Hardwork ALWAYS wins over High Prices

Over the years that my kids have been in 4-H showing livestock, I have met some pretty well spoken young people. Caitlyn Carnahan a student at NEO shared this on her Facebook page the other day. I asked permission to repost for all of you to share.  I would echo many of her thoughts as we enter a new show season and are shopping for this year's new projects.

I recently saw someone say that money will get you success, specifically in the livestock showing industry. This is very false and also true in a way. It is not all about money, and HARDWORK conquers all. In the end hardwork will lead you to success. Hardwork may not necessarily reflect on your winning in the showring on that day but it will prepare you to be the successful adult that you will become. 

 

With being in the livestock industry and the show industry, hardwork has gotten me a lot farther than what money has. Yes money can get you that high dollar, flashy animal but what is that teaching you? 

In the end hardwork is going to get you a lot farther in life and the real world than what money will. Money is temporary and hardwork is infinite and will last you a life time. With going into my last and 11th year showing, the hardwork that it has set within me and the life skills it has taught me is going to allow me to get far in life to help me accomplish my life goals. 

 

I have always had to do my own work with my show animals, from my first year showing a pig to my last showing sheep and cattle. Along this journey there have been people that have accused my family of not doing our own work, especially me myself. At my barn it has always been a group effort, however if my brother or I were not out in the barn my parents were not. Because of them I want to do all of my work with my animals so in the end if I do get the purple ribbon and get to stand in the winners circle I can say that I did my OWN work MYSELF. 

 

To me that is a big deal because my family did not have to pay someone to do the work I am very capable of doing. This following fall I started college at NEO and still had show animals at home. Yes, I was not there every single day to feed them or work with them. However, I made an effort to drive an hour one way every other day throughout the week and every weekend to just be home for 3 or 4 hours so I could get work in with my animals. After I would get finished I would drive back to Miami, Oklahoma to school. While all of this, I was one of the baton twirlers at NEO, having practice daily. And that fall at the Kansas State Fair I achieved one of my goals to get into the top five in showmanship.

 

 I was able to achieve this with my own hardwork, not with money or having the right name or because I knew a certain person. In college everyone pays the same amount, and those who have went above and beyond with their own hardwork were awarded scholarships. But in college if you do not have a drive and do not work hard then you will not be successful. So before you think that money will buy you success, go out and achieve your goals with hardwork so you can say, "THAT WAS ALL ME.

Why do we do it? Guest Post

Mom's, your kids may not show cattle or any animals, but I'm betting you have had a similar discussion with your family.

In the world of 4-H and livestock showing, some families become more like family than friends.   Meet Lisa of Dream on Cattle, Company.  I was a second mom to her middle  daughter for the first part of Maine Anjou Junior Nationals last year and she was a second mom to my boys when she arrived and I had to go home to wheat harvest.  Her husband took my boys and heifer and treated them like one of the family.  We didn't know each other all that well last summer, but this summer I am glad to call them part of our show family.  She and I have come to support each other more than beside the show ring and here is her first attempt at blogging, if you like it leave a comment and share it to let her know.  -A Kansas Farm Mom

May 15, 2016
It had been a rough morning in the barns, if you have kids who show livestock then you understand what I’m talking about.  When you roll outside at 5:30 am to get chores done and animals taken care of, you can’t expect everything to go as planned or everyone to be chipper while doing it.
But on this morning, one of the girls was giving it her all to show us that she didn’t want to be there.  And Daddy took this attitude to task.  Which resulted in this rather loud declaration “I hate showing cattle and I never wanted to do it, why do you make me!”

Ah bless us all, here we go.  You’ve been there or you are raising angels and I’m jealous.  She doesn’t hate it but she doesn’t always love the work involved leading up to “show day.”  She’s a typical child in that she would prefer to do things the easy way and still get the glory somehow in the end.
So lucky for us, this was not a day when they had to be at school.  And lucky for her, about 2 hours later we had a “sit down.”  And during this meeting, which I had all the children attend, we discussed why our children will not be allowed to opt out of showing livestock.

It is what we do together.  Sure we love to watch them play sports or listen to them play piano/trumpet/clarinet but those activities are very kid-centered.  Not family-centered.  We all have a role when we show and we do what is necessary to help each other.  And we are TOGETHER which in this day, is a rare and special treat for us!
Showing livestock is how we have decided to teach our children about work ethic.  Off the farm and apart from being seriously hungry, I’m not sure how you teach today’s kids to work hard.  So on the farm, we get the luxury of being hard workers.  There is always something to do and never enough time/able bodies to do it.

Something else depends on you and your ability to finish the job.  It really isn’t an option to not feed or water.  And I am that mom that says, they eat/drink before you do.  Learn to put something in front of yourself.  Some might call it harsh, I call it leadership training 101.

The bottom line would it be easier on me to let her quit?  Yes perhaps in the short run, no one wants to deal with the whining, sighing and eye rolling (my personal fave).  But in the long run, she knows we are not giving in that easy.  Because I want her to feel success as an adult, I want her to set her sights on an impossible goal and get there, letting her quit is not an option!
I’m pretty clear with my kids that a purple ribbon or a grand champion would be an awesome reward but it doesn’t happen every day.  And furthermore it is one person’s opinion at one moment in time.  It won’t always go our way, actually rarely.

 My reward and theirs will be the lessons learned and the memories of all we did together.

One more show mom that I totally look up to sums up our weekends pretty well below.  Melissa Falkenstien of Falkenstien Family Show Goats is a show mom that I really admire and am proud to call her a friend/family.-KFM

If you liked this post you might like my Tribute to Livestock Show Moms, too.

If You Give a 4-H'er a Calf...

If you let your 4-H'er get a calf, they will fall in love with it.

If your 4-H'er falls in love with it, they'll want to spend lots of time with it.

If they want to spend lots of time with her, they'll get up at 5:55 am to go to feed her.

If they go to feed her, they'll want to brush her.

If they brush her, they'll think she needs a bath.

If she gets a bath once, they'll think she needs a bath every morning.

If they give her a bath, they'll want to blow dry her.

 

If you let them blow dry her, they will want a fan hung in the barn to keep her cool while they are at school.

If they get up to feed her to keep clean they will wear wind pants and a hoodie over school clothes.

If they wear clothes over their school clothes, you will have to pick them up at the barn because they won't come back to the house until they need to go to school.

If you pick them up at the barn, they will strip off the top layer of clothes as you drive them to school.

If they strip off the clothes, your truck will be full of clothes.

 

If  your truck is still full of clothes when he gets in after school, they will want to go back to the barn.

If they want to go back to the barn, you can make them do their homework before they visit the barn.  Homework will be done the fastest ever!

 

If they are more motivated to do their homework, they might reach their reading goal for the month before the last day of the month.

If they get their reading goal done before the last day of the month, you might let them show the calf at some shows.

If they make friends at the shows, they will want to go to more shows.

If they want to go to more shows, they will find there are other things to show other than cattle.

If they find there are other things to show, they will want another animal.

If they keep doing their homework, feeding and grooming the calf, you will let them them have a lamb and then you will find out what happens when you give a 4-H'er a lamb.