Mikayla Ouart, of rural Neponset, this year’s “Knee High By the Fourth of July Girl,” measured the corn on her father, Ron’s farm at 7 feet on Monday June 30. Mikayla, a junior at Kewanee High School, stands 5 feet 8 inches tall. [Photo by Dave Clarke]

When we called to ask Mikayla Ouart if she would be our “Knee High By the Fourth of July Girl” this year, her father, Ron, answered the phone. He said his 15-year-old daughter was out in the field raking hay.

Each year we try to find a young woman who is actively involved in agriculture, and Mikayla certainly fills the bill. Since 1979 we have set out to measure the height of the corn crop just before July 4 calling on a local farmer’s daughter to do the honors. Years ago farmers would say that if the corn was knee high by the Fourth, they would likely have a good crop. Corn has been much higher that by early July for decades, but it’s still a good spot on the calendar to see where the current crop stands compared to previous years.

The Ouarts run a grain and cow/calf operation amid the rolling hills of western Neponset Township. God’s country couldn’t look any better.

A typical farm family, Ron and his wife, Jenny have four children — Payton, 18, a 2025 graduate of Kewanee High School; Mikayla, 15, who will be a junior this fall at KHS; Megan, 12, in seventh grade at Central; and Parker, 10, a fifth grader at Irving.

Ron planted Wyffels W1509 on May 7, a little later than usual, as was much of this year’s crop due to rains and cooler soil temperatures in April. Heat and humidity in recent weeks, however, have given the corn a growth spurt which should help develop it to the tassel stage on or shortly after July 4.

Mikayla spent many hours this spring behind the wheel of her dad’s Case-IH Magnum pulling a field cultivator to prepare the ground for planting. [Photo by Dave Clarke]

Tall, green stalks on the Ouart farm, checked with a tape by 5’ 6” Mikayla on Monday, June 30, measured exactly 7 feet from the tip of the top leaf to the bend in the root at the bottom. Last year, Wethersfield High School senior Traiden Hier measured the corn in her father Dan’s field just south of Kewanee at 5’ 8.”

The “Knee High” tale of the tape over the decades lists 1990 as having the shortest corn at 3 feet, measured by Allison Pratt, of Neponset. The tallest recorded was 9’ 3” in 2007, measured by the Fargher cousins, Rachel and Natalie, on Natalie’s father Mark’s farm on Midland Road.

Mikayla was nominated by her ag teacher, Kindra Callahan, and easily fits the three threshold requirements — live on a farm, have a father with a cornfield he is willing to have measured, and, most importantly, is actively involved in agriculture both on and off the farm.

Mikayla is a member of the Kewanee FFA Chapter and Key Club. She also plays on Kewanee Boilers volleyball and softball teams. She is also a member of the chapter’s leadership team as co-chairman of the Strengthening Agriculture Committee.

An active member of the Kewanee FFA Chapter, Mikayla helped with the chapter’s plant sale this spring. [Kewanee FFA Chapter photo]

In addition to raking hay, Mikayla ran her dad’s mammoth Case-IH Magnum doing the field cultivating this spring. She is also the unofficial bucket calf “mom.” Bucket calves have either been orphaned or separated from their mothers shortly after birth and are raised by humans feeding them milk replacer with a special bucket equipped with a large nipple.

This past year she was one of the top members of her chapter’s livestock and horse evaluation teams, placing high individual in the Reasons Division in the Section 3 Dan Hog Invitational Livestock Judging Contest held at Black Hawk East, and 6th out of 300 individuals earning a Superior Rating in the Reasons Division of the Illinois FFA Horse Evaluation CDE, also held at BHE. She was also successful in proficiency interview competition reaching the District level in her Supervised Agricultural Experience, Equine Production Placement.

She attributes her success in “reasons” competition to an organized approach and a format used to evaluate the animals being judged. In the Reasons Division, judges must evaluate and place four animals first to last. They are then given several minutes to formulate why they placed them in that order, then orally give those reasons explaining why they placed them as they did. Mikayla said when it comes to competition, she never tries to outdo everyone else, “I just try to do my best.”

There are no horses on the Ouart farm, but Mikayla is a member of the Youth Equestrian Development Association YEDA) show team at TriCo Equestrian Center, west of Kewanee, entering competitions across the country.

She considers living and growing up on a farm a privilege and wants to be an ag teacher so she can inform others about agriculture. She would like to use her love and knowledge to inspire and educate others, including those who do not live on a farm.

Mikayla said her desire to be an ag teacher stems from an interest in elementary school in becoming a teacher, combined with an experience in sixth grade when one of the brood cows in her father’s beef herd had twins sparking serious interest in agriculture.

Mikayla will have two more busy years in the Kewanee FFA. She then plans to attend Black Hawk College East Campus where she will be an ag transfer major and undoubtedly take a shot at a spot on a judging team before transferring to a four-year college.