Family has been exhibiting dairy cows at the Kentucky State Fair for four generations
The Miller family of Shelby County has been exhibiting dairy cows at the Kentucky State Fair for four generations, keeping history alive.
The colorful award ribbons hanging on the Miller family’s back door symbolize a summer of hard work for John Luke and Henry.
A black-and-white snapshot of her great-grandfather holding an old silver tray surrounded by similar ribbons hints at a much deeper family heritage.
In the weeks before Johnny Miller’s death in July, his family took the 84-year-old wheelchair-bound man to the Shelby County Fair so he could watch his great-grandchildren show dairy cattle, just as three generations of Millers had done before them. It’s a tradition rooted in hard work and responsibility that Johnny unknowingly started in the 1950s when an FFA teacher at Waddy High School thought he might have a talent for it.
As a child, he owned one of the many dairy farms that once existed in the area and passed on the art of dairying to his children and grandchildren, who went on to win a collection of trophies at the Kentucky State Fair and other national competitions.
However, operating a small dairy farm of 72 cows became less and less profitable with each passing year, and the Millers stopped milking in 1996. As once-popular family-run dairies began to die out across the region in the late 20th century, Johnny’s grandson John Mark developed as much a dislike for cattle shows as he did for sour milk.
If he couldn’t run his own dairy, he didn’t want to perform.
That changed when his sons, John Luke and Henry, were born.
After some prodding from his wife, Amy Jo, John Mark realized that he wanted to pass on the values he had learned through competitive sports to his children, even if it wouldn’t necessarily lead to them owning their own dairy farm.
“We wanted the kids to grow up knowing how to work, and we wanted to give them a project where their effort is critical,” Amy Jo told the Courier Journal ahead of the 120th Kentucky State Fair.
For the past few weeks, John Luke (11) and Henry (10) have been practicing showmanship at the Kentucky Fair, constantly collecting ribbons from the chain at the door. Their younger brothers Everett (8) and Boone (6) are too young to participate in 4-H, but they have already shown interest in children’s shows.
Last Wednesday, the Millers loaded their heifers into a trailer, stocked up on feed, prepared their show cows and traveled 50 miles to Louisville for the Kentucky State Fair. They set up camp in the barn so they could stay close to the cows before the competition.
The boys were keen to see their hard work pay off in the show ring.
And all the time, her parents were waiting for a reward that was greater than trophies and ribbons.
“I want them to learn to lose gracefully and win gracefully,” John Mark said. “Sometimes you lose in life. If you throw a tantrum, that’s not good for life either. There are some life lessons in that.”
“Watching him fidget”
The first time John Mark stood on the sidelines while Henry was in the show ring, he could hardly watch.
He noticed that his son was distracted. Last summer, the nine-year-old couldn’t focus his attention on the judge. He was restless and constantly searching for a girl he thought was cute.
This obvious fear brought things full circle for John Mark’s father, who had experienced similar nervousness three decades earlier.
“It gave me a lot of joy to watch him fidget because I had done the exact same thing,” Mark said of watching his son watch his grandchildren.
Despite that rocky start, Henry had gotten the hang of it by the end of last summer and ended up winning his division at the 2023 Kentucky State Fair.
Much of the work involved in showing happens long before the cows are loaded into the trailer. Taming a heifer so that she can be led on a rope with her head held high takes time and patience, the Millers said. Her coat must be trimmed and her hooves must be trimmed. It’s almost like preparing for a cow beauty pageant.
“It teaches so much, and it’s so much joy and pleasure and so much hard work,” said Brenda, the late Johnny’s wife. “It really is, but it’s worth every penny.”
Still, the Millers always had a lot of fun. They all agree that Johnny was the kind of man who could make even the most difficult and unpleasant work a pleasure. That was remarkable, because he grew up in a generation that had to work hard on the farm to survive. In the early 1900s, there was no time or means to load animals into trailers and take them to shows.
“It spoke for itself that he saw the value in it, because his parents were just working,” John Mark said. “It wasn’t much fun. He saw the value in kids being able to do this.”
Exhibiting means something different to everyone in the family, and Johnny’s children have been interested in very different aspects of it.
His daughter, Audrey Armstrong, had a special gift for building relationships with animals.
Her favorite show cow, Alice, accompanied her everywhere and helped her win several national awards. Alice became so well-known on the show circuit that she could have financed her first car with her sales.
She wouldn’t do it.
“The calves become your family,” Audrey explained, still crying at the thought years later. “I couldn’t sell them. It’s like selling a family member.”
Mark has always focused on the business aspect of the shows and building relationships with the people involved. The competitive aspect is tough, he explained, and there’s no doubt that when you step into the show ring, you’re there to beat your friends and neighbors. At the same time, that collective work and effort lingers and creates a bond that lasts well beyond the sport.
“They may be your enemy in the ring, but when you die, they’ll be there,” Mark said. “I think that’s why the show rings are full of kids and people, even though there are no more dairies, because they know that.”
“It gets into your blood”
Driving through Shelby County, you’ll see shuttered dairy stores scattered throughout the countryside. There were once more than 400 dairies in the area, but today the Millers know of only one.
Living at Miller‘John Mark’s farm in Shelby County looks very different from those of generations before. There are 32 cattle and 10 dairy cows on the land, but John Mark works at AT&T during the day. Only two of the dairy cows have had calves and are able to produce milk, meaning his wife, Amy Jo, has enough milk to make homemade strawberry ice cream, but not enough to run a business.
If it were up to the boys, they would keep every cow for milking. In this respect, they are taking after their great aunt Audrey and building a strong bond with the animals. Even so, John Mark says he is already pushing his comfort zone with the workload of milking the two.
To be honest, Audrey often wishes she had another calf to care for, but the upkeep is just too much and Mark can hardly imagine how his grandchildren could ever give a fifth generation of Millers the same chance.
“To be honest, the likelihood of this continuing after their generation is vanishingly small. I can’t imagine it,” Mark said of his grandchildren. “John Mark and Amy Jo have a farm, they live in the country and they can do this with great effort and expense. It’s sad, but that’s the world we live in.”
John Mark estimates that 90 percent of the kids he performed with in the 1980s came from dairy families. With dairies closing over the past three decades, that’s probably not the case today. Still, the stands at the Shelby County Fair this June were packed with parents and grandparents cheering on the dairy show and carrying on that legacy, just like the Millers.
“When the dairies closed, we really thought there would be no one left to show up,” said John Mark. “But I guess it gets in your blood.”
And when Johnny watched his great-grandchildren in the show ring from his wheelchair in June, it was more than proof of that.
“When I see these young men perform, I’m so proud of them,” Brenda said. “And John was so proud of them, too.”
Columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful and sometimes a little weird. If you have something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description, she wants to hear from you. Say hi at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram at @MaggieMenderski.
