Load ‘Em Up

Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale consignors, the Tarr family, have values that start with a cow and come together in the pasture, providing the strong foundation of legacy, cattle and hope.

By Olivia Hoots

Can you smell the old red brick and wood chips, or picture smiles on familiar faces? Does the atmosphere makes you feel nostalgic, or you are there to see if you can top the sale? Whatever it may be, the Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale is a long-held tradition among producers in our state. If there is one event at the Illinois Beef Expo seen in the eyes of many cattle producers as one they must not miss, it is the one that has spanned over 30 years. Some families have joined the sale in the last few years, yet others, such as the Tarr brothers of Newton, have stood the test of time. The Tarr family has been a constant to the sale – whether with their consignments or their dedication to the sale’s vitality, they have been there to support it, displaying their virtues founded in family, cattle and hope.

Fox Creek Cattle, the Tarr’s Simmental and SimAngus operation, spans over 70 years since Kendall Tarr first inherited 20 Hereford cows. The operation has grown and changed since then, but the purpose of it never will. Today they have on average 55 head of predominantly Simmental or SimGenetic cattle, with about 1,000 acres of row crop ground.

Kendall and his wife, Zana, raised four sons in the business. Their oldest son Brad works for the Jasper County Soil and Water Conservation District and focuses on the row crop side and usually does morning chores, while the second oldest, Stan, used to do much of the record keeping and breeding decisions. Stan passed away in late 2022, but his wife and kids still have cattle in the Fox Creek Cattle program; Travis willingly took over his tasks to keep the operation going. The two youngest sons, Travis and Brock, are agriculture teachers and FFA advisors at Newton High School, with Travis celebrating his 25th year of teaching this year. They each have their own roles on the farm from summer baling to winter calving. The “patriarch,” Kendall, is 85 and still gets out to let his sons know if he sees anything going awry. Yet, still everyone gathers to move cattle or on vaccination days.

With off-farm jobs, the family claims their cattle as an “overgrown 4-H project.” It was about 1981 when Brad and Stan went with their dad to pick up their first Simmental bulls in Tennessee. That’s about the same time the youngest son, Brock, was born. He says the breed is what he has known all his life. “I remember going up when I was little and just being freezing cold,” Brock says, remembering winter trips to the farm.

Everyday care of the cattle is divided among many, even the nine grandchildren. Brad and his wife, Amy, have two sons: Nick, who often helps with cattle, and Mitchell, who is an ag teacher in Beecher City. Stan and his wife Jennifer’s daughter, Emerson, just started college at Kansas State University and their son, Jasper, is a senior in high school. Travis and his wife, Amy, have two boys; Meyer, who is in high school, and Marshall, who is just out of high school, plus their daughter, Marlee, who is in eighth grade. Brock and his wife Amanda’s son, Turner, is a sophomore in high school and their daughter Riley is in seventh grade.

“When I say we all work on it, we all do,” Travis says. Sometimes evening chores are as simple as getting the two junior-high aged cousins together to do them. “We all have off-farm jobs so there has to be a lot of moving pieces to make the whole thing work,” Travis says. Yet nothing could stop the Tarr operation; each of the kids pitch in their time to keep the whole thing going.

Brock believes in the principle that sometimes you pick up the slack for someone else knowing they will turn around and pick up the slack for you at another time. “I don’t think my dad thought years ago when he bought these cattle that it would lead to what it has for us as a family,” he says.

Performance Tested

The Tarr family has been in the IPT Bull Sale for over 25 years. Brad says they first started selling them because it was an outlet that would work in a time when it was difficult to sell bulls east of the Mississippi. They pride themselves on having a few select bulls that complement their cows to fit the mold of other high-end genetic packages in the industry.

“We have been doing this a long time,” Travis says. “We have tried to stay the course and not follow a lot of trends, and just tried to have cattle that would fit in the show ring."

They also sell heifers in Curt Rincker’s Illini Elite sale, which occurs in Shelbyville in September. Here they sell some open show heifers with the hope some juniors will have success at the county, state and national show levels. For Brock, the show industry seems too competitive, but they “strive to make good, consistent, cattle that can go in the show ring but then can also go home and make good cows and bulls for the people that purchase them.”

“The Tarr family have been long-time participants in the IPT sale and have always seen the value of providing their customers with economically important traits including calving ease, weaning and yearling weights and, of course, carcass traits,” says Rincker. “What has made their cattle also look enticing to buyers is their personal emphasis on quality traits including structural soundness, shape, and balance. It provides the complete package to buyers. They are a great family and are passionate about quality!”

Yet, Travis explains their goal with performance cattle is to make animals to sell in the IPT Bull Sale that can “seedstock” for buyers, yet perform, grow and are functional overall.

“To do that we are not always chasing the trendy show winners, but we are also not blindly looking at EPDs,” Travis says. “We are trying to have a phenotype that is good and acceptable to our customers, then also getting some genetic values that people can utilize and cattle that can perform at a real-world kind of commercial level.”

The family usually enters two to three bulls, taking pride in their usual repeat customers who know that their Tarr bulls “go to work for them.” Brock believes in making functional, stout, sound and “just good” stock.

According to Travis, they breed cows with intent to make bulls that have genetic value to hit the mark for the bull sale, but also have the phenotype to go with it.

Last year’s bull stands out to Travis, it was a “sweet spot” of a bull. “He was in the top end of the bull sale in genetic value,” he says. “That is the kind of critter we are trying to make. We know customers here in Illinois and the Midwest do not just follow the EPDs, they want a bull that looks the part.”

A Bull Sale Memorial

The people who live their lives to make others stand out are often the most admired in an industry like this one. Much like the second oldest brother, Stan Tarr. “Stan’s impact was pretty broad-reaching, whether it be the bull sale or Simmental cattle in general, his community, his career –people just knew and respected him,” Travis says.

“We do not get to pick our time, but mom and dad were blown away by his services and the amount of people, they did not realize how big his circle was,” Brock says.

Those within the IPT Bull Sale were no-less appreciative of the life of Stan Tarr. Travis says he encouraged the family to chase elite genetics, find bulls that would fit well in the IPT sale, while also displaying his leadership. Their whole family has been a constant throughout the history of the sale, making Stan and his brothers a source of guidance when questions or changes arose.

Stan’s impact at the IPT Sale left a lasting impression, leading sale manager, Travis Meteer, to gift the family with a memorial at the February 2023 sale.

“I think the memorial showed his impact on the beef industry, in how we have been there through a lot of the changes and growth in the beef industry in Illinois,” Travis Tarr says.

Brock agrees. “It has been pretty special the number of awards and memorials that Stan has received in the last year, whether it was Simmental, IPT, or at Louisville at the national judging contest,” he says.

The family will continue Stan’s legacy to the sale this year with two consignments. The first one is a moderate, nicely built bull, according to Travis. They will also consign a January bull, this one being the one Travis is most excited about. “He is double bred for some big-time genetics,” he says. “That bull has got a little more growth, a little more stretch – he is super sound.”

The Purpose of the Cattle

Some may wonder why the Tarr family stays in the cattle business. They all have off-farm jobs after all. The truth is cattle are their family project, a reason to get together often.

The term “Tarrnation” may be the best example of the family’s dedication to one another. Travis was the lone leader of the Tarr grandkid pack at a show years ago when Doug Parks coined the phrase. It is a phrase that stuck around for a while and always reminded them of their purpose in having cattle.

Travis is passionate about putting family, especially all the Tarr kids, above the cattle. For him, cattle are the thing that has always brought everyone to the farm and shows and has kept everyone together.

Brock recalls running around with his brother when they were teenagers to the various county fairs; they did it for their summer income. “That was invaluable,” Brock says, recalling the 28 head they took to a county fair at the ages of 14 and 18 when their dad would turn them loose at the fair. Their experiences made them want to give similar ones to their own kids.

Now those kids are growing up. “We are now getting ready for the second generation of people in our family who are hitting their twenties,” Travis says. They each have hope the cattle operation will continue.

Brock says it is not about making money, but rather about a sense of accomplishment. The legacy of working hard on the farm and the virtue of hope from day-to-day will be passed on to Tarr generations to come through long winter days and, of course, enjoying another IPT sale. This family is always there to show support for their family, their communities, and the Illinois cattle industry.

“I do not know if there would be anything that could completely bust it up. If we ever felt like we were bickering over cattle so much that it was causing problems, load ‘em up,” Brock says, a testament to how the Tarr family chooses family every time, but they also know cattle are what ultimately bring them together time and time again. “Family is more important than a cow, but I think a cow is what has made our family so tight and been the glue.”

If the cattle are ever what divides any of us, I hope we could say “load ‘em up” with as much ease as Brock Tarr. May it never be.

The Illinois Performance Tested Bull sale will be held on February 22 at 11:00 a.m. in the Artisans building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds.