SEYMOUR, Ind. — The annual field day for the Southern Indiana Angus Assoc. (SIAA) was Sept. 26, but also doubled as an opportunity to celebrate 100 years of producing Angus cattle with a member family.
The Jim Thompson family of Seymour celebrated by hosting the event. More than 200 people turned out to participate in the pen show and judging, bid on silent auction items to benefit the association, and enjoy lunch and a program that included gospel quartet The Woodsmen.
Offering a few comments during the program, fellow Angus farmer Dave Smith said a popular word in agriculture is sustainable.
"If you want to understand that word, look to the Thompson family," he said. "If 100 years of breeding and raising Angus cattle isn’t sustainable, I don’t know what is. Commitment, integrity and faith in God has made this family sustainable for 100 years."
Although he didn’t share much of the family history during the program, Jim Thompson said the family’s herd started in 1915 when his grandfather, Holmes Thompson, bought two train-car loads of cattle – one Black Angus and one Hereford – from Kansas City, Mo. He was so pleased with the way the Angus steers fed and finished, he decided to concentrate on that breed.
Jim Thompson said his earliest memories include leading the show cattle from the home place at the edge of Cortland (Ind.) to the grain elevator in town and onto a railroad cattle car. In the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, the cattle traveled by train to shows in Memphis, Shreveport, Nashville, Houston, Fort Worth, Kansas City and Chicago.
"They were on the circuit for eight to 10 weeks at a time," Thompson said. "I wasn’t old enough to go, so I had to stay home and do the chores."
He said his first 4-H project calves were two horned Hereford heifers.
"After he observed those heifers, my grandfather strongly recommended that I show only Angus cattle from that point on," Thompson said.
Locally, the Thompsons have shown their cattle at the Jackson County Fair for 76 years.
Through the 1950s and ’60s, the herd was managed by Holmes’ son, Max. When cancer claimed his life in 1963, his son Jim took over herd management. Jim and his wife, Marsha, moved the operation to Seymour in the early 1970s and named it Royale Manor Angus. Their son Troy and his wife, Missy, purchased a farm in Vallonia, about 30 minutes away, and began to take over management of the herd. Their elder son, Mark, raises cattle for the operation at his place in Columbus.
Mark and Troy’s children – the fifth generation of Thompsons – are continuing to show Angus cattle.
The pen show the Thompsons hosted during the event brought out 56 head from 13 different exhibitors. The show was judged by Parke and Mark Veshlage of Brownstown, Ind.
Show winners were Jackson Angus Farm of Hope, Ind.; Troy Thompson of Royale Manor Angus, Vallonia, Ind.; Keith and Judy Brown of McClarnon Stock Farm, Greenfield, Ind.; Mark and Korey Thompson of Thompson Family Angus, Columbus, Ind.; Andy Howell of Howell Cattle Company, Milltown, Ind.; Roger Eckstein of Pear Lane Angus, Seymour, Ind.; Karl and Glenda Gillette of GHG Angus, Cloverdale, Ind.; Carrie Wiley of Marysville, Ind.; Jim Thompson, Royal Manor Angus, Seymour, Ind.; and the Rex Kovert family, Spring Valley Farm, Crothersville, Ind.
Along with the livestock exhibited, equipment and supply exhibits were presented by Vita Firm, Cow Co. Equipment, R&R Metal, Main Trailer Sales and Indiana Agricultural Fencing.
