The Agriculture Industry is filled with numerous leaders, mentors, influencers, and role models that many of us look up to and strive to be like. We often wonder how these individuals get to the point of making such a powerful impact on others. One particular individual, who has been making an impact for the last 50 years, has touched hundreds of lives and continues to do so through teaching and coaching. Dr. Dan Hoge of Illinois was voted as the 2019 Best of the Barns Industry Leader of the Year this past January and we cannot think of a more deserving person. Dr. Dan Hoge has earned the utmost respect from the industry not only in the classroom but the show ring as well. Dr. Hoge is a professor, livestock judging coach, judge, and producer that has impacted our industry immensely through his teaching, livestock judging and breeding genetics. He is also one of the most well-known livestock judges of all time.
Dr. Hoge grew up on a purebred Duroc hog and Hereford cattle operation in Illinois. He participated in showing pigs, cattle, and sheep at a local level. Hoge went on to obtain his bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Illinois in 1966, where he participated on the livestock judging team. After receiving his bachelor’s, he chose to go on to achieve his master’s degree in animal nutrition in 1968 with a little motivation from his mentor, the Late Mel Fink. Upon graduation, Dan and his wife, Deanne, moved to Henry County (Illinois) where they have lived for 38 years raising two children, Kathy and Mark. Shortly after the move, Hoge got the opportunity at Black Hawk East College (BHE) in Kewanee, Illinois to teach some classes where he has now been teaching and coaching the livestock judging team for 50 years, this year. “It has been a journey that is hard to describe, I love teaching,” says Dr. Hoge.
More than 4,000 animal science students have sat in the seats of Dan Hoge Auditorium at BHE to listen to Hoge’s lectures and more than 700 of whom have participated on Black Hawk College livestock judging teams have also been positively influenced by Dr. Hoge. After 50 successful and impactful years Dr. Hoge will be retiring from fulltime teaching and coaching on May 31st of this year. Dr. Hoge will go down in the record books as one of the winningest coaches to date. He has coached teams to victory for 19 combined championships at the Houston Livestock Show, American Royal, National Western Stock Show, and North American International Livestock Exposition, as well as 40 National Barrow Show championships. In 2014, Dr. Hoge was honored into the Blackhawk College Hall of Fame, where more than 300 of his former students and other industry leaders attended the presentation, which is a huge testament to the impact he has made on many in our industry.
Dan Hoge has been a mentor and role model to so many over the years. “Dan Hoge is an industry giant. A man that is tireless in his dedication to teaching our young people. The number of lives he’s touched is staggering,” says Dr. Blake Bloomberg, a former student, judging team member, and now livestock judging coach at BHE. Dr. Hoge makes the effort to ensure every single one of his students is getting something out of his lectures and coaching. “At Black Hawk, everybody counts, not just the good ones” is the motto that Dan uses day in and day out and it is something that he instills into all of the coaches and assistant coaches that have come through to help at BHE.
Dr. Hoge has a passion for our industry unlike any other. When asked where he sees this industry going into the future, he states, “The pride that we are seeing in our three grandchildren – Carter, Nolan, and Nora Grace – they’re learning how to win and they are also learning how to lose gracefully and that is the best thing that they can be doing.” Hoge’s passion for youth livestock showing transfers into the classroom. He stresses to his students that they, the millennial generation, are the future of our Ag Industry and it can be an endless future if it is done right. He believes that youth livestock showing is the best way to instill management skills into young individuals who can then, educate others down the road. “People want to raise their children in a barn. It is the best way and it is something families can do by themselves, as a family,” states Hoge. He believes we are leaving the future of our industry is in very good hands as long as our youth continue to stay heavily involved.
Hoge’s humble presence in our industry has been impactful on thousands of lives. Although he has never seen himself as an industry leader, he is simply one of the best in our industry. He humbly states that he has never been the flamboyant type, he has just simply been Dan Hoge – honest, caring, and modest. “I remind our students today that it is not a matter of where you start, it is a matter of where you end. When your call comes, and your life is finished if the score is 51 to 49 you’ve won in the game of life, because the ups and downs are really an equalizer.” His goal every day is to help someone take one step farther and learn who they are as a person, and that is why we believe he was voted the 2019 Best of the Barns Industry Leader of the Year. Thank you, Dr. Dan Hoge, for everything you have done for our industry.
