Leading off this class

Last week was an absolutely fantastic week for me all because of the demographic that I got to spend a tremendous of time with—young people in agriculture. It started at Ohio State University for the Showpig.com All-Star Camp with 29 of the brightest our nation has to offer. I have been involved with this for the past four years and it is one awesome leadership academy for young people from across the country.

How many times, in farm country, do we really get to inspect the very products we produce? Honestly, we talk a lot about the disconnect between food producers and consumers but what about us? How often do we see the food we produce? I would venture to say that it is not often enough.

Each of the kids at this camp are obviously show pig enthusiasts and understand clearly how to care for and present a pig. The one aspect I focus on in my involvement with all junior livestock groups is that we must do better at bridging the gap between kids who love animals and the commercial sector that needs human capital.

So day one of the six day camp is for live evaluation of the pigs. Just like they do in a show, these kids get to see the different live aspects, which they are very accustomed to. This year there were five head of market, one commercial pig and the rest were a purebred of one breed or another. Immediately after the live evaluation the pigs are harvested and put in the OSU meat science lab.

Clearly this leadership camp offers much more than simply meat science 101 but for the purposes of this piece, that is what I am going to focus on. By day three of camp, the fabrication of the carcasses begins. Not only did the kids assist with this but they were trained in color and marbling scores while it happened. By noon that day, some of the pork had been ground and served as sausage for lunch. On day four, the loins were cooked and eaten. I am not sure where we can get a better glimpse of the end result of what we are doing on farms than this amazing educational experience.

Fresh off this great endeavor, I got home just in time to judge the Platte County swine jackpot show in Columbus, Nebraska. Yes, we are like so many other families and enjoy exhibiting pigs but it is the showmanship classes that we put a tremendous amount of time and effort into. The reward has come for our efforts because both Lindsi and Landri Loos have been champion showman within their divisions at the Nebraska State Fair. In fact, in 2017 Lindsi was the Elite Swine showman over champions from county fairs across the state. 

For my senior showmanship class at the jackpot show there were 13 kids in the class and I decided to ask each of them two questions as they entered the ring. First, when was your pig born?  The second question was what is the most valuable part of the pig as we sell it as pork in the grocery store? One boy said the ham, 11 picked the loin and only one girl got it right—bacon from the belly. 

Interestingly enough we have put so much selection pressure on making loins bigger and leaner that now they are a drag on the market. It is harder to sell the loin than any other part of the pig. In fact, aside from the runaway bacon story that is happening right now, the shoulder is hot. Lindsi even ordered a hamburger in a restaurant the other day that had pulled pork on it. Shoulder fat tastes so yummy and pulled pork from the shoulder has become a value driver.

Aside from all the meat science education that happened in the past week, clearly the most important part of my involvement was the kids themselves. I truly enjoyed judging that show and it had nothing do to with the pigs and everything to do with this crop of young future leaders for our country. 

With so many people asking, “What is wrong with kids today?” My response is: hang with me for a week and I will show you a set of kids that lead off this class by setting an example for all of what can be accomplished with hard work and dedication.

Editor’s note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].