Looking Back: The Sni-A-Bar Farm Show Herd

by Marcia Napier Grain Valley Historical Society

While much has been written about the famous show cattle at Sni-A-Bar, the history shared here is the most difficult for me to summarize. Perhaps because I heard so many stories of Sni-A-Bar cattle over the first 50 years of my life, I have difficulty knowing what would be of interest to readers of the News. My father came to Grain Valley with his family in 1922. My grandfather, James Napier, had been hired as herdsman to development the second part of Mr. Nelson’s farms, the purebred herd. His job was to select the cattle and manage their feeding and care while employing breeding practices to improve the quality of these beef cattle.

From the herd, cattle were selected to be shown at fairs and exhibitions across the United States and Canada. During the first two or three years, the number of state fairs and exhibitions they attended was limited until a championship herd could be assembled.

By 1925, they were ready to compete with the best Shorthorn breeders in the United States and Canada, and over the next twenty-years Sni-A-Bar became the most famous Shorthorn herd in the United States and maybe the world.

My grandfather was promoted to Manager of both farms and several different Scotsman followed in the role of herdsman. Eventually my father assumed the role in 1936. He was only 23 and the youngest herdsman on the show circuit at the time.

The circuit began at the Ogdon (Utah) Livestock Show in January. Five to sixmen from Sni-A-Bar traveled with the cattle. From Ogden it was on to the National Western Stock Show in Denver, the Houston Fat Stock Show, the Southwestern International Livestock Show and Rodeo In El Paso, and the Shorthorn Congress in Chicago; followed by a few shows in Canada, including the Canadian National in Toronto, Ontario.

During the summer months they exhibited at state fairs throughout the Midwest and concluded in the fall with the American Royal in Kansas City and the International Livestock Show in Chicago. In total they spent about twenty-six weeks on the road.

In those days, “on the road” meant riding in a railroad box car. At the start of the season a box car would be left off on the siding in Grain Valley. Workers from the farm would modify the then wooden box car for the season ahead. The fifth, ninth and fourteenth vertical boards were removed. These openings provided for air circulation. They would also insert supports for the upper deck.

The deck was solid and extended the length of the box car, except at the ends. The open ends provided a way for the men to move between decks and to increase air circulation.

On the lower deck, up to 33 head of show cattle were kept. They were tied head to tail, not sideways. Cattle tied sideways could easily fall with quick starts or stops.

The upper deck is where the men worked and slept or just looked out the open side doors at the passing scenery. Also, on the upper deck was feed, water, equipment and the human food, which they cooked and ate on the train.

Occasionally, the train would stop at a railroad division point and the men had time to eat in a restaurant. Luckily the cattle gave off heat to help the men stay a bit warner. One winter they lucked out when the railroad furnished them with a steam heated railway express car.

In recent years exhibitors arrive at the fair the day before show day and leave after the show. Before the 1980’s you took your cattle from one show to the next, usually Friday to Friday, and the cattle were on exhibit all day, every day.

A typical work day was up at dawn (or before) to take your cattle to the wash rack for daily cleaning. When you got them to the stalls in the barn they were brushed and fed. Throughout the day you were cleaning stalls and keeping your tack in repair.

The cattle were fed in the early evening and at night they were tied outside. That’s when the crew got to clean the stalls (and dispose of the manure!), spread fresh straw and get ready for another day. Tying out the cattle at night also help keep them fresher.

Show day was twice as busy. Each animal had to be groomed and ready when the class was called. When you exhibited thirty or more head of cattle, it took “all hands on deck” to get the animals ready for the show ring.

From time on the wash rack and the rub-down with a mixture of alcohol and either mineral or olive oil for a shiny coat to the curry comb squiggles before brushing up the hair on their side and fluffing their tails, every animal was made to look its best.

Each animal was shown individually, but some made several trips to the arena as part of a pair, best three bulls or females, best ten head bred by the exhibitor to name a few. For the fortunate exhibitors like Sni-A-Bar, the first-place finish in each class returned for the selection of grand champion.

There isn’t enough space to write about the famous cattle that made up the Sni-A-Bar herd, but I will mention two animals that were bred and born on the farm.

Sni-A-Bar Control and Princesses Susanna, both from the first crop of calves by Edellyn Campeon Mercury, were grand champions as senior calves in every show ring where they competed in 1945, just before the dispersion sale.

It should be noted that Sni-A-Bar Farms were part of a trust, so all of the monies for the various experiments and the show herd came from the private funds provide by William Rockhill Nelson. I will close with a short quotation from a letter of appreciation written by F. W. Harding, on the occasion of the end of the Trust in May, 1945.

“During the 25 years I was secretary of the American Shorthorn Breeders Association, I frequently referred to the work of Sni-A-Bar Farms as the greatest single contribution ever made to the Shorthorn cattle industry. All Shorthorn breeders, in my opinion, owe a debt of gratitude to Sni-A-Bar Farms for their demonstration of the possibilities of herd improvement through the use of Shorthorn bulls, as well as the breeding and exhibition of pedigreed Shorthorns.”

Next week: Learn about the men and women who worked at Sni-A-Bar.

Photo credit: Grain Valley Historical Society