James Avery of Buckland, Massachusetts, made a business from showing his huge record-breaking oxen at county fairs and shows across the country. He had been interested in oxen from his earliest days, but in 1893, he took a pair of large, although not record-breaking oxen, and began to feed and work them. By the end of that year, they weighed a total of 6,100 pounds. When one died, he replaced him. Avery eventually owned five big oxen. By 1906, his show was no longer profitable and he stopped touring.