Spotlight on: Keith Maxey
Extension Agent - Dairy/4-H Youth Development - Weld County
Hello, my name is
Keith Maxey and I’m the Dairy/4-H Youth Development Agent in Weld County.
I grew up on a small dairy farm five miles east of Greeley along with my three
sisters and one brother. I was a 10-year member of the Box Elder 4-H Club with
dairy cattle being my main project area. I was active in dairy judging and was
fortunate to be on the state winning team in 1970 that went on to participate
in the National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Columbus, Ohio.
I
also had the opportunity to judge collegiately at CSU and went to nationals in
1975 – also held in Columbus, Ohio. I graduated from CSU in 1977 with a
B.S. in Animal Sciences.
My first job was with the National Holstein
Association which started the week following graduation. I worked for them for
three years and was their field representative in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado,
South Dakota and North Dakota for the first two years before transferring to
Virginia and North Carolina. It was then off to Iowa to work for Midland United
Dairy Industry Association, a company that was responsible for promoting milk
and milk products. While there I was superintendent of the Iowa State Fair
Dairy show and had the opportunity to work with the nationally known
“butter cow” lady, Duffy Lyon, who annually would sculpt a full-size
dairy cow out of butter that would be on display during the course of their
State Fair.
In 1983 I had the urge to get back into farming, so we
moved back to Colorado and partnered with my father on the dairy farm for six
years. Due to low prices in the dairy industry, I left the farm in 1989 and
went back east (North Carolina) to work as CEO of the American Dairy Goat
Association. I didn’t know a lot about goats but knew the registry
business. Then, in 1995 the position of Dairy/4-H Youth Development Agent came
open in Weld County, which gave me an opportunity to get started in Extension
and move back to my home state. Currently I live across the road from my
parent’s dairy farm where I grew up – life has a way of going in
circles!
I’ve thoroughly
enjoyed my 15 years with Extension working with families and kids involved in
4-H horse and livestock projects! Three events that I’ve organized of
which I’m most proud are:
* Colorado Dairy Youth Extravaganza
which attracted 72 kids from six Colorado counties this year. Those kids
exhibited 130 head of dairy cattle, making it the largest dairy event in the
state.
* Weld County Goat Extravaganza, which had close to 700 goats that
were exhibited this year, with participants from Wyoming, Nebraska, and many
Colorado counties.
* 4-H livestock project interviews. Close to 500
livestock project members interview and have their record books checked prior
to County Fair.
My wife, Lynn, and I have seven children and seven
grandchildren, which means a lot of dates get circled on the calendar! We enjoy
gardening, outdoor activities and playing games with family & friends.