This edition of A Few Minutes is with Kalen Poe from Manhattan, Kansas, the market judge for the Nebraska State Fair FFA Market Lamb Show. Enjoy reading our candid interview with Mr. Kalen Poe and be sure to check back for more state fair judge interviews!
Give a brief description of yourself, your family, where you grew up, where you received your education, and some of your personal showing experiences.
I grew up on a large farming operation in central Indiana. We run about 1200 acres of row crops and 550 mature ewes. I partner in our family’s nearly 70 year old purebred Hampshire operation specializing in registered seedstock and club lambs. My oldest brother Stan is the current American Hampshire Association President and manages the farm. My father Stan Sr. retired from Elanco Animal Health in 2002 and is now back to being a full-time farmer. Keegan, my middle brother is a field representative for Indiana Farm Bureau and runs a small registered Simmental cow herd. Cameron, my youngest brother is in public relations for Keeneland Thoroughbred Racing & Sales in Lexington, KY and still travels home to help with our annual sales. Mom is the farm’s key records manager and the glue that holds us all together. I attended Connors State College in Warner, OK on a livestock judging scholarship for two years. From there, I transferred to Texas A&M University and was on the livestock judging team and graduated in 2008. I am currently working on a master’s degree in Swine Nutrition at Kansas State University and am the sheep center manager.
What do you think have been the most significant changes in the junior livestock industry? How close do you think the commercial industry is to the junior livestock showing industry?
I have definitely noticed the number of junior exhibitors in the sheep industry has greatly increased. Even judging some “small” county fairs this past summer there has been 200 some head of lambs and some really high quality ones at that. It’s also apparent that the styles of sheep have definitely changed and I think for the better. The type of sheep winning today isn’t the type I was successful with when I showed, which wasn’t long ago. I showed from 1995-2004 and even then we were sort-of coming out of the blue, freaky muscled sheep and making them bigger bodied and more practical. At the end of my career the sheep winning everywhere don’t compare to what is out there today. I think it’s a direct reflection of how great breeders have adapted, changed and made sheep better over the years. In result, I believe we are as close to the commercial industry as we’ve been in years, but again I still would prefer that all of our champion lambs hold the values of structure, rib, and body to perform in the feedlot.
What is your preference regarding ideal size, weight, and finish for a 1st of September State Fair?
I’ll take a sheep that is proportional in his age and frame size. I don’t like tall sheep or excessively small sheep. I want a sheep that’s 135-145 pounds and is carrying .2-.3 backfat that’s “big enough”.
What grooming and fitting methods do you prefer? What is one of your pet peeves?
I prefer lambs where the exhibitors have been conscious about hide and hair health. I like a clean, fresh and hydrated feel to their skin and if leg wool is present I like it to be blended, blocked, and shaped below the joints. Pet peeves would be excessive paint, and wool left above the joints and flank wool. I think it makes them look course jointed.
When it comes down to a close placing would you rather handle them or watch them walk?
Definitely watch them walk, I frequently sort my top 5 in a class on their skeleton alone. If they made it to the top 5, typically they are plenty acceptable in muscle and finish. As a breeder, I believe you can make sheep more powerful in one shot, it’s a lot harder to make them correct. Sure, it’s a popular argument that “this is a market show and all the sounder they need to be is to get themselves across a scale”. I disagree, if we select sheep on a single trait the quality of stock would greatly decrease. These are market wethers but they all have moms and dads in the industry that should possess all the right pieces of production efficiency, so why can’t the market sheep do the same?
What important life skills do you feel the junior show program teaches?
The life skills from a junior livestock program are always touched on in all the grand championship speeches by any judge. But that’s a good thing, because we should never stray from these principles. Quoting a popular judge I witnessed at one time, he said “being in the business we should always keep in mind that we use our livestock to raise our kids, not our kids to raise our livestock”. I strongly agree, we all need to strive to make better livestock but it’s only to support the fact of making better kids. Without the kids, we wouldn’t have much of a show industry. Probably the two most important words I learned at a young age were “class” and “we”, we win with class and we lose with class (as a family). Teaching young people about professionalism, competition, commitment, and of course the proper husbandry of livestock are all great assets to life lessons as we bring up young ones in a livestock program.
What was your most memorable judging or showing experience?
It would have to be this past June when I was invited to Mexico to put on a program for the National Sheep Breeders Association. It was a three day event where we instructed a course on breed standards, selection criteria, and emphasis on judging priorities for a group of prospective show judges and breeders in Mexico.
Here’s a couple fun ones…
What is your favorite sports team?
THE FIGHTIN’ TEXAS AGGIES!!!
What is your favorite buck of all time? And Why?
Hopefully one we have in the pen this year!
What is one place you wish to go to before you die?
Australia/New Zealand
Thanks Kalen for your time!
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