We are creating something that is World Class. It is larger than the ribbon color

   It now seems we are at the time in the summer where we are in the midst of County Fairs and State Fair is fast approaching. Today, I was looking back at some pictures of my cattle on Instagram. I found a picture of one of steers on sale day at the 2014 Harlan County Fair. I had to sell a black and white steer "H-Man". The Caption reads "No matter if you are 8 or 18 Sale Day is the worst." I am clearly crying in this picture.

I remember the morning I knew I had to say goodbye to "H-Man" I was in tears when I got in my pickup and drove to the fair grounds just before sunrise to feed "H-Man" one last time.
   As I pondered thoughts today, saying goodbye to an animal of any kind is never easy. Exhibitors work countless hours preparing that animal. Not only are they preparing that animal for showing they are making that animal world class. What I mean by this is when we harvest our livestock those who consume our livestock do not know who was champion, who received a purple, blue, red or white. What the consumer cares about is the quality of the meat. 4-H and FFA exhibitors work extra hard to make sure that animal is world class, because it is not about the ribbon color it is about the experience and what we produce in the end.