassie will leave Oct. 16 to the cattle show with her grandparents. Her mother, sister and friends will meet up with them Oct. 18 in Montana. After the event the whole family plans to drive back together.
“I’m excited to go to Montana again,” Mickenzie said. “We went last year just to check the format, because it’s very different from our county fair because it’s a bigger show. So I’m excited to get the opportunity to show there and to put my name out there so maybe people will know who I am.”
The Northern International Livestock Exposition will announce results of its livestock show Oct. 18.
Congratulations McKenzie
Congrats