Been there, showed that

 Every year since I can remember, my family and I have loaded up the truck and trailer and headed out to Louisville, Kentucky for the North American Livestock Exposition. This is one of the greatest weeks for any livestock kid. They get to see all their friends in one place, show their stock that they have worked so hard on, and get a once in a life time experience, as the quality of the animals is the best of the best. It was in 1971 when the idea of having a major livestock show in Kentucky started. This was brought up by the former Kentucky governor Wendell H. Ford and in November 17-23, 1974 the first show started. From this year on the Kentucky Exposition Center has been filled with all different types of livestock in the month of November. In the first show there were beef cattle, sheep, and pigs. Now it has grown to beef cattle, pigs, sheep, llamas, horses, goats, and dairy. There have been some big changes in the last 38 years with the different shows and how the quality of the livestock has changed. 

The UK Livestock Judging Team, from left to right: Shelby Clifford, Kaitlin Klair, Josh Duckworth, Caroline Applegate, & Victoria Hamilton.

 

            Over the past couple of years, making the trip out to Louisville was a normal routine for my family and I. Every November, my mom would send in letters to all of our teachers to get us excused absences since our schools did not have Agriculture programs. We would collect all our homework and head out the next morning. You could barely sleep the night before because you were so excited about the trip. Who wouldn’t be excited about it? You get to miss school, show your animals, and see all your friends! That sounds like a good time to me! Showing livestock is a big thing in my family because my mom and dad use to show when they were young and that is how they met. We look at it as spending time together doing something that we all enjoy. I wish that all families don’t have one activity that they can all do together and enjoy as much as livestock families do. We do get into our fair share of arguments while traveling, but in the end it all seems to work out for the best. 

            This past year was the first time in a while that I was not able to show at North American and I was pretty upset about it. Even so, I had another opportunity that was given to me and that was to be on the University of Kentucky Livestock Judging team. This was something that I thought I would never be a part of and I would have to say it was pretty awesome! During the year we have gone to some pretty amazing place, including Illinois, Kansas City, Pennsylvania, and then final contest at the North American.  Along the way, we stopped at many different producer’s farms and looked at their livestock and talked to them about different things going on in the industries. We also experienced local culture when we traveled through food and shopping! My most memorable moment of this experience would be the van rides. We were in the van for long and short periods of time. Every ride was different from what we talked about or just the things we saw and experienced in the van. We had some of the funniest conversations. This experience was one that I enjoyed and glad that I took. 

I know that I missed one year of showing at the North American, but I gained so much more by getting the experience to judge and travel to all the different places that we did. 

As an Ambassador for the College of Agriculture I encourage everyone to get INVOLVED in school! Judging is an awesome way to travel around to different states and meet new people, but it is also a time commitment and a lot of work. This is only a small comparison to the amount of fun and memories that we have as a team! If you don’t want to get try judging, UK and the College of Agriculture has many different clubs that you are able to get involved in!

 Kailtin is a junior Community & Leadership Development major from Wilmington, Delaware.  She has been involved with the UK Livestock Judging Team, UK Block & Bridle, serves as a UK Ag Ambassador, and was a past Delaware State 4-H Vice-President.