With more than 100 hundred years of his family’s history invested in Metcalfe County Steve Branstetter 34, is following in the footsteps of his great, great-grandfather (and all since him) farming outside Edmonton.
Every morning he wakes before sunrise to feed the cattle and horses. By 7:45 a.m., he’s off to work, as a truant officer and health coordinator for the Metcalfe County School System. But that’s only until 3 p.m., when he returns to his farm work.
“This is home,” he said. “And the community is a great place.”
Both his jobs mean a lot to him. The schoolchildren require a lot of attention, but Steve’s heart is in the fields, with his horses. He raises thoroughbreds and dreams of someday raising a Kentucky Derby winner. He says the horse industry is depressed now, but expects it to rebound any day now. Linda, his wife of 13 years, is a teacher at Summer Shade Elementary School. Their children, Amber 7 and Bart, 5, help their dad feed, and then they play basketball together. Steve calls them his “greatest joy.”
He plans to “stay here and eventually leave the school system and get into raising thoroughbreds full time.
“Everything I need is here.”
