Summer's over, the competitions have ended. So what do you do?

Why, the same thing you've done all summer, of course -- have an oxen competition.

At least, that's the way the Burdette family saw it when they called friends and family together last Saturday for a pig roast and a day of fun in Sandy Lake Township.

Jesse Burdette, a 16-year-old sophomore at Lakeview High School, took an interest in oxen a few years ago and began training his first team, Nick and Sam, in May 2000.

He is a member of the Oxeneers of Warren County 4H.

The then-three-month-old calves were born on his family's Rowitsch Road farm, No Non-Cents Acres, members of the Irish Dexter breed of cattle his parents, Steve and Doris Burdette, raise there.

"An ox is any bovine trained to work in a yoke," Jesse Burdette said.

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