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Taking Stock of Change

As other cattle shows disappear, Denver's National Western rides tall in the saddle.

A A A Comments By Eric Dexheimer Thursday, Jan 9 2003

"I'm a classic example," Witt admits. "My stepdaughter has always shown horses, and this year we're showing Shorthorn cattle. I enjoy it, but it's not my livelihood."

As a result, it's not just cowboys you see these days at stock show exhibits. Today's agriculturists include plenty of people whose livelihood lies miles away from the farm or ranch. Former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw takes his daughters and their Quarterhorses to stock shows. Same with race-car legend Kyle Petty. Mel Gibson's Beartooth Ranch, in Montana, almost always enters cattle.

Geoffrey Grahn

Anthony Camera

Chuck Sylvester has been general manager of the National Western Stock Show for 25 years.

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One of the country's largest breeders of Limousin cattle is from Colorado. But the Magness family is better known for its cable connections than its cows. Witt says he has seen Mike Shanahan's daughters show their Arabian horses. Dan Issel's kids were regular entrants at National Western as well.

Which, for better or worse, is what much of Western agriculture from Santa Fe to Cheyenne has become. "If you go back, the emphasis at the Stock Show was the heartland -- farmers, ranchers, cowboys -- who'd come in when things got slow in January," says Witt. "But if you're gonna sell rodeo these days, you need to look at the Front Range. You gotta push the market."

Last month, Sylvester announced that this year's National Western Stock Show, which runs from January 11 through 26, will be his last as general manager. Although he has agreed to consult on the show's centennial celebration in 2006, he vowed early on to stay for 25 years, and he aims to keep his promise. "There's some other things in life you'd like to do before you hang it up," he says.

One of the things he is leaving National Western for is to get back to the land. It won't necessarily be easy; during the past couple of years, his family has sold off more than 40 percent of its cattle herd. Still, the lifestyle exerts a powerful draw: Sylvester's great-grandfather began farming just outside of LaSalle, in Weld County, in the 1860s, and today, Sylvester and his son -- the fifth Sylvester generation to live on the farm -- still work about 200 acres.