My children are active in FFA and 4-H. It is a big part of our lives. We spend a lot of time and money supporting our local chapters. As a child, I was a member of the local 4-H Club. I gave speeches, did demonstrations, built projects, learned to cook, and participated with many different activities. But being raised in town, showing livestock was not part of my 4-H experience. So when I married my husband, a FFA advisor, I quickly learned that his job translated into us spending our weekends at livestock shows. I would visit my grandparents' farm as a child, but spending time with the animals was just a quick visit to the pen and throwing food into a trough.
When our son was 5 years old, my husband came home with two gilts (for those non-farm people--that is two female pigs). These animals were to become my son's first show projects. Betty and Wilma became the center of our lives. Not only did they have to be fed more than once a day, they had to be walked, watered, kept cool, and bathed on a regular bases. Over the years, I have learned the best way to bathe a hog without being soaked. I have learned to give show hogs shots without hurting them. I have even learned to read ear notches (the system used by breeders to tell the litter and birth order of each pig).
Three years ago, my husband and son threw me a curve ball. They decided that we needed to start showing lambs. I had never been around lambs. What I knew about lambs, I had learned in the Bible. After the first adorable little lamb was unloaded off the trailer, I thought this will be a piece of cake. Boy, was I wrong!!! Lambs are the dumbest animals on earth. They don't seem to learn from mistakes. My son was able to train several of his show hogs like you would dogs; but the sheep don't have the intelligence to learn simple tasks. So preparing for livestock shows with sheep require hours of work. Each morning someone has to get up before dawn to feed them before work and school. Then after school they have to be walked, both on the walker and by a person. Then there is time setting them up and teaching them to brace. Then another feeding time. They are a delicate animal. They have to be watched and guarded.
Show season is here! Now it is time to reap the benefits of all our hard work. Showing livestock is a group effort. All of us have jobs before showing, during the shows, and afterwards. But watching my children walk into the ring and walking out with a blue ribbon makes it all worth while. We went to a livestock show this weekend. I was able to watch my son walk away with the Reserve Grand Champion ribbon. By the end of the week, we will be traveling to Denver, Colorado to compete in the National Western Stock Show. Last year we were lucky enough to earn a Reserve Breed Champion banner. This year we hope to be just as successful. Say a prayer for us as we travel to Colorado with our children and animals. I will keep you posted.
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