Posted on August 19, 2019 at 1:20 PM by Global Reach
Joel Bobb was raised on a family farm/ranch in western North Dakota with three things being constant in his childhood: drought, church and 4-H. From his earliest memories, the 4H meetings, trips, county fair and state fair comprised the center of family activities. As Joel grew, 4H and livestock stayed central to his life exhibiting and selling purebred sheep at state and national levels and participating in 4-H livestock judging. (And most any other 4H activity that would allow for a day “off” from farm chores.)
Upon graduation from NDSU (91’Animal and Range Sciences) Joel met and married Kjrsten (Leiseth) from Buffalo, Minnesota. They met at a sheep sale in Missouri (a 4-H inspired romance). They worked in several parts of the central US, settling in southeast Iowa in 1999, with two children, Morgan and Zachary.
While running a small farm and a flock of “wether type” ewes, Joel again became deeply involved in the 4-H and FFA programs. As a family they have bred, sold and exhibited sheep across the United States. He has also hosted and helped host numerous sheep clinics and field days as well as being involved with their local county fair. Joel served on the Lee County Fair (Iowa’s Oldest Fair) board and served as president. He has been supportive of the local shows and Jr. auctions as a sponsor and buyer from his “other business” Homestead Financial Services.
Joel’s best memories of 4-H are in the barns, whether at county, state or the national shows, and he is usually perched on a trimming stand or sitting on a bale of hay or an inverted feed bucket.
Joel’s philosophy is, if the world could see young people getting up at 4 a.m. to rinse show heifers or taking the time to help a competitor get the legs just right on a lamb, or being in the barn at midnight to make sure a lamb nurses when it is 20 degrees below zero, I believe we all would feel a lot better about the future of our country.
Indeed as stated in the 4-H pledge with Head/Heart/ Hands and Health, it seems like the lessons of “learning by doing” are more important now than ever.
