07/20/2025
I've been asked multiple times in the past why we put together "such fancy stall displays for just a county fair". Or put so much work into fitting our sheep for "just a little show".
In order to answer that question we've got to go way back in time. When I first started in 4-H many years ago showing cattle (we won't say how many years ago, but the number starts with a 3), I loved the displays set up by the farms that did a lot of showing. So much time and planning went into those set-ups.
I always dreamed of being able to walk my Jersey cow onto the colored shavings at Madison or my beef onto the iconic green shavings of Louisville. But as a kid those were just dreams out of reach, and winning the county fair would have meant as much to me as any of those big shows. Heck, I'm in my 40s now and still dreaming of someday showing sheep in Louisville.
So I worked my rear end off as a kid to do my absolute best and treated my two local county fairs as if they were the big shows, which in my world they were, because they were the only shows I attended. I stood on the sidelines and watched the big breeders and wanted to someday be like them.
My pinnacle moment came when my Jersey cow won her class and got a mention in the champion drive and I won champion beef showman all in the same year. You would think I had won a major. But for a kid who only showed locally, that county fair win was a major show for me.
And I've always remembered how I felt seeing the farms that did so well and took such pride in their stock and their displays. I knew that if I was going to show as an adult I would want to be that person that a young kid like I was would see and know even though it was a county fair we took pride in our animals and what we were doing. To that child it's not "just a county fair" it's a major show.
So my message to all of you, no matter what you do there is someone in the barn who wants to be just like you. Be the best you can be, because somewhere in your background you were likely that kid just starting out with a dream.
Plus at the county fair you likely have more chances to introduce the general public to livestock than you will have at the major shows. So give the best impression you can to them as well.
These pictures are from last year, in just a couple weeks I'll be posting pictures from this year.