The Last Show

Benjamin is a senior this year.  He's also the baby of the family.  We started out many years ago with his brother and sister, Russ & Laura Lee, showing Boer goats.  Then in 2012 we moved to showing dairy cows.  This is the "last rodeo."  We loaded Rosie and her little bull, "Aussie" and Clarabelle in the trailer and headed to Gonzales for the State Livestock Show.  We stopped in Scott, Louisiana (the Boudin Capital of the World) as has become the tradition, and went the the Best Stop for boudin and pepper jack wraps.  Pepper Jack wraps are a guilty pleasure consisting of boudin with pepper jack cheese on top rolled into an egg roll wrapper and then deep fried.  Wow!

The animals patiently waited as we purchased boudin

Speaking of wrapping, Benjamin wrapped up his showing career.  It was kind of bittersweet.  Showing livestock is a lot of work, often in freezing cold weather washing the animals, knee-deep mud, ubiquitous cow poop, and, this year, radiators blowing up on us on the way to the District Show.  However, it is a labor of love.  Showing livestock teaches work ethic.  It teaches doing your best in the ring.  The animal may not always behave, but you continue to do your best.

Unfortunately, in Benjamin's senior year, his animals were not competitive.  Rosie is an aged cow and Clarabelle did not get bred in time to calve prior to the show.  But that's okay.  We're proud of Benjamin.  He did his best in the ring and did not give up.

Benjamin's sister even came in to cheer him on!

During the years of showing, we've been able to meet great people in the Jefferson Davis Parish Dairy Club, forging friendships that won't ever be forgotten. 

The families we show livestock with work hard, but play hard, helping one another out and we're grateful for that. 

Kyle (Not me, another Kyle) & Benjamin

As the animals were loaded in the trailer for the ride home, their showing days are done.  They'll never leave Our Maker's Acres Family Farm again.

More importantly, Benjamin's showing days are over.  Another milestone in the march toward adulthood.  Hopefully, he'll have good memories of his showing days and experiences with livestock.