TORRINGTON – Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) sophomore, Garrett Greene, takes enormous pride in staying busy and productive.

With the rest of his family living back home in Oregon, Greene takes advantage of his ambitious youth and stays as busy as possible throughout his college days.

While taking classes full time in Agriculture Education while fulfilling responsibilities as student body president, Greene is constantly on the go with studies, work and classes.

Despite the insanely busy schedule while being so far away from home and family, none of this has stopped Greene from competing in prestigiously coveted stock shows nationwide.

Just weeks ago at the end of October, Greene was able to show his livestock pair at the American Royal stock show in Kansas City, Missouri.

Competing in the cow-calf event, Greene had prepared endlessly for weeks to ready himself, and his animals for the show.

According to Greene and despite school being in full progress for so many, turnout and competition was as tight as ever.

“It’s one of several national shows,” Greene stated. “It’s one of the largest stock shows in America. All breeds of animals are shown including pigs, sheep, goats and cattle. There are entries from everywhere in the country. I was next to a girl from Louisiana. There really are people from everywhere that come to that show.”

While a cow and her calf may typically be a calming sight, competing in the event is perhaps one of the most difficult tasks one can have while working with them.

“It’s one of the hardest things to show because there is so much time involved,” Greene continued. “There are two animals involved. You have to wash the cow, and you can’t let the calf nurse on show morning. The have to look their best. So when the calf is grouchy of course the cow is going to be grouchy, and then the cow hates you. She sat there and mooed the entire time. I would say it’s the most difficult thing to show.”

Greene is not the first member of his family to take part in the American Royal show however. The EWC student body president reflected on a longstanding admiration for his older brother, who had competed in similar shows nearly a decade previously.

“My brother ten years ago had the opportunity to raise a bull and show him across the country at the stock shows,” Greene said. “He was awarded the 2013-14 Angus Bull Calf of the Year through the American Angus Association. My parents always told me when I had an animal of that quality someday, they would do the same thing for me and take me to all these shows. Here we are ten years later, and I finally have this cow who has been an absolute blessing.”

With finals this week and his fall semester coming to a close, Greene noted that the upcoming Christmas break will be dedicated to continued travel across the country. Showing both prized cow-calf pair, “Jenny” and “Juicy,” to numerous other shows on the calendar, Greene has no intention of slowing down just because there is no class.

“We have already been to the Kansas State Fair, American Royal and Louisville, Kentucky. We will go to Phoenix for Christmas, and straight from Phoenix we go to Cattleman’s Congress in Oklahoma. Then its straight off to Denver.” Greene said.

As busy as Greene has been with everything going on, admittedly staying busy and continuing to show is essential when it comes to being the number one ranked cow-calf pair in the Nation.

“Time management truthfully has been the hardest thing for the longest time,” Greene said. “I had a strict routine where I wake up by eight. Then I would feed them, rinse them, blow them off, work their hair, tie them under a fan and then go to class. Then I would  come back and put more hair product on them, go back to class and then go back, rinse and blow them out again. Then in the evening I would feed them their grain and hay. After that I would exercise them, call it a night and then get back up and do it all again in the morning. I was hardcore on that for a long time. For the last two or three weeks the weather started getting cold, and I wasn’t able to rinse them as much because they’ll throw a hissy fit. I just blew them once a day, and just peaked on them to make sure they were doing okay.”

When it comes to the overwhelming amount of work and responsibility to stay on top of, Greene admits he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I had the pair here at the college for about two months,” Greene continued. “My dad dropped them off, and I got to sit in the barn with them and hang out with them as much as I could. It keeps me out of trouble, and keeps me focused on what’s important. This has been the best term of education in my life. The community behind it here at the school has been wonderful. My advisor, Dr. Younglove, has been very nice excusing me from class so I can travel and go to these things. She’s just so supportive. Then of course there’s other kids on the show team as well, always supporting me every time I fly down the highway.

“It truly is an honor to come to the college out here,” Greene added. “Dr. Younglove has just always bent over backwards for us to be able to go to these shows and put banners on her wall. We can show the school and community we are going out and accomplishing something. We are always trying to compete better and higher at shows like these.”

As Greene is well aware, staying on top does not come without great personal sacrifice. When it came to reaching out to someone who may be interested in pursuing the same competitive outlets, Greene had wise words of encouragement for success.

“The best advice I could give is you have to have a group of people behind you, and are willing to push you to get you where you need to be,” Greene stated. “It takes a lot to get that pair to the showing before every show. There’s the support from my family, but it’s not cheap flying down the highway as much as we do. I feel bad, but I know they’re not going to give up with how close we are to putting this thing away. At the end of the day win or lose I’m grateful for the experience, the memories and people I meet along the way. My dad always says, ‘The greatest connections and the greatest people you will ever meet are from stock shows.’”