Wisconsin Cow Chip Sport In Short Supply of Chips

Aug 30, 2012

U.S. Drought Impacts State Cow Chip Festival

Who would have known, that the U.S. drought could leave organizers for the Wisconsin State Cow Chip Festival scrabbling to find manure chips for the competition. The popular event attracts roughly 300 throwers and over 40,000 spectators.

"This is my 24th throw, and it's never been this difficult to find chips," said Marietta Reuter, who helps organize the festival. The drought conditions made it hard to find suitable manure in the field because most cattle stayed close to barns or shelters to stay cool which made it difficult for the manure to dry and flatten properly for cow chip purposes.

The organizing committee has to dig up some chow chip paddies in their reserve barrels in order to ensure they have enough for this year’s competition. The cow chip competition dates back to the Seventies when Sauk Prairie Area was named the ‘Cow Chip Capitol’ with the historical significance relates to the early pensioner days when they used the cow paddies as a source for fuel which was then utilized as a currency for trade.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.