A few days out from the Tillamook County Fair and Peyton Rawe’s steers are getting show-ready. Daily baths and time spent under fans encourages hair growth to hide imperfections. Electrotherapy sessions relax their muscles.

 Finale’s session finishes and its Hugo’s turn. He’s a bit stubborn.

“When they get this big, the last thing they want to do is walk,” Rawe laughs.

She slips him into a harness and gives a good tug from the front. No luck. But, Rawe knows the tried-and-true method. She walks around to his backside to “twist his tail.” It works; Gusto shuffles forward.

Her intuition and knowledge of her steers appears to just come naturally. It’s as if she’s always known what to do. But, that’s not the case.

“I knew nothing when I started out,” Rawe said, recalling her first steer compeition at 12-years-old. “I look back on when I was younger and I just didn’t know what I was doing.”

But, she was determined to educate herself.

“I’ve never been afraid to ask a stupid question and learn more,” Rawe said.

She also wasn’t afraid to work hard.

“I don’t have the nicest barn or the biggest trailer,” Rawe said. “But, somebody once told me that if you do the best with what you have, then you’ve already won.”

It’s all paid off.

In the past six years competing at the Tillamook County Fair, Rawe’s claimed Grand Champion Beef Showman six times and Grand Champion Market Beef five times.

“This is my passion project,” Rawe said. “We start our steer projects in September. So, by the time people see it at the Fair, it’s almost been a whole year’s worth of work. I feed them every morning at 7 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. No matter what I’m doing that day, I’m here to feed them. You can’t take a day off.”

She credits a lot of her success to the support she’s received.

“I’ve had some crazy dreams and my parents have always let me go all in 100 percent,” Rawe said. “Or, when I call anyone for help in the community, there’s always someone who comes right over.”

In addition to Grand Champion, she’s won countless other FFA and 4-H awards and served as the president of the Tillamook FFA chapter all four years of high school. Rawe was also a member of the Cheesemaker varsity cross country and track & field team, and graduated in the top ten percent of her class.

 Both of Rawe’s steers will be up for market at the Tillamook County Junior Livestock Auction. She invites attendees to support all the entered animal projects.

“It’s not just quality meat that you’re getting, but somebody’s time,” she said.

This year’s Tillamook County Fair culminates the seven years she’s dedicated to perfecting her craft. There’s relief that all her hard work is about to pay off, but also eagerness for what’s to come. In September, Rawe will head to Oregon State University to begin her studies in veterinary medicine.

But for now, a grueling week lies ahead. Standing inside the barn that her great-grandfather once raised cows in, Rawe describes feelings of both tiredness and excitement. She takes a moment to reflect.

“Some of the best life lessons I’ve learned have been in this barn. I’ve spent thousands of hours out here…I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”