THE JOURNEY BACK

 by Jennifer Shike

Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. For Yorkshire breeder Steve Cobb, Lake City , Ark., his journey from the top of the swine industry to the bottom and back again has reinforced his passion for raising purebred livestock. Without those twists and turns along the way, he says he would not be as positive about the Yorkshire breed as he is today. Along this journey, he acquired a younger partner who helped turn his perspective around.

“My son Aaron’s interest in showing purebreds rekindled my desire to return to the show industry,” Steve says. “Now we’re back with a bigger appreciation than ever before.”

The Cobbs’ renewed interest in the purebred industry has helped initiate many memorable events in the past few years including the sale of a world-record selling boar, Cobblestone; the initiation of a new boar stud, Southern Advantage Sires; and the election of the first Arkansas National Junior Swine Association member to the NJSA Board of Directors, Aaron Cobb.

Breaking records

“Aaron definitely stirred up new enthusiasm in my life when he began to share the same passions I had in purebred swine,” Steve says. “There’s no question he renewed my interest in the show industry. We wouldn’t have taken a boar to Duncan if Aaron hadn’t suggested it.”

Not only did the Cobbs take a boar to the 2000 Fall Classic, but they walked away the breeders of the record-selling $125,000 Grand Champion Yorkshire Boar. As the auctioneer cried out that morning, “The Cobbs are back.”

Initially the Cobbs questioned taking Cobblestone to the Fall Classic. One night, Aaron clipped the boar for the show. When Aaron came back from the barn, Steve asked his opinion on the boar. Aaron said the boar was good, but he didn’t know if he was good enough to go to Duncan .

Steve says, “I looked at this boar the next morning and thought to myself, if he’s not good enough to go, we may never have one that’s good enough. You have to do what you believe is right when it comes to breeding hogs. If you worry about whether or not they will be accepted, you aren’t on the cutting edge.”

The record-breaking sale of Cobblestone provided an opportunity for Steve to teach a few lessons to his son.

“This was Aaron’s first experience to learn that breeding Yorkshires is not about the money,” Steve says. “On the way home, I told Aaron our challenge was to figure out how to get one better than Cobblestone the next time. You never make the greatest one - you have to improve from where you are.”

This passion to continually improve the breed is one of the reasons why Cobb Farms is still around today. 12 years ago, Steve left the show industry to concentrate on different priorities within his herd. He says he did not leave because he was in disagreement with the association. He left because he was losing some of his desire. He never believed in going through the motions, so he took a break to refocus on his goals.

Steve accomplished as much at a young age as anyone ever has in the Yorkshire breed, says Garry Childs, former fieldman for the American Yorkshire Club and National Swine Registry.

This early success is one reason why Steve needed a short break from the demands of the show ring. Steve realized when the hog markets almost came to collapse a few years later that he wasn’t raising Yorkshires to get rich. He raised Yorkshires because it was more than a business, it was a way of life.

“Breeding Yorkshire hogs is fascinating to me,” he says. “My best friends are in this business. There’s just something about people who have a sincere interest in perfecting a breed of livestock. Those people are cut from a different mold.”

 When Aaron became more interested in breeding and showing purebreds in 1998, Steve decided it was time to turn his focus back to the show industry. Their return to the show ring was a methodical process, starting with visits to various boar studs and breeding programs.

“We knew it was time to look for new genetics,” Steve says. “We did not want a boar who would change our hogs greatly, but we wanted a boar that would compliment our program and make our hogs a bit more fashionable.” A visit with Garry Childs at the National Swine Registry office led to one of the most important purchases at Cobb Farms.

Steve says, “I’ll never forget when Garry questioned what I was doing looking at boars in the Midwest and asked, ‘You’re ready to get back in, aren’t you?’”

Garry never told Steve what to do, but he encouraged him to go to Tracy Lorenzen’s farm and look at his pigs. When Steve left Tracy ’s, he called Garry immediately about the 41-10 boar.

“Garry answered, ‘Enough said,’” Steve says. “Aaron and I would have never known about this boar if Garry hadn’t led us in the right direction and encouraged us to follow our instincts.”

The Cobbs later purchased this National Barrow Show Hog College Boar with Jon Fisher at Prairie State Semen Supply. Since then, this boar has made a phenomenal difference on the sow lines at Cobb Farms.

“This is a perfect example of how important the NSR staff is to the purebred business,” Steve says. “It’s not that Aaron and I didn’t have the ability to see Powerball for what he was, but you need to know where to find those boars. We wouldn’t have even known he was around if Garry hadn’t encouraged us to take an extra half-hour to go look at this boar. Sometimes we just need a little encouragement to do the right thing.”

Southern Advantage Sires

Encouragement is just what Childs continued to provide to Steve and Aaron, even after Childs left the National Swine Registry to return home to Pelham , Ga. The relationship they formed when Garry was a fieldman is stronger than ever before, Steve says.

“To those of us who know Garry best, we can laugh and kid around with him about how serious he takes the business,” Steve says. “But we have a deep respect for the sincerity and dedication he has to do the job right when it comes to breeding purebred hogs. This doesn’t mean he is always right. No one is. But, he has a burning desire to be as close to that as possible.”

Steve says Garry’s influence on the Yorkshire breed has reached great distances.

“I don’t think there is anyone who has had a greater influence on making better Yorkshire hogs who isn’t actually a “breeder” than Garry,” he says. “You can track this statement through the Tracy Lorenzen program, the Eddie Robinson program and our own program, to name a few. He always makes contributions through his suggestions  - not by telling you exactly how to do something. He has this way of sharing his thoughts and observations to help us make better hogs.”

Naturally, Steve continues to “talk” purebreds with Garry. On Christmas Eve 2001, Garry and Steve were exchanging holiday greetings when their conversation turned to their favorite topic - Yorkshires.

“I told him I thought we had raised one of the most unique and far-reaching breeding prospects ever,” Steve says. “I explained how I felt about this boar since he was a young pig. The one thing I believe about many of the great breeding hogs that come around is that they are usually ahead of the curve in some areas and they are not perfect in every area. Regardless, they always offer very strong and positive change ability.”

Their conversation went back and forth about what the Cobbs should do with this boar. They finally agreed he needed to be shown, but he also needed to be kept around. This boar, Raw Power, went on to be named the Grand Champion Yorkshire Boar at the Southwest Conference.

It was no surprise when Childs made a call to Cobb a few hours later on Christmas morning asking him straight-out if he wanted to start up a boar stud.

“I told Garry his idea was obviously coming from somewhere,” Steve says. “Garry shared his plan with me and basically it came down to this - We had a product. Ricky Stephenson, a friend of Garry’s from Georgia , had an open boar stud facility. And Garry had the connections and the interest in public relations.”

These men thought the last thing this industry needed was another boar stud, but they believed that room could be made for anything done right. They also realized their boar stud would not offer something to everyone and other studs would have products they wouldn’t have. The bottom line, however, was that they shared a common goal of developing a boar stud that was completely program-oriented and backed up by strong breeding programs.

“It is not our goal to have the most boars or the most expensive boars in this boar stud,” Childs says. “It’s our goal to have the best boars we can acquire and to make those boars available to help people with their breeding programs.”

Aaron says his dad has always looked forward to finding ways to help other programs both with their commercial hogs and purebred breeding stock.

“This boar stud has allowed us to place our genetics into more programs and see how they work out there,” Aaron says. “It’s also provided dad and I the opportunity to grow closer to each other. Now, we have to make decisions about which boars to keep here and which ones to place into the boar stud. It’s opened up many discussions between us about how this business runs.”

Leading the Next Generation

Perhaps Steve’s greatest achievement has been his influence on the next generation – his son. From a young age, Steve has understood the importance of giving back to the future of the industry. Growing up, Steve was mentored by Claude Robinson, one of the most influential Yorkshire breeders ever.

“I made myself a pest at the shows,” Steve laughs. “Claude said he gave me time because I gave him no other choice. And then he asked me if I knew how much he got out of working with me. That put it all in perspective.”

To this day, Claude’s influence has played a major role in the success of Cobb Farms. And Claude’s influence even encouraged Steve to reevaluate why he left the show ring.

“He convicted me good one day,” Steve says. “He asked me who was going to help the next generation. He pointed his finger at me and said he knew of one man who was staying home and being selfish. He told me it wasn’t good enough that I was burnt out and a little tired. He said every industry has something wrong within - but you can’t focus on that.”

Although that was hard advice to swallow, Steve knew Claude was right.

“It’s not easy to be a mentor and a dad,” Steve says. “My children are my greatest source of pride. I am thrilled Aaron shares this passion for purebred swine. The struggle is to be encouraging and supporting of him, yet strong enough to get out of the way to let him make his own breeding decisions. It’s hard to stand by and watch your kids make mistakes. But to develop Aaron as a young livestock breeder and businessman, I have had to fight these urges to prevent mistakes from happening.”

Aaron has had a unique opportunity to be exposed to some of the best breeding philosophies and principles of the past, Childs says.

“From the time Aaron was a very small child, he had a keen interest in the hogs,” Childs says. “He would come down and just study the hogs with his dad and other breeders when he was only 3 years old. There was never any question that at some point and time, Aaron would become a major part of Cobb Farms.”

Aaron is not only affecting the herd at Cobb Farms, but he’s also playing an important role in the development of Southern Advantage Sires, Childs says.

“We value his opinion,” he says. “For one thing, Aaron has an eye for the show pig industry. Steve, Ricky and I are old-school, old-fashioned hog men, and sometimes we need Aaron’s young perspective. Aaron’s generation isn’t as critical about structure like we were. Aaron knows structure well, but he also knows when it’s time to tell us to lighten up if we’re being too focused on that.”

Stephenson adds that it has been fun to watch Steve and Aaron’s relationship.

“It’s neat to see Steve reminding Aaron of where they have come from and where they have been in this business,” Stephenson says. “And then you see Aaron reminding Steve that was great, but they can’t live on yesterday – they need to charge ahead. They are a good team together. They have a lot of similarities, but Aaron is a young man with lots of his own thoughts and goals. He will take their program to a new level.”

Preserving and remembering Yorkshire history has always been important to Steve. Garry says Steve has a tremendous respect for the history of Yorkshires and the development of the breed. He also has a keen interest in the future of the breed in the modern show pig industry.

This spring, Steve shared some of these ideas along with Chuck Olsen and Eddie Robinson, on a breeder’s panel at the first-ever NJSA National Youth Leadership Conference. Steve says he had three goals for the conference. He wanted to make the connection with youth that this industry has been built by generations of breeders, that friendships are the most important thing you’ll receive out of the industry, and finally, that integrity is the most important ingredient to make great breeding stock.

Aaron also attended this leadership conference. He says that the best part of the conference was developing friendships with other youth from around the country who share his passion for purebred swine.

“I’m from Lake City , Arkansas ,” he says. “There aren’t many kids from my part of the country in the NJSA yet. It was great to finally get to know some of the other members.”

At the 2002 NJSA Annual Meeting in Louisville , Aaron was elected to serve as a southwest director on the NJSA Board of Directors.

“I decided to run for the board because I have a desire to remain in the purebred swine industry,” Aaron says. “I enjoy working with kids and want to encourage others to do their best and not give up on their goals.”

Aaron’s goals as southwest director include attending as many shows as possible to represent the NJSA and increasing membership in his own state of Arkansas . He also wants to serve as a mentor to other youth and learn more about the industry.

“I think that the younger people in our industry need someone to look up to,” he says. “Those kids need someone to direct them and lead them to some extent. I want to be able to impact the lives of other people like my mentors have done for me. That’s what the purebred business is all about.”

One priority Steve Cobb, Garry Childs and Ricky Stephenson agree on is to run Southern Advantage Sires with the highest integrity. “We know that no one bats 1,000 in their breeding program,” Steve says. “Working with Garry and Ricky, however, I know that if someone asks what they should breed to or can expect from a boar, they will get straight answers – just the way we approach it in our own breeding program.”

Stephenson says he was excited to be a part of Southern Advantage Sires because he believes their boars are extremely functional. “I’ve judged many hog shows, and I’m concerned that we have gone so far with leanness and muscle that we have forgotten structure and durability,” Stephenson says. “We believe in making functional hogs that can be used in a breeding program or in the show ring. Our goal is to help people keep muscle, leanness and eye appeal connected to soundness and durability.”

The breeding program at Cobb Farms is very practical, Childs says. Yet, Childs believes in the fundamental areas, their genetics more than cover the bases from a maturity, correctness, and soundness standpoint. The Cobb program is based off generations of exceptional females.

“Steve’s hogs have always had the ability to make other people’s hogs better, and that is very rare,” Childs says. “It’s a talent that Steve has, and Aaron is developing, that is very unique and hard to find. They understand things about breeding livestock that are just hard to describe. It’s not just one big thing – it’s attention to detail continuously over the years.”

Generations of quality Yorkshire bloodlines is the heart of what Southern Advantage Sires has to offer. They are dedicated to supplying genetics in the southeast and making these Yorkshire bloodlines available nationwide. Southern Advantage Sires is located in the small southern town of Boston , Ga. From a marketing standpoint, they are like any other boar stud. They market semen on a nationwide basis, and can ship anywhere in the United States . Visitors and customers are welcome at any time to view the boars as long as they make an appointment in advance.

Currently the boar stud houses 15 boars, including Raw Power, their first purchase from the Southwest Conference. Stephenson began collecting boars in February 2002. The drive-in business to pick up semen is much higher than they ever expected, Stephenson says. This is due to the extreme growth of the show pig industry in Georgia and Florida .

“We believe we are in a good area of the country,” Steve says. “When you are off the beaten path a bit, the people from that area are so appreciative of the opportunity to come and view your boars. We look forward to the opportunity to show these boars to our customers.”