Two well-known and well-respected farmers were honored for their outstanding service to the community on March 14 at the annual Washtenaw County Agriculture Banquet held at Chelsea High School.
In front of about 300 people, Jim Bristle and Loren Heller were recognized for their distinguished service.
Bristle grew up on a dairy farm, graduated from Michigan State University and married his high school sweetheart. He now has 10 grandchildren.
He went into partnership with his father, milking an average of 83 cows a day, until his dad passed when the partnership became a sole proprietorship.
Since then, he’s switched to raising and selling beef cattle and continues to serve his neighbors in agriculture, helping out during medical emergencies or injuries during harvest times, said Mike Schaible who introduced him.
But Bristle is probably most widely known as the farmer who discovered the wooly mammoth on his farm in 2015. He reached worldwide celebrity status and donated the mammoth to the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History where it can be viewed by visitors.
He was honored for his passion and commitment to achieving excellence in livestock and agriculture farming, Schaible said, adding, and he continues to show his grandchildren the value of hard work, service and character.
Chelsea Community Fair visitors probably know Heller best as the voice of the Fair Livestock auction during which he’s helped thousands of youth sell their animals.
But did you know he has lived in the community his entire life and lives in his childhood home?
“This individual has spent a lifetime helping his own family, as well as neighbors work ground, harvest crops, put up hay, feed livestock, deliver newborns but most importantly, eat pretzels while losing at Euchre and enjoying a beverage,” said Joe Koenegeter, who introduced him.
Heller has raised sheep, hogs and cattle for market and as show animals for many family members that took home champion ribbons with them.
“One of his favorite words is ‘sold,’” Koenegeter said.
Heller’s family says that he has always been an impromptu marketer, auctioning off hairbrushes and stuffed animals as easily as he has auctioned livestock or farm equipment.
“Like most livestock owners, it would be normal to find our honoree at Michigan Livestock, now UPI, or one of the other livestock markets, making deals in one way or another,” Koenegeter said, while joking that he enjoys spending time with his livestock so much he occasionally forgets to close the gate and the animals roam free from time to time.
During the banquet, the Chelsea High School food staff served up a wonderful meal, and the guests were entertained by a local comedian.
More than 150 local supporters provided financial donations and door prizes for the event, according to Barb Satterthwaite, who added a donation was made to the Washtenaw County Project Red program, which organizes a rural education day for more than 1,900 third-grade children throughout the county.
