Farm Family of the Year still hard at work
Slippery Rock’s Teets family won the Eagle Bowl at last year’s Butler Farm Show, but they didn’t take the award as cause for relaxation.
The prestigious Eagle Bowl has been handed out only 68 times before and honors the farm show participants with the biggest presence and impact. The Teets family decided to try for the award last year after encouragement from others at the Farm Show who saw the Teets’ involvement.
It’s no surprise that the Teets family won because Jodi, Joshua, Colt and Morgan Teets manage their entire 450-acre farm, each diligently taking part in the chores and effort, and Colt and Morgan are both active members in 4-H.
Morgan Teets, the 16-year-old daughter of Jodi and Joshua Teets, spends dusk to dawn working with her animals.
“I get up every morning, I feed and then I work every animal until nighttime, and then I feed again, then I go to bed,” Morgan said, detailing her day-to-day routine on the family farm.
Colt Teets, 18, stays busy as well through his management of the family cow barn. He takes care of 100 cows — all by himself.
In addition to his portion of farm work, husband and father Joshua Teets runs a ferrier business, which includes trimming horses’ hooves.
So, everyday life on the Teets family farm is packed full. Everyone stays regimented to keep up their share, but farm show season heightens the activity.
This is Morgan’s eighth year participating in 4-H, so she knows exactly how to manage the additional work it takes to raise award-winning animals.
“You’ve got to put the work in, and you’ve got to stay consistent,” Morgan said.
She and her brother Colt, who has participated in 4-H for the last 10 years, have also come to understand what judges look for and what it takes to be a good showman in the ring.
“Good showmanship is knowing how to move your animal around the ring, and obviously you want to look nice. You want to look presentable,” Morgan said.
Morgan also said judges look for animals that can walk and stay clean. They’re looking for “one that shines.”
The Teets family is most excited about their pigs this year. They’ve traveled all over Pennsylvania and Ohio with their pigs and lambs participating in Jackpot shows and rodeos. They use a ‘divide and conquer’ mentality because Morgan mainly takes care of the Showmanship portion while Colt participates in other events like wrestling steers and tractor handling.
Joshua Teet, Colt and Morgan’s father, grew up taking care of animals and helping his friends at 4-H shows, so he’s familiar with 4-H technicalities. He said the proper term for wrestling steers is chute dogging.
The Teets were at the Big Butler Fair over the Fourth of July to practice with their lambs.
“It’s more like a practice run. A lot of people take their animals just to get them in the ring and get the experience,” Morgan said about her time at the fair.
The entire family spends a lot of time working on the farm and in agriculture.
In fact, Morgan is a member of the FFA program at Moniteau where she’ll be entering her sophomore year. She enjoys the trips the club goes on, meeting new people and learning about agriculture.
“We debate agriculture legislation in the branches and the process they’re going through,” Morgan said.
Colt plans to graduate through Moniteau’s cyber school program.This allows him to spend more time working the farm and participating in rodeos year-round.
Colt and Morgan’s unyielding commitment to their farm lifestyle has so far paid off, and they are excited for the Farm Show as a conclusion to the show season. Even though the family can’t win the Eagle Bowl two years in a row they’re still bringing a hefty contribution.
“I have two lambs, two pigs and then two steers,” Colt said. He has to fill out 4-H project books for each species, and his favorite is the lambs because he likes to handle them most.
Morgan and Colt like to overflow their project books with pictures of their animals for a visual representation of their work.
“We try to add lots of pictures,” said Jodi Teets, Morgan and Colt’s mother.
“If we have extras we’ll just put them on the back,” Morgan said.
Morgan is also bringing several different species and hopes she can be as successful as last year when she won Grand Champion for her hogs. But that’s not the only reason she is excited to participate.
“I go in to be with my friends and have fun, but I like to bring home awards, too,” Morgan said.
She said it’s nice to feel recognized for the effort she puts in year-round with her animals, but meeting new people and spending time with friends is an additionally rewarding experience.
