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Special-needs student beats the odds to show a dairy cow


When 14-year-old Cody Walker became infected with spinal meningitis at an early age, doctors thought he’d remain in a permanent vegetative state.

“We would be lucky to see him smile,” his mother Angela Walker recalls doctors saying.

But to her amazement Sunday, after all the impossibilities her son has overcome, Cody Walker — with the assistance of his buddy 15-year-old Tyler Benes — became the first special-needs child to show a dairy cow at the 82nd annual Sarasota County Agricultural Fair. The pair received first in show and second in class for a Holstein calf that Cody named “Moo-Moo.”

Tammy Boyce, a 4-H leader of the Livestock Club of Sarasota County and a dairy leader of the Sarasota Moo Crew, said Cody’s mom came to her last year asking if it was possible for him to show livestock at the county fair. Boyce said she’d seen a Tampa-based program at the State Fair the last five years called “Sassy Cows” and thought it’d be “amazing” to help Cody show a dairy cow.

Sassy Cows is a group of special-needs students that shows cows.

She enlisted the help of Tyler Benes, whose cow had became sick after six months of training and was returned to Dakin Dairy, which leases cows to local 4-H programs.

The boys worked very well together.

“They gelled,” Boyce said. “It was a really good opportunity for Tyler because he was able to show, and on the other hand he was able to assist Cody. It’s an amazing story in itself.”

Cody, who has physical limitations, would not have been able to safely walk Moo-Moo around the rink without Tyler’s help.

Tyler’s mother Erin Benes was stunned by what she saw from her son who embraced Cody, not as a special-needs student, but his pal.

“They have a bond that I honestly don’t really understand as a mom,” Erin Benes said. “They are friends. They see each other and they high-five each other and they get each other.

“Tyler just had this compassion and empathy and he treats Cody just like he treats anybody else. I’m super proud to be his mom and very impressed the way he handled the cow and he handled Cody.”

Angela Walker said her teenage son isn’t always the easiest to get along with.

Cody is part of a blended family — his mother re-married — and doesn’t always get treated like other children on the playground or in public.

Cody can quickly become upset and break things, he becomes excited and “spastic,” and he isn’t able to speak. He communicates through an electronic tablet that his mother said he has sometimes broken by placing it in the sink and turning the water on.

Angela Walker said watching her son in the livestock arena with Tyler was like “watching a miracle unfold before your eyes.”

Cody had little experience walking on sand, but stepped onto the loose surface without trouble. Tyler followed him, placing a hand firmly on his shoulder to let him know he was there. The two moved in unison around the rink with a calf that weighed about 400 pounds.

The cow, who Angela Walker said seemed to be aware of Cody’s limitations, was careful around her son. The animal was steady despite a stir from the crowd.

Erin Benes said she was equally nervous and emotional watching the boy’s performance.

“I was just really proud of them,” said Erin Benes. “Cody was just smiling. He was having the time of his life; he understands everything.”

Cody had to answer a judge’s questions about his cow, which he did by pointing to parts of the cow.

Angela Walker said Cody’s grades may never be perfect and she won’t get to find out what college he will go to, but for the rest of their life they have a wonderful moment at the fair.

She hopes her son’s effort inspires other families with special-needs children to participate in 4-H or the National FFA Organization.

“We get to have that he’s the first (special-needs student) in Sarasota County to show dairy with a large animal,” Angela Walker said.

Before this weekend’s county fair, Cody had been showing plants for 4-H.

Boyce, who is also the president of Yellowbrick Road of Florida farms where the Dakin Dairy calves are kept for local agriculture clubs, says she wants to continue helping special-needs students show livestock.

Yellowbrick Road farms, whose property is leased by Sarasota Baptist Church, also has beef cows, chickens, turkeys and rabbits.

“With Cody, it’s opening everybody’s eyes that these kids can do it along with the rest of them,” Boyce said. “He was like a natural.”

Source: heraldtribune.com


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