When October rolls around, my brain goes to a couple of things. My birthday. Enrollment for the next 4-H year starts and National 4-H week.
But for me to look ahead, I wanted to pause and reflect on September. The Kansas State Fair is always the first part of September, with the Grand Drive 4-H shows taking place during the first weekend. While my own kids haven’t jumped in and shown at the state fair just yet, my nieces and nephews do. Plus, the Journal sponsors the Grand Drive showmanship awards, and in the 25 years it’s been going on, this is the first time I’ve got to partake in the Gala festivities, which was pretty darn cool in itself.
This year, after Dave Bergmeier and I handed out the first set of showmanship awards and smiled for photos, I listened in on the thoughts of the swine judge before he selected the champion animals in the ring in front of us. Clay Zwilling had many positive comments about the show, and I couldn’t help but appreciate how he put it into words much better than I could about the fierce competition.
The Grand Drive at the Kansas State Fair was a noteworthy milestone and Zwilling said that’s because of the people who have dedicated their time, resources and lives to the venue and shows.
“We stand in the ring often as judges, breeders, leaders, and say, this is the best place to raise kids. And I truly believe that, and many of you sitting ringside do believe that,” he said. “But if we’re going to keep this going for the next 25, 50, 100 years, we as adults also have to look in the mirror and realize that every one of these young kids are looking at us.”
He reminded those sitting in the packed grandstands those kids are going to be looking to the adults, the older kids and others involved in the industry. He encouraged everyone to be a strong role model, and to put the livestock and kids ahead of themselves.
“I challenge us as adults to look around and realize that we can all look and do things a little better, regardless of what specie we’re in and regardless of what we see because the one thing that I do believe at nights like this, opportunities like this, that we all do believe is that these kids and this business is worth fighting for, for the future,” Zwilling said.
He acknowledged and challenged the adults, leaders and young people who are aging out of showing to remember there’s a new generation of young kids watching.
“It’s our responsibility to make sure we foster that environment,” he said. “So, let’s make sure we’re doing our part to do that.”
As a parent, I’m often challenged with the choices of what to let my children do. Do I relent and let my 13-year-old get on social media? Do I let him not go out for a sport? Do we forget about these show animals and save that money for something else? More often than not, I second guess my choices.
After the Gala was over, we drove home that night and planned to get up early the next day to go back to the fair to help our nieces and nephews with their goats and sheep since the shows were happening back-to-back on Sunday. I expected a fight with a very late night and even earlier morning. But it didn’t happen. Both boys held goats and sheep, washed and dried animals and ran back and forth between barns. They were so helpful and Uncle Jeff rewarded them with a trip to the Dairy Bar under the grandstands for ice cream.
This past weekend we finished up our season with the goats as the boys showed at their second Kansas Junior Livestock Show in Hutchinson. We were impressed with the weight the “little” bottle baby had managed to pack on since our county fair in July. He was awesome in showmanship and managed fourth in his market class. The does placed well in their classes, too. We were all in tears as the wether went on the truck for his next adventure and the does went back to the breeder to hopefully be mothers someday.
Our tears were soon dry as we managed to purchase my oldest son’s next market steer project, and our next challenge has already begun.
Kylene Scott can be reached at 620-227-1804 or [email protected].
