Grand Drive Excludes Dairy Beef
Published: Friday, April 10, 2026
Dairy beef steers supply an increasingly larger portion of beef to consumers, but even with their more prominent role in the beef industry, the Indiana State Fair has decided to exclude dairy beef from the 4-H Grand Drive. That's causing strong reactions among families in the 4-H dairy beef project.
The Grand Drive is the Indiana State Fair's championship round of judging for market animals. All breed winners face off against each other "on the dirt" of the Indiana State Fair coliseum. While dairy beef has been included to various degrees in the final round in recent years, those exhibitors this year will compete on a separate day.
The Indiana State Fair's Anna Whelchel said the decision was made by the state fair's livestock committee, after consultation with 4-H families and dairy beef leaders.
However, some families who are closely involved with the dairy beef program say the state fair's move sends the wrong message to 4-H'ers.
Whelchel said the new format elevates the dairy beef project. Under the old format, the top dairy beef animal was treated the same as any other breed champion in the market beef show. Under this year's new format, the winner of the dairy beef show will receive the title of grand champion dairy beef steer. There will also be a dedicated showmanship competition for dairy beef exhibitors.
For at least one dairy beef exhibitor, though, the change in format is viewed in a different light.
"They've ruined the fun of the project for all the dairy beef families," said Cooper Steele, a nine-year 4-H'er from Decatur County. "There are plenty of people who show dairy beef simply because they can't show hairy beef cows or because it's more convenient for them. And the fact that we pretty much got booted out of the state fair is not fair to any of us."
Dairy beef steers supply nearly a quarter of all beef consumed by U.S. consumers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. The growing quantity of Holstein-influenced beef comes at a desperate time for the U.S. beef industry. The U.S. beef herd, consisting of European-based breeds like Angus, Hereford and Charolais, has reached a 70-year low.
Tyler Marker, a dairy beef producer and cattle judge from Noble County, said dairy beef animals are "essential" to the beef supply in the U.S. and deserve to be represented in the Grand Drive.
His younger brother, Joshua, exhibited the grand champion dairy beef steer in both 2023 and 2025. During those two experiences, dairy beef champions competed in the Grand Drive, but the dairy beef show looked—and felt—different each time, according to Tyler.
In 2023, dairy beef held its own grand drive inside the coliseum. The grand champion dairy steer was selected during that program.
He said the 2023 experience was an "incredible" moment.
"It felt very intentional," he said. "It felt like we belonged and that we really had a seat at the table and were recognized."
In 2025, however, the dairy beef competition was held in another venue, and only the grand champion was allowed to compete on the dirt. Tyler said the dairy beef winner was treated as another beef breed in the Grand Drive.
While dairy beef was part of that showcase event, Tyler said his brother's dairy beef steer was not seriously considered when pitted against other beef breeds.
He said the Grand Drive is the "highest stage" for 4-H livestock showmen. For dairy beef exhibitors, it's the "pinnacle" moment of the year for them.
"Every kid should have the opportunity to dream of that moment," Tyler said. "That moment of a packed coliseum where the spotlight is directly on you, live television recording every moment, family watching at home and family watching in the stands. There's nothing like it."
However, with the state fair's recent decision, Tyler said dairy beef exhibitors can't dream of that moment anymore.
His mother, Jennett, said the "big part" of 4-H is having the opportunity to compete on the coliseum floor. She said the state fair's recent decision to pull dairy beef out of the Grand Drive ultimately "diminishes" the dairy beef program.
The Markers argue that dairy beef is an important part of the beef industry and deserves equal treatment in the Grand Drive.
At 24.6% of the total amount of U.S. beef consumed, dairy beef produces more beef than any individual haired beef breed.
"We are undersupplied in this country," Tyler said. "We are at the lowest supply in this nation of beef cattle since 1973. Shunning dairy beef does not help that, because the haired beef in this country cannot meet that demand."
Brian Shuter, executive director of the Indiana Beef Cattle Assn., said dairy beef animals are "absolutely" part of the beef industry.
"They provide a significant amount of beef product to the commercial industry, especially lately with the beef and dairy work that's being done," he said. "A lot of those dairy cows are bred with beef semen, and a lot of those calves are being moved into a more traditional production model."
Once a beef superintendent at the state fair, Shuter said he currently does not serve on the state fair's livestock committee, which approved the new format for the Grand Drive. However, from his perch atop the Indiana cattle industry, he said he doesn't believe that state fair officials wanted to take away opportunities for dairy beef exhibitors.
"I don't think that was ever the intent of the state fair board or the staff," he said, adding, "I don't think they (dairy beef exhibitors) were maliciously kept out of the Grand Drive. I think it was a function of the schedule change."
That schedule change became necessary, he said, due to the growing number of dairy beef steers and dairy feeder calves shown at the state fair in recent years. Shuter said all those animals couldn't be housed in the cattle barn at one time.
The 2026 Grand Drive for beef steers and other species will take place on Aug. 9.
The state fair's Whelchel stated that the 2026 livestock schedule will combine dairy beef steers and dairy feeder steers into a single dedicated show in the coliseum. Last year, youths who exhibited both dairy steers and dairy feeder steers had to make two trips to the state fairgrounds. This year, they can exhibit both on one day, Aug. 11.
This unified format, she said, will allow more youths to participate.
"The decision was driven by the overall Indiana State Fair livestock schedule and the best way to ensure all species and exhibitors are able to show," Whelchel said.
She added that the grand champion dairy beef steer will be included in the prestigious Celebration of Champions, which occurs in September. That's when Grand Drive winners receive checks for their championship projects.
Another 4-H parent interviewed for this story is Chad Tom of Kosciusko County. He has two children involved in the dairy steer project, a daughter in her 10th year and a son in his seventh year. They have been showing at the state fair for about five years.
Initially, the dairy beef project had its own championship drive on the coliseum dirt, Tom said. Judges would place each class, then select the grand champion, reserve champion and three more steers to round out the top five. In 2025, the state fair changed the format, bringing the dairy steer champion into the market beef program. With that format, dairy beef had no chance of competing against the beef breeds, Tom said.
"I'm not a fan of us being in the Grand Drive with the beef," he said. "I wish it went back to where we (dairy beef steers) had our own Grand Drive, and the kids could still make the dirt. At the end of the day, that's what the kids wanted to do was make the dirt at the Indiana State Fair."
With the most recent change, dairy steers will show on the dirt, but without the pomp and circumstance of the Grand Drive.
"I'm fine with it," he said. "They've still got us in the Celebration of Champions, as far as I know, so we're being treated good there."
Showing on a different day will be less hectic, he said.
"Last year, we had to show our dairy steers on a Friday and Saturday, take everything home, come back on Monday, and we showed on the next Wednesday for feeder calves," he said.
Tom said one of his children experienced the pinnacle moment that Tyler Marker described, when the dairy steer project held its own Grand Drive.
"It was cool," he said. "You had 10 dairy steers going in for the Grand Drive that night, and they picked the grand champion. Then they picked the reserve grand and the top five. It was a cool spectacle to be a part of. Then somebody said we need to be treated as a beef breed, and the beef people are like, 'You're coming in with us.'"
Shuter said dairy beef animals aren't as competitive in the show ring as their beef counterparts because they don't have long hair. While that might seem to be a minor difference to an outsider, beef exhibitors invest considerably more time and money in grooming their animals for show.
Matt Smoker of LaPorte County has served as dairy beef judge at county and state fairs. He also exhibited the grand champion dairy steer at the Indiana State Fair in 2005. He said beef animals are unique.
"They have a very expensive show circuit," he said. "There are a lot of dollars that go into the beef show side."
On the other hand, he said dairy steers have been viewed as an outcast.
"Traditionally, dairy steers were the byproduct of the dairy industry. They were kind of cast aside by the dairy industry; the beef side didn't really recognize them as being true beef animals, even though they would end up for the same intended purpose of being a steak on a plate. But they were never really accepted by the beef show side of the world."
Part of the beef industry but not fully accepted by it, dairy steers have had to fight for the right to show at the Indiana State Fair, Smoker said.
"Originally, the dairy beef project was lumped in with the dairy females: the cows and heifers," he said. "The project and the participants fought for years to be included in the beef side, because that's ultimately what those dairy steers are intended for. So, they did get in the same day to show as the beef animals."
He said dairy beef families convinced fair officials to have a show that was separate from market beef.
"It took a lot of years to get there," he said, "and it has kind of regressed here recently."
Last year, Smoker was the dairy steer judge at the Minnesota State Fair. He has also judged at the Indiana State Fair. Additionally, he serves on the board of directors for the Indiana Dairy Beef Assn., newly started this year.
Smoker said he doesn't buy the state fair's argument that this year's top dairy steer will be "elevated" from a champion to a grand champion. He said that's like saying a team excluded from the NCAA basketball tournament is still a champion even though it competed in a lesser tournament.
Smoker, Tom and the Marker family all said they would like to return to the 2023 format that featured dairy steer animals exhibited on the dirt as part of the Grand Drive.
"There's more energy with that (event)," Tyler Marker said.
For his part, Steele said the low-key nature of this year's dairy beef show feels like a step back from what Tom described as a "cool" experience.
"The fact that they (dairy steers) are still being shown at the state fair but just not in the Grand Drive is kind of taking away from the success of the project," Steele said.
He plans to show dairy steers and dairy feeders again this year. Although the unified format may be more convenient for exhibitors, Steele said he feels like the dairy steer show isn't part of the state fair experience any longer.
"We're not showing during any of the other shows," he said. "We'll be the only livestock in the beef barn. There'll be 40 exhibitors there instead of 500."
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