The Hoosier Farmer

For the past 15 years, the O’Keefe family has been a staple in the Porter County Fair’s Beef Barn. For Mike and Kimberly O’Keefe, 2026 marked the final year of 4-H for their family as their youngest daughter, Morganne, celebrated her conclusion.

“It’s the last year, the last hurrah,” Kim said.

All three of the O’Keefe daughters – Molly, Kinsey and Morganne – completed 10 years in 4-H. All three also participated in the beef project all 10 years.

“Kinsey and Morganne have won the rate-of-gain the last two years – taking champion and reserve grand champion in 2025,” Kim said.

The beef rate-of-gain contest at the Porter County Fair measures how many pounds per day a 4-H beef animal gains between the official winter weigh-in in February and the summer fair evaluation.

This year, Morganne added beef carcass show champion to her trophy stand. Beef carcass is an evaluation show where the 4-H’ers’ market beef projects are judged on their meat and economic value rather than just their live physical appearance.

“All the girls have won one of those. I'm pretty proud of them,” Kim said.

The O’Keefes operate a cow-calf operation and have a small feedlot in Kouts. The farm averages about 50 cow-calf pairs.

“We feed out our calves, and then we also buy some for the feedlot. We do freezer beef, sell to other farms and farmers market vendors that have local businesses that sell meat and want to stay local,” she said. “We also have a row crops operation with hay, corn and soybeans. It's just us – my husband and the girls.”

As a tight-knit family, the group said that helping on the farm is just a way of life.

“It’s a lot of work,” the sisters joked.

“They grew up with it and don’t know the difference,” Kim added. “Big sister did it, and they're six and four years apart, so they grew up with her doing it and it's all they knew.”

 Helping on the farm and 4-H provided key experiences and memories for each of the O’Keefe sisters.

“A huge 4-H memory I have is when my beef steer, his name was Jimmy, he won reserve grand champion rate-of-gain and broke the record for champion carcass at the Celebration Sale thanks to Valparaiso Animal Hospital,” Morganne said.

Kinsey said her favorite memory was interacting with the public in the barn while caring for their animals in between shows.

“A few years ago, there was a couple that visited from New York and they didn’t know anything about cattle,” she shared. “I got to explain to them that a lot of kids will do the sale, and it sets them up for a college fund. It teaches us hard work, responsibility and how to take care of animals. Also that once we sell it, it can go to food pantries and feed so many different people.”

Molly, the oldest daughter, said seeing her sister in the ring for the last time was bittersweet and reminded her of the times she was there.

“Watching Morganne this year, I remember when I was out there. I put my heart, sweat and tears into this and it reminded me to be proud of what you accomplish,” she said.  

Molly recalled her first year in 4-H and how Kinsey would be by her side like a shadow.

“I would walk Cupcake (their cow) and she would walk Oreo. Kinsey was four or five at the time,” she said. “I wanted time with dad, but Kinsey had to be right there and involved – a thorn in my side. But it’s always been a family thing.”

When they aren’t on the farm or volunteering in the beef barn, Mike and Kim also serve on the Porter County Farm Bureau board, where Kim previously served as president.

“It was a different role for me. It taught me that I'm a behind-the-scenes person. I'm not one to be out in front of everything,” she said. “I was very proud to serve and we learned a lot. We’re still on the board and trying to help out. We're navigating how to make time for that, care for the farm and find our place as the kids are getting older.”

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Robert Herrington

(317) 692-7871

RHerrington@infb.org