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Lesson from the county fairMy family has just completed a very intensive week at the county fair. It was non-stop 150 miles per hour for 5 straight days with challenges and rewards and, without a doubt, a great experience. Libbi exhibited horses, goats, lambs, pigs and cattle. Her horse project went well-- probably not as well as she has done in the past, but a couple of medals are hanging on her wall for the accomplishments. The best part of the competition is just that: the competition. You see, there is a young man her age in the county; and every time they go into the ring, it is each other that they are gunning to beat. This year, they split--with each one winning two events; but every time he saw Libbi for the next five days, it was the same response, "Next year, you're going down, Libbi." As a parent, that is healthy and is the type of attitude that enables the United States of America to be the global leader in food production. In fact, for the rest of the week, Libbi was Reserve showman in all four livestock species she exhibited. With the exception of goats, for the other three she was Champion showman the first year she exhibited. We were discussing that after the fair and she said, "Dad, I don't get it. The first year I won each one of those and now I only get second." My fatherly advice is: It isn't too hard to figure out-- those other young men you beat are now saying, "We are going to get better and not let that girl, Libbi Loos, beat us again." The efforts of one individual does have the ability to inspire others to be better. I told her, "You just need to work that much harder and not let them win." Personally, I have run the gamut on the importance of exhibiting livestock. At one time in my life, it was the most important thing to me. In fact, at one time, we made a living raising, showing and selling purebred hogs. Then I seemed to grasp that the showing of livestock really didn't do much, if anything, to improve the industry itself and completely distanced myself from the notion. But, in reality, showing livestock--whether it be at the local county fair or big kids showing at the National Barrow Show in Austin, Minn.--all creates the opportunity to improve the people, if not the product. The one thing that does trouble me about county fair, more so today than any time earlier in my life, is it seems as though organizers try to create rules that make it more fair. I will tell you up front I am excluding rules that prevent the use of illegal compounds that alter animals; but aside from them, it appears to me most rules are geared at stymieing individual performance. For example, this year a new rule was put into place stating that no animal within its species could sell for more money than the champion brings during the premium auction. That new rule cost 12 kids money, because they topped out when the bidders would have paid more. The absolute reason that we need to continue programs like 4-H is it creates the perfect teaching environment for our kids. In fact, during the fair, I was broadcasting my radio programs and frequently would mention what was going on at the fair that day--which generated an e-mail from a listener in North Carolina. Here is what he told me. Boy, you can sure make me feel like a bad parent. I hear about all of the great things you get to do with your kids and how they are learning about responsibility and work. Being city people, we don't have a nice country place where we can raise animals. My kids sit around and watch the Disney channel all day long, play on the Wii and go to the pool--a bunch of lazy bums (and I will include my stay-at-home wife in that category, too.) I am away from home at the office all day so I can't be around to do things with them such. I guess I am just envious of the things you get to do that I am unable to do because of the decisions/choices I have made. It is not my intention to make any other parent feel bad; but let me also tell you, I do not apologize for teaching my girls that you should work hard and try to win. I think the biggest problem in our nation today is that we are far too apologetic for being the best. The American citizen is winning the competition for safe, wholesome, healthy, reasonably priced food and that is not something we should apologize for. We need to simply accept the medal for a job well done and come back stronger next year, knowing others are gunning to take us down. Editor's note: 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.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.
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