Welcome to the Friday edition of the HOT BARN REPORT
Heard ONLY on American radio stations across the nation and online at hotbarnreport.com!
Karina Jones, Field Director for R-Calf USA joins us each Friday from her ranch in the heart of Nebraska covering new and important cattle industry news and policy.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It’s county fair season! What else could you have possibly thought I was talking about. If you have been listening to my daily radio program, Ranch Raised with Karina Jones, you know how full the county fair makes my heart. If not, you can catch it on the Your Ag Network App or this radio station!
The funnel cakes, the carnival rides, the small-town fellowship, there are so many reasons to attend your local county fair. Personally, I am drawn to the 4-H and FFA exhibits. As I cruise the halls of the static exhibits, it is not ribbons that I see on display, it is skills. I see youth rekindling the dying skill of sewing and crafting beautiful quilts and garments. I look over the tables of baked goods and think, “wow, these kids are learning to read recipes, measure, and make something for their family.” I see art exhibits splashed with color and creativity. So many kids have spent their summer sweating it out in the barn exercising goats, cooling swine, and training cattle. They have scoured the internet looking for the best pie recipes. They have cultivated rows of garden green beans and potatoes hoping to have the prize-winning tubers. They have gone cross eyed focusing on that straight stitching line sitting at that sewing machine. They have painted flowers and taken pictures of dreamy sunsets.
Nothing satisfies my heart than seeing kids work with their hands and create something they are proud of.
When I walk through the livestock exhibits I know that for these kids, the county fair is their super bowl on dirt! No one just brings a 1400-pound steer to the fair. There are months of preparation packed into the work in the barn. There is adjusting feed, hauling buckets, halter breaking, washing, clipping, and all the things. I can feel the pride in the 4-H and FFA exhibitors that have worked so hard on their projects they are exhibiting. There is victory and there is defeat in that dirt arena. There are tears of joy and tears of disappointment. This is their sport. This is their Superbowl.
I look all around and I see families together. Together laughing, working, eating hot dogs together, and enjoying being with each other after a long day. There is family entertainment in the evenings, maybe a rodeo, maybe a concert. Whatever it is, there are memories being made.
Kids and parents savor every moment. You will never get this year back. Kids, don’t forget to thank those who have steered you, hugged you after defeat and cheered for you on this journey.
We salute the 4-H and FFA exhibitors of all the local county fairs! Your worth is not determined by the color of that ribbon. It is determined by the heart and determination you have shown all year and how graciously you win and lose. Now go out and make yourself proud!
From all of us at Your Ag Network and our Hot Barns that power this program, we wish you the best of luck. Come back on Monday and Monte will fill you in on all the action at Presho, North Platte, Torrington, Creighton, Stockmans, Lemmon, Crawford, Mobridge, Platte, and Bassett!
NOW AIRING ON:
Rural Radio Sirius XM Channel 147
Monday-Friday 7:55AM & 4:55PM
The HOTTEST sale barns in America
See more at HOT BARN REPORT
As always buy ’em up online at CattleUSA.com
Creighton Livestock Market
Lemmon Livestock, INC.
Presho Livestock Auction
Mobridge Livestock
Platte Livestock Market
Stockmen’s Livestock
Crawford Livestock Market
North Platte Stockyards
Bassett Livestock Auction
