4-H Meat Animal Auction....

A little while ago I posted about Big Son and his fair pigs last year. I was going through the pictures that I have and came across a few that I thought (hope) you find interesting.

This is Big Son and Otis last year before the local fair. Otis, Maude, Bessy and Tillie were like HUGE dogs. Pigs are smart animals and are very interesting if you take the time to learn about them.



This has NOTHING to do with pigs, other than we were feeding them, but who could do without a Lispy picture every few days?


He was riding his 'Harley Bikin' - he cant say bikeing... Milk Man and I splurged and both bought Harleys - No we could not afford them, but our reasoning is that we have NEVER went on a vacation in the 16 years we have been together and have only stayed away 3 nights in the 16 years we have been together. We thought we were justified in having somthing fun. We DONT go out on 'dates', to see movies, or just to get away -So there I dont feel guilty, really I dont, can you tell I dont feel guilty - I will shut up now...

Anyway the auction:

Milk Man was taking pictures and unfortunatly didnt get any good ones of Big Son. This one is of one of our 4-H members, not sure wich one. The kids bring in their animal to the show ring and the auctioneer starts the bidding.



I think this is Dale, one of the older boys we have. He took 3rd that year and won the carcass clinic. The carcass clinic is judged by the butchers and this is where the rubber meets the road. This SHOWS who is breeding or raising meat producing animals - not just what the arena judges percive as being a quality meat animal. Not one person who has won the show has won the meat carcass judging. Unfortunalty, the carcass clinic gets little, if no attention because there is no $$ involved in it..

The auction is a very stressful thing. Its hard to find buyers for the kids' projects because things are getting so expensive! The kids usually get over what market price is, but the people who are the good buyers are being 'tapped out' financially when they try to buy a little bit from all the kids. Big Son was required to send out invites to the local business's that we use - like our feed mill, seed plant, vet, lumber yard,etc. BUT, living in a small town most everyone goes to or uses the same stores. The ones who spend the most $$ at these places are usually the ones that they buy from. Luckily our neighbor, a butcher named Denny, bought Big Sons pig. He paid $2.10 per pound which was the 3rd highest pig bought that day. Denny is a great guy and his son was bidding against him so they could buy Big Sons pig at a nice price for him. We baked Denny and his son a batch of cookies for being so nice..

There is some STIFF COMPETITION when it comes to showing, even for 4-H'rs. The bigger farmers, or people with 'old' money, can afford to buy the BEST calves, pigs, chickens, sheep etc. Sometimes spending $100's of $$ for an animal that will only make them a bit more than they paid for it. But for those of us who raise and breed our own, its not as easy. We have registered Black Angus and trust me they are gorgeous in every sense. The sad thing is that some people buy what are called 'club calves' and they are bred ONLY for showing. For me 4-H should be about breeding a good meat producing (hence "meat animal project"), genetically sound - not inbred or 'linebred' which is the same thing to a degree, and well taken care of animal. Sadley, so many times this is not the case and the same people win year after year afeter year. This sticks in my craw a bit and its hard for me not to want to buy THE BEST for my boys to show with just to kick someone else's rear - BUT - I am adimant that our boys learn about the morals of breeding stock and the principal of what good morals stand for. When Big Son did not win, he was not so disapointed because he had done a great job. We told him that even if he didnt win, Otis still was a great pig because HE did the work, took care of him and that at the 'carcass clinic' we would see who had the best meat producing animal. Big Son won that hands down - na na na na - sorry about that. I hope this post doesnt sound bitter, but I am sure it does!! LOL My point is how sad is it that parents feel the need for thier children to ALWAYS win or ALWAYS be the best at everything. Showing animals is NO DIFFERANT than being a soccer mom or the freak at the football games that gets pissed cuz his kid didnt play or whatever. We need to teach our kids how to be kind, appreciative and most of all thankful for the experiences in life that help us grow. Education about life is the most important thing we can teach our kids. When these kids get older, how are they going to handle disapointment or rejection and still be ok with who they are? So disapoint them and reject them now so they are used to it when they are older!!! LOL LOL!! JUST KIDDING!





Here is a picture of Milk Man on his Harley - not that this as anything to do with the meat animal auction... See how sidetracked I get - sorry - again. This is a picture of him in his barn cloths, riding his new Harely. What a tard.... For some reason he was wearing high water pants and making a stupid face. He is about 6.5, weighs about 210 and is built like a brick SH!T house. His chest is.... I need to stop talking about him or I will end up pregnant, wait - to late. Well, lets just say he does 230 push ups a day on his knuckles. This pictures does NOT do him justice... man am I ever off task.


This is Palmer 4 years ago - he won reserve champion and took 1st in the carcass clinic...

What a GORGEOUS steer he had. This steer is a purebred Aberdeen Angus and his name was Tank - fitting dont you think?!

Well - thats it for now, sorry to get off on a tangent but sometimes it just pours out like water. We try to live our life here as one big example and I just tend to forget that some things have nothing to do with other things!!! LOL See you in the morning!!