Saturday, May 20, 2023 | Country Acres • Page 1
Country Acres Saturday, May 20, 2023
Focusing on Today’s To oday’ day da y’’s Rural R ral Environment Ru
Volume 10, Edition 07 PHOTO SUBMITTED
Gracie Dobmeier competes in a doctoring event with her horse, Rebel, in May 2022 at a ranch rodeo competition in Morton. In doctoring, one team member has to rope a cow that another teammate on foot then puts shaving cream on to represent branding.
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TRUST Dobmeiers compete in ranch rodeos BY JAN LEFEBVRE STAFF WRITER
ALBANY – To do well in ranch rodeo competition, the horse and rider must work together as one. “It’s definitely not something that a person can just buy a horse and go do,” Gracie Dobmeier said. “As a rider, you
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have to build that trust with your horse and know that horse inside and out.” Gracie, now 22, and just finishing her registered nursing degree, has been competing in ranch rodeos since she was about 12. She first competed alongside her older brother, Austin. Now that Austin
has a wife and child and has come home to dairy farm, he has not had time to compete the past few years. However, there are still two Dobmeiers competing. Gracie and Austin’s mom, Anita, decided to give ranch rodeo a try two years ago and is still at it. “I was the mom; I brought them and took pictures,” Anita said. “Then, I wanted to see what it was like, too. The Dobmeiers milk 70 cows and crop
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COUNTRY: Watch for the next edition of Country Acres on June 3, 2023
farm near Albany on their third-generation dairy. Most dairy farmers in the area are not keen on having horses because, unlike generations ago, horses no longer have jobs or help bring income to a dairy farm. However, Anita, who grew up in St. Cloud, always wanted one. She had ridden her aunt’s horse a handful of times and enjoyed it. When she married Tom Dobmeier in 1996 and moved to
the farm, she finally had space to have a horse and brought up the idea to him. “He was supportive, but not sure,” Anita said. In 1997, they purchased Maggie, an Appaloosa – but they didn’t stop there. As Austin and Gracie came along and grew, so did the herd, eventually numbering 13. Most of the horses were purchased, but four were born on the farm. “Maggie had her
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Farmer Grace Jeurissen column
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FFA Spotlight
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Eclectic antiques set scene Sauk Centre
16 A herd of their own Spicer
Signs of Spring
21 Country cooking Sauk Centre
Anita (left) and Gracie Dobmeier gather with their horses in April 2022 at a Cowgirl Jackpot competition in Decorah, Iowa. Both mother and daughter compete together at ranch rodeo events as well.
baby, April, and she grew up with Austin and me,” Gracie said. “That’s one of the first horses I remember, but the first horse that was considered mine was Ginger. She was a Quarter Horse.” For a while, they also had a team of Fjords, a breed of workhorses. Dobmeiers page 2
22 A family story with a warning Nancy Packard Leasman column 24 Home is where the house was Hoffman