Farm family gives back to ag community with livestock show training

It’s a piece of Americana—the annual county fair livestock shows where young people exhibit animals they’ve raised.

The youngsters train their charges to ignore all the distracting sights and sounds, but who trains the youngsters? In Rockbridge County, it’s people like 18-year-old Will Strecker. The recent high school graduate is an award-winning 4-H competitor, and he and his family have spent years training other 4-H participants how to show animals.

“When my family was getting started, there were people in the county that helped us,” Strecker said. His brothers and parents didn’t know much about showing animals at first, but now “we feel that was the best thing to do, to give back what we’d been taught. We learned the dynamics of showing and the responsibilities from those people, and we’re just passing it down.”

Strecker said 4-H has been a part of his life since he was 9.

“It’s taught me a lot about responsibility. You always have to be sure your animal has fresh food and water,” he said. “Plus it’s taught me how to make new friends. And good sportsmanship.”

Showing farm animals might seem like an old-fashioned hobby, but it’s a vibrant part of Virginia agriculture, the state’s largest economic sector. The 4-H Youth Livestock Program enables young people to develop their interests in beef cattle, sheep and swine as part of their projects. The programs also help youth become aware of career opportunities in the animal agriculture industry, which represents 57 percent of the $55 billion farm economy in Virginia.

Money also is an important factor in livestock shows. Strecker said he’s earned his fair share of scholarship dollars for higher education.

“You can earn scholarship money anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000,” he said. “There’s a bunch of shows all over, and that’s one of the main things they do, is offer scholarships.”

A traditional venue for livestock shows is returning this fall. After a one-year hiatus, livestock competitions are returning to the State Fair of Virginia at The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County from Sept. 27 through Oct. 6.

“We’re thrilled to bring back the youth 4-H and FFA livestock shows,” said Jennifer Ross, SFVA programs and sponsorship coordinator. “The youth in these shows have an opportunity to earn more than $70,000 in scholarships here at the fair, as well as educate the general public about what they do every day” on their farms.

For more information on youth and open livestock competitions at the fair, visit www.StateFairVa.org.