Family was one of five honored in the state

Contributed photo
The Bauck family celebrated a recent honor by the FFA at the state fair. The family was honored for its years of service with the FFA. 

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

During the Minnesota State Fair, 75 years of FFA was celebrated on the St. Paul fairgrounds and honors and awards were given to dedicated FFA groups, families, and individuals throughout the state.

A few of those honors had a local flare as the New York Mills FFA Chapter was selected as one of six statewide chapters to be named a Legacy Chapter. Members of the NY Mills chapter were proud to be named a Legacy Chapter and gave thanks to advisers over the years in a press release.

“Without a doubt the person who led New York Mills into becoming such a legacy was the late FFA advisor Deland Porath,” read the press release. “He was the advisor beginning in the late seventies and ending in the nineties. He was always on top of the game from show time to keeping track of how many points we scored with our animals. The first time our chapter won the Premier Sheep Award it was because he had kept track of points, and was not afraid to point it out to Mr. Day. Since then, New York Mills has been the dominate chapter in sheep for the last forty years winning 31 Breeding and Market titles.”

Contributed photo
The Bauck family was honored for their years of service in FFA during the Minnesota State Fair. The FFA program celebrated its 75th anniversary during the annual state fair in the Twin Cities. The family members pictured above have all been a part of the FFA and traveled to the Twin Cities for the FFA 75th celebration. 

The press release went on to explain that the NY Mills chapter had also won the overall breeding award 12 times and the overall livestock trophy twice. Memories of the Chapter’s homemade sign, “Largest FFA Sheep Exhibit” at the state fair are reminders of those past awards.

The NY Mills chapter was also the first chapter to show all 10 breeds of sheep at the state fair in the same year. They also have the distinction of showing all seven breeds of dairy at the fair within the same family members.

Another honor was the naming of the Bauck family as one of five FFA Legacy Families in the state. The Bauck family’s FFA legacy started with David Bauck, the eldest of 10 children of Rowland and Lillian Bauck, when he made his first trip to the state fair. David’s sisters Dyann and Dolly followed, but at that time, they were not allowed to show.

In 1972, Donna Bauck became the first girl to win the general livestock judging contest. Several years later, another girl won that award­her sister Darla. Dinee, the youngest sibling, showed with her nephew, Mike Bauck, David’s eldest son, marking the first showing of the second generation of Baucks.

As many fond memories flood back to each Bauck that had showed, or watched the show, the various showing tips and life lessons are now being given to the third generation of Baucks.

Three Baldwin awards have been given out to members of the NY Mills FFA Chapter in previous years. Those three all belong to the Bauck family. Matt and Kenny Geiser were honored with the award in 1998 and their cousin Isaiah Bauck recieved the award in 2014. All three were honored at the 75 years of FFA ceremony during the state fair.

The Bauck family recognizes that none of these longstanding traditions would be possible without the support of parents who believed in their passion for showing livestock.