OKLAHOMA DEXTER CATTLE ASSOCIATION

Simon Teel has been working with cattle all of his life on his family’s ranch. But he recently
 raised a cow that is more special than the others, John Henry.

John Henry, a Dexter steer, was born on June 15, 2017, one day after the Teel house burned
down and the family lost everything they owned. The family was on their way back from a
show in Texas when they got the call.

During clean-up the next day, Simon and his Grandpa took a break to water the cattle and
noticed that Simon’s show heifer, Winner, was in labor. They stepped in to help her as she
 was having some difficulties, and John Henry was born.

“John Henry is extra special to us, in the fact that he brought us hope that things
 will be fine and life will go on as normal,” said Jennifer Teel, Simon’s mother.

Simon has been showing cattle for three years and is a member of Sperry’s 4-H Club.
 John Henry has since been shown in a few cattle shows. He and his mother, Winner,
were shown as a cow/calf pair at the Tulsa State Fair winning 5th place.
 At the Missouri Dexter Breeders Association Show they also shown as a cow/calf pair and
placed 3rd. John Henry was also entered into the Junior Bull Show where he placed 4th.

Simon started showing cattle with Dexters then added a full blood Limousine. He has now
added longhorns, which is mainly what is raised on the family farm.

“I love everything that goes along with living on the farm/ranch life from baling the hay, feeding the cattle, riding the horses, and just being out in the country,” Simon said.

“John Henry needed a very special place for his forever home,” Jennifer said. Simon decided he wanted to donate the steer.

We live in Osage County and we wanted to find somewhere within the county for him to go and let others see him,” he said. “Dexter cattle are kind of new to this area and I wanted to let others know about them.”

The Teel’s contacted Woolaroc and they were excited to take John Henry as part of their petting zoo. “My parents and I have already talked about making a trip up there once the petting zoo is open,” Simon said.  

Managing Editor Lindsey Renuard

Lindsey is the managing editor for the Skiatook Journal. She holds an M.A in English from the University of Central Oklahoma. Prior to the start of her news career in 2011, Renuard was a professor of English at the University of Central Oklahoma.

OYE 2018 is now history.  For show results see the OYE page.
Oklahoma Youth Expo or OYE as been going on for nearly a century, the youth of the state of Oklahoma have come to Oklahoma City to compete with the best livestock their generation has to offer. In the 1920's and the 1930's the shows formal title was "The Oklahoma City Fat Stock Show." 
Today, the Oklahoma Youth Expo is recognized as the largest youth event in the state of Oklahoma. The livestock show brings over 7,000 exhibitors along with their educators and families from all of Oklahoma's 77 counties. 
2018 is the third year that the Dexter Breed has been showing at OYE.  The Oklahoma Dexter Cattle Association led by the then President of the association, Deb Hawkins, and many ODCA members decided to take our wonderful breed of cattle to OYE.  This year 2018 has been our biggest and best show yet.  It was headed by our ODCA president,  Joe Reynolds,  with the support of  many members.   
This wonderful event is  funded by the ODCA with the help of the ADCA.  This year we had the added bonus of having our outstanding Youth Director, Elissa Emmons, travel from way down there in Texas to Oklahoma City to help us out.  What a pleasure it was to see those kids receive their ribbons, money envelopes and prizes from Elissa.  Thank you to the ADCA from us here in Oklahoma