Lifestyle
Warren Beeler has spent decades judging livestock shows around the country. To date, he has shaken the hands of hundreds, if not thousands, of young people showing swine. Through his time sorting stock and showing with his own family, Warren has learned a lot of lessons. Some of which he has even taken with him as he serves as the Executive Director of the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Agricultural Policy. The Showpig.com team was fortunate enough to have visited with Warren as he recalled three of his favorites.
- As a dad and as a judge, I don’t have much time for those who don’t know how to act when they win and learn when they lose. I remember judging Houston the first time with the sift at Brenham, Texas, there was about 4,000 head of hogs and only 660 got to continue to Houston. We were down to four barrows and two got to go to Houston. I picked this young gal, and she jumped about 3 feet off the ground and ran over to hug me. In the process, she karate chopped me right in the Adam’s apple. The second one I picked was a big, stout young man that came running, as I hunkered down, and bear hugged me. I remember their excitement. What I don’t remember is the other two that went on the truck. Those two were the ones that got the lesson. The chance to be so close and be put on the truck. I admire the discipline, character and integrity those two showed. I wish I could have hugged them, when they got that hard lesson. Life is not fair. It will give you some losses. Those that can learn from losing are headed for success.
- I remember my daughter, Megan, showing lambs when she was a little bitty thing. She was in the champion drive at Ohio County Fair, and suddenly, she looks at her lamb and pulls out of line and over to a bale of straw. I wondered what was going on. After the show, as we go back to the pens, I asked her, “What were you doing pulling out of line in the championship drive?” She replied, “I looked at him, Dad, and he looked hungry.” The success of the project, as related to young people, is understanding that it is a kid project. The lesson taught about hard work, self-respect, selflessness, social skills and doing things the right way are kid lessons. Therefore, the lesson learned is don’t ever let the animal get bigger than the kid in the project.
- I was judging lambs, a few years ago, in Germantown, Kentucky, which is up next to the Ohio line. This little girl came in – young, short, and chunky with glasses. She was just as cute as she can be and had the worst lamb in the history of sheep. It did not take an expert judge to see that this sheep was bad – sloppy, belly-dragging, fat, bad. I go down the line, and I start handling the sheep. When I get to this little girl, the handle confirmed what I had thought. This sheep was fat.
I said to the little girl, “Gosh, you sure have been feeding your sheep good!”
She replied, “Yes; I have been sneaking out at night and feeding it extra.”
“I can tell,” I said.
“I know he is too fat,” she said. “My daddy told me he was too fat, but this is my first time to show.”
I simply told her she was doing just fine, before I continued down the line.
But, good is good and bad is bad, so the fat sheep goes last. I could sense a nervousness from the crowd for this little girl. What was Beeler going to say about this sheep, which you could not say anything good about?
As I get down to the little girl, it was almost like God tapped me on the shoulder, so I said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this young lady told me this was her first time to show. Didn’t she do a good job?”
The crowd stood up and clapped for the little girl that got last. I learned something that day, as a judge, it is just as important how you handle the bottom two as how you place the top two.
The lesson learned is: there is a win in every loss, you just have to find it.