The core of farming
Imagine spending a day immersed in what you think is an absolute environment of pure joy and pleasure. Oh wait, I do not need to envision this because I just lived it.
Recently, I was fortunate to be asked back to judge the Oliver County Fair Junior livestock show in North Dakota. This showring world is one that our family has enjoyed for the past 17 years, and in fact I have been a part of the livestock exhibition world for my entire life. But quite honestly, I enjoyed this event more than any I ever remember. Nothing really special happened and yet everything that happened was special.
Young people paraded their hogs, goats, sheep and beef cattle in front of me. I had to remind the grandparents several times, particularly in the showmanship divisions, that this would not be a quick process because I was there to get to know the kids and learn about their projects. I did visit with each kid who exhibited an animal every single time they came into the ring.
This would be a great time to remind everyone of a quote that has been used by livestock judges for years, although the original author is not known for certain, it hits the nail on the head: “We are not using the kids to make the livestock better, we use the livestock to make the kids better.”
Upon reflection of the day, there were really several reasons it was such a special event. First off, it was a complete escape from the troubling issues we face in the world today. Instead, the weather was ideal and families were all calmly working together to showcase their projects. In addition, I visited with kids that were rooted, confident and committed to finding their own way in life. As I visited with each one of them, they expressed how much fun they were having, how much they enjoyed working with their animals and how much they were looking forward to the future.
Let’s face it, it is not an easy time to be a teenager with a daily barrage of headlines about young people who may have lost their way, but this group of young livestock enthusiasts were anything but that. I must also mention that I had a great showing of young men who were not sitting back letting the young women run away with the show. Far too many of our youth groups today are completely dominated by dedicated young women. Being the dad of three strong, independent young women, I get that. In Oliver, there were young women battling for the top spots in each class, but particularly in showmanship, the young men were in contention and won half of the species.
I mentioned to Rick Schmidt, the Extension educator who runs the show, how well all the kids get along. This was an open junior show so 4-H members from all counties were welcome to exhibit at this fair. Schmidt told me that he gets quite a bit of grief because he refuses to make it a series point show and, in his opinion, that keeps the families coming back that seek a great environment for their kids instead of just a cut-throat competition. I am as competitive as anyone but I feel that in far too many cases we have parents that have lost sight of what the real purpose of the activity is supposed to be.
To give you a glimpse of the show, here are the goals I had as the judge: Encourage youth to have a positive outlook about being part of the keystone business responsible for feeding humanity. Remind them how important they are to all of our futures. And finally, more selfish in nature, I get a hard-core refresher course about the importance of what I do when I am away from what I love most. Being away from home is only justified by the fact that I am fighting so that everyone in rural America can continue making a living in the best family business anyone can be engaged in—farming and ranching.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. 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].
