Lessons Learned In The Barn, Memories Made In The Ring
It’s that time of year again — county and state fair season is upon us!
After months of work, young people head to town with the fruits of their labor. The pickup and trailer are loaded. The camper is packed. Mom and dad are hustling to get everything lined up and taken care of at home. The kids are excited. And the chaos of fair week begins.
If you had the opportunity to grow up participating in 4-H, FFA, or junior livestock shows, you know the feeling well. It’s year-round preparation. It’s the day-to-day grind in the barn, morning and night. It’s washing. Feeding. Brushing. Blowing. Leading. Clipping. Fitting. And the list goes on.
Our family is in the thick of it right now. We’ve been working on five head of beef animals this summer in our barn, and our eight-year old and ten-year old are showing.
We just got home from the South Dakota Summer Spotlight, and in the next month, we’ll show at the Sanborn County Fair, Sioux Empire Fair, and South Dakota State Fair.
It’s going to be a whirlwind, but the kids love every minute of it.
As a parent, I’ve thought a lot about the return on investment for participating in a sport like cattle shows. And it really is a sport.
For us, we aren’t in this deal to raise club calves; we are focused on highlighting the cattle we raise for our seedstock business. We remind the kids continually that we want the cattle we bring to town to be a reflection of the animals we are raising for our commercial cattle ranching customers.
We want them to be well-fed, professionally presented, docile, and competitive. We want the genetics to be a highlight of our program, and our goal is to connect with our network of friends and peers in the beef cattle business when we travel to these events.
We also see it as an opportunity to advocate for agriculture, tell our story to an urban audience, and maybe teach families attending the fairs a little bit more about where their food comes from and the people who are stewards of the land and livestock.
And even more than winning (although taking home belt buckles and banners is super exciting for the kids), we believe showing cattle is a great way to raise up our children.
We want them to know the importance of work ethic. We want them to set goals and work each day to get a little bit closer to that goal. We want them to know the joy of winning, and we want them to learn how to lose with grace. We want them to be driven to success, and we also want them to make friends and build lifelong connections along the journey.
We help and teach where we can. We learn and grow and ask questions of those who have more skills and expertise. We remain humble and kind, no matter the situation. We strive to get better with each day.
And at the center, we focus the entire thing around our faith. God has given us these great opportunities; may our faith be reflected in the work we do, and the people we meet along the way.
We want them to realize this is a family-centered sport, where we work as a team. We grow as a team. We cheer each other on. We win and lose together. We spend countless hours in the barn on a shared goal.
We are learning life lessons together in the barn, and we are making memories in the show ring.
Yes, fair season is upon us, and I wish great luck to all of the exhibitors, and I salute the exhausted parents cheering on every eager show kid in the upcoming weeks ahead. May the coffee be strong. May your washing machine hold up to all of the laundry coming your way.
And may we all keep our eyes set on the prize — we aren’t just raising livestock doing this thing; we are raising the future leaders in agriculture. Let’s do this thing right.