When people visit the Johnson County 4-H and Agricultural Fair, they might be focused on the food or the rides. The fair has been much more than that for generations of kids.
On the opposite side of the fairgrounds, far less glittery and bright, features something influential — the animal barns housing 4-H kids and their four-legged friends.
Every year, hundreds of kids sign up to show goats, pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, sheep and horses. They work hard all year, putting in hours of work to learn about showmanship and how to build a connection with an animal, all to show off their skills before judges and find out if their practice paid off. It’s more than learning about how to make a pig walk in the right direction, these children learn life lessons about how to take care of something bigger than themselves, how to have a positive yet competitive spirit and more, 4-Hers say.
Phoenix Barnett, 12, is going through her first year of 4-H right now, but she’s been around pigs for over five years. After learning from her cousins on how to show pigs, Barnett took home a reserve showmanship prize for her work with her gilt pig, Chance.
Barnett decided to show swine because she’s worked with her pigs since they were piglets. She was happy her hard work has come to fruition.
Through showing her pigs, Barnett said she has learned a lot about 4-H and being a good person overall.
“[I’ve learned] a lot of responsibility and it takes a lot of patience,” Barnett said.
When about to show animals, 4-Hers often have to sit around, waiting for their name to be called. It’s nerve-wracking, Barnett said, but when you trust your animal, she said it’s a lot easier.
Barnett’s friend from school, Hunter Alvey, 12, has been in 4-H for much longer. He got involved with the program to keep the family tradition going. His cousins and his father both showed animals at the fair, so he knew he wanted to do the same.
“I’ve always loved animals, so I started the first year I could in Mini 4-H,” Alvey said.
He still gets a little bit nervous when he takes his animal into the arena, but he said he likes the competition.
On Wednesday, he and his pig, Oreo, made their rounds. He also won a reserve showmanship award and said it was one of the best shows he had done so far.
Alvey said through showing Oreo and other animals like cows, he has learned a lot about personal responsibility.
Similar to Barnett, Alvey also said he’s gained a ton of patience. Working with animals can be unpredictable, and for them to act appropriately in the ring, they need to trust their handler, he said.
Madylin Norris, 16, and Audrey Jewell, 17, found a farm-filled friendship through 4-H. Both involved in FFA and 4-H, the pair have shown pigs, goats, cows and even chickens through their school’s agricultural program. Like a lot of kids, Norris and Jewell joined 4-H because their family members had previously shown livestock.
Their biggest lesson learned is how to deal with conflict under the stress of showmanship competitions.
“We’ve gotten into it just because we’re stressed!” Norris said.
Jewell said that she has experienced the same thing with her FFA group. They get frustrated and realize later on that they were really just nervous, she said.
“We all understand that it’s just a really frustrating thing if you didn’t place well or if your animal didn’t do well in the arena. It’s just frustrating and [we] take it out on other people by accident,” Jewell and Norris agreed.
Thankfully, most of the 4-Hers in their age group are friends, and they both agreed that they all understand each other’s emotions really well nowadays.
Their other lesson learned has been how hard work can pay off. Both young women shared that they went through many trials to get their animals where they wanted to be.
Seeing a different perspective on things, Lexi Willey, 17, has been showing animals for nine years, following in her father’s footsteps.
Willey said she loves showing sheep specifically because they’re much harder to train than pigs or some other animals. They require a lot more work, but that also means that Willey gets to see her hard work pay off in the end.
“Pigs just aren’t as fun for me because with sheep I know the work I’ve put in. I can see the payoff year after year,” Willey said.
Next year will be her last year in 4-H. She’ll be congratulated as a 10-year-4Her. While it’s bittersweet and she’ll miss showing, she said it’ll be nice to conserve some of the energy she has put into 4-H over the years. Throughout her time showing at the fair, she has learned the lesson of true hard work.
“It takes a lot of hard work, and a lot of late nights and early mornings,” Willey said. “It takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears and so much work to do it all.”
