So, tomorrow the big event arrives--the Clark County Fair opens up. Today I sent my oldest to weigh-in his lamb for his very first livestock show. This last week has been a rush of getting ready. I had forgotten how much time and effort went into the Clark County Junior Livestock Show, but of course, I only showed there once, my senior year--and that's been a few years. I am hoping this will be a good experience for him, but by the time we finished all of his recordbook, and I have finagled how to get down there and where to stay, and what to do with the other three for a day while dad is still at work, I was ready to pull my hair out!
My boys have been working with their lambs since the beginning of October--only one is old enough to show, but he had an alternate lamb, so his little brother was there helping for all those months--which does not make him very happy since he doesn't get to actually do any showing. The thing is, he is a natural, and I am just hoping we don't wear him out before he is old enough to actually show. The age limits frustrate me a bit. I started showing when I was 8 years old. I remember very well, because I had two older siblings showing that I couldn't wait to join. Now they have to be 9 by January first. I spent the majority of my years showing at the Southwest Utah Show, or occasionally at a Beaver County Fair. We usually each had two lambs and my brother always had a steer--I often wonder how my parents kept up with it all--of course, that show was several days shorter and more condensed--not to mention we usually had lambs donated from my Grandpa, so we didn't have the added cost of buying the lamb. It was always one of my favorite events of the year, even if it meant lots of walking of lambs even when we didn't want to. Now, other rules have changed and we aren't able to compete at both shows, the Southwest Utah and the Clark, which is another frustration for the few family's who work so hard to support their kids in these endeavors--it is a long way and a lot of work to get to either of these, let alone to go further, so it is sad that there aren't more options.
So, I am anxious to see how my son does tomorrow in his Market Class. I had hoped over the years that we would get to this point, but a few things in the past year made me wonder. My Uncle Al Cox was always one of our biggest helps and supports getting ready for the shows in my youth, and since my boys have been tiny, him and my aunt Joyce have been waiting for them to be old enough to show. Then, unexpectedly, my aunt Joyce passed away last summer. I really thought that maybe without their support it would be too much to take on--I can handle my horses, cows and chickens, but I would definitely need help getting a lamb to the show. I didn't know if Uncle Al would be up to it. I should have known better. He loves the lambs. He LOVES the livestock show, the kids, and sure enough, by fall he came to us and asked if we were up for it. So, after My son committed, and my Hubby, too, he helped us find the lamb (s)--he couldn't choose just one. ;) So, he has been there, teaching, helping, training,and I think that it has been a very good thing for him to do--to keep him busy and involved in a world that he loves. That in itself makes the work and time very worth it, though I am still hoping that it is a good experience for my son--especially since he had to miss the county spelling bee in order to go--he has been in the top two or three of his grade every year for three years, so he was a bit devastated over missing that to show. At the same time he has big dreams of showing a goat next year, maybe a pig, and definitely a steer sometime--okay, kid, give your mom a bit of a break!!
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