Giants steer fairgoers to amazing livestock

Jimmy Stroup

At 6-feet, 8-inches tall and tipping the scales at a massive 3,400

pounds, White Mountain the giant steer provides the biggest animal

thrills available this year at the fair.

Well, he and his equine partner Hercules, whose 2,850 pounds and 6

feet, 6 inches in height is nothing to scoff at.

At $1 for adults and 50 cents for kids and seniors, you can look

up at White Mountain and Hercules -- unless they’re lying down.

“He was very gentle,” said Rebecca Gibbons of Irvine who saw White

Mountain on Friday with her three kids and two of their cousins.

“He got real close to us. You could touch him with your knees

because his head was bent down, even though you’re not really

supposed to touch,” she whispered.

“It’s big,” was all her daughter Megan, 9, could bring herself to

say.

And with a strict diet of one bale of hay, 15 pounds of grain and

30 gallons of water per day, White Mountain isn’t likely to get any

smaller.

The steer is a large Italian breed known as Chianina, which was

primarily used for heavy labor. White Mountain is twice as big as

they usually come, according to the information sheet you get as you

enter his tent.

“You know how Shaquille O’Neal is, like, a really tall person?

It’s like that,” said Cassie Conway, 17, a Corona del Mar High School

senior, who’s been working with White Mountain and Hercules at the

fair all month.

Hercules is a Brabant, or a Belgian draft, and is a full foot

taller than his breed normally grows. The “giant horse” is also known

for his easy temperament, a trait Hercules has plenty of.

“Yes, he was giant,” said Amy Rand, 29, of Lake Forest. “And he

had a short tail ... and I asked the girl, and she said he used to be

a carriage horse, and that’s why they bobbed his tail.”

Neither White Mountain nor Hercules will be pulling anything but

their own weight anymore. They adhere to a yearly schedule of summer

fair touring and wintering in relaxation at their home in Bradenton,

Fla., on the 15-acre ranch of owner Tom Beimborn.

More than anything, the giant horse and the giant steer provide

gasps and gazes for the locals at the Orange County Fair who’ve never

seen anything like them before.

“I think he needs to go on a diet,” said 13-year-old Brittney

Duggan of Irvine about White Mountain.

Another way to look at it came from Jennifer Raner, 29, a camp

counselor at the Rainbow Rising program out of Irvine, who saw White

Mountain on Friday.

“That’s a lot of steak,” she said.

Hercules and White Mountain are on display in the livestock area

near the Yellow gate at the Orange County Fair until Sunday.