Parker is 5 years old and loves playing t-ball, eating bratwurst and showing goats. I don’t know how he acquired his love of baseball, but I can only assume he inherited his latter two ‘loves’ from his father.
His dad, Justin, lived on one of my farms and worked for me during all the years he spent in college. He loved showing livestock more than anything else and I often stated that he would rather show cattle than eat – and I might add that he really enjoyed eating, as well. It didn’t make any difference whether it was cattle, pigs, sheep or goats; Justin appreciated a quality animal that was expertly fitted. I still think that if there was a way to put a halter on a fish, Justin would have found a way to show one.
I was reminded of this last week when I watched young Parker conclude his first summer of showing by exhibiting a meat-goat wether at the county fair. Even though he was the youngest exhibitor in attendance, it was obvious that he was already pretty good at showing and really enjoyed being in the ring with the goat he had named ‘Conway.’ When I asked him, before the show, how he came up with that name, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know, but over here is his sister that I’m going to show in the doe class on Saturday. Her name is Loretta.” Aha!
Justin explained to me that he had already ‘had the talk’ with Parker. ‘The talk,’ for those of you who have never showed market animals, was explaining to the young boy that after the show on Thursday, Conway would be sold in the market animal sale and thus become part of the food chain. His father verbalized the reality as compassionately, but truthfully, as possible. “We’re farmers – that’s what we do,” he told the boy, “We produce food so the rest of the people, who aren’t farmers, have good stuff to eat.”
Justin told me that Parker’s eyes moistened up a little, at first (as I’m sure his dad’s did, too), but he seemed to understand that part of farm life. The next day, his mother asked the little boy if he was ready to say good-bye to Conway later in the week. Sadly, Parker answered, “Yeah, I guess so.” Mommy tried to soothe his feelings a little by explaining that he would get quite a nice paycheck from the sale on Thursday night.
“You mean I’m going to get money for him?” the boy asked as his eyes lit up.
“Of course,” the mother replied. “We’re farmers – that’s what we do.” Now, it all made sense to the young lad.
At the show, Parker did a great job of showing his goat and he was rewarded by winning his weight class and moving on to receive Reserve Grand Champion. The little boy had a grin on his face that was worth a million bucks. Later that evening, at the sale of champions, a local farm supply store that had sold Justin all the feed the critter had consumed this summer, bought the goat at a nice price. When Justin and Parker asked the buyer where he wanted the wether sent for processing, the store manager replied with a wry smile, “Ah, just take him home with you. We don’t want to separate the two.”
Parker went running back to the barn, and his mother, yelling, “I get to keep him, I get to keep him!”
You’ve got to love farm kids… and some pretty good businesses that support them, too.
Jerry Crownover is a farmer and former professor of Agriculture Education at Missouri State University. He is a native of Baxter County, Arkansas, and an author and professional speaker. To contact Jerry about his books, or to arrange speaking engagements, you may contact him by calling 1-866-532-1960 or visiting ozarksfn.com and clicking on ‘Contact Us.’
