The End of an Era

When most professional athletes retire from their sports a lot of them do it because they aren't physically able to preform at the best level or simply because they lose the passion and the drive that made them want to do their sport in the first place. Most of them retire when it feels right and they have accepted that it's time to say goodbye. I wish that was the case here. I wish I was ready to say goodbye. I wish I could go one or two or ten more years. I wish I was ok with walking away from my biggest passion. But i'm not. Next year will be the first year that I won't get to show livestock in over 10 years. Does it suck....yes. Am I sad... heck yes. This was my one true passion in life that I was half way good at.

Thursday I went to my neighboring county for their fair. It was a nice day for the show and there was a good number of animals. In my class there were 7 wethers and I got 1st place and 3rd place!!!! All summer I have been 2nd, 3rd, last but never first. I had shown against some of the competition before and didn't figure I had a chance but the judge really liked one of my wethers. Since I had 2 wethers in the same class and I didn't bring anyone with me I had a kid from my county help and he got to show the one that got 1st. He did a great job showing. His wethers ended up winning grand and reserve. I was really happy to end up with a first at my last show it just made my day a little less sad. Only disappointing part was not winning Senior Showmanship. I wouldn't care if I didn't know the girl and know that she hates showing and didn't want to be there. The judge said great things about me but apparently I messed up a turn or some BS like that. But hey no use crying over spilled milk I have won my fair share of showmanship awards over the years.

In fact over the past 10 years my family and I have won 4 trophies, 6 buckles, 1 glass plate, 5 banners, 3 lawn chairs, 5 bags, 13 jackets, 7 plaques, different buckets and feeders, and over 285 ribbons (not counting the ones that get chewed on and lost in the show box). We have shown in 4 different states Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma and many different county fairs.

This is only a small portion we have on display! We have a box full of the little ribbons. 

  The 3 buckles I've won. 

3 ribbons our buck Pop won in Oklahoma. 

A plaque I won. 

Here are some of my favorite pins I've found that really capture my experiences showing livestock.