We all do it. Every single one of us. We look for a competitive edge, a new tip or trick that will take us to the next level, a top-secret solution to improve our game and give us an edge on show day. People spend a lot of time and effort searching for secrets, thinking if they had an inside track they could level up or even upend the competition. There’s one secret in the show stock business most people aren’t prepared to handle. Are you ready? Here it comes! There are no secrets. There is only knowledge, and the funny thing about knowledge is we all start in the…
Posted on May 16, 2016
Marlene Eick
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Thank God for Moms… the glue that holds everything and everyone together on show day! Where would we be without them? They truly are what makes the stock show world go ’round. Which stock show mom is in your family? Food Mom – Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks …she’s a shining star. She truly believes that the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. She brings enough food to feed the entire barn and graciously welcomes any and all to stop in at their pens for a bite to eat. Her crock-pot game is strong and at any given point she may have several of them fired up…
Posted on May 05, 2016
Taylor Banbury
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We’ve all been there. It’s been a long day. School, then practice, then chores and now it’s late. The sun has gone down and you’ve just finished in the barn for the night. Except there’s still that one lingering task. The wheelbarrow you filled today is still sitting by the door. It needs to be emptied. You know it should be emptied, but you are tired, you tell yourself. Plus there’s homework to be done. It can surely wait until the morning. And it could. It could wait until morning. It could wait until you’ve come to the barn to start the next day’s tasks. Now that you mention it,…
Posted on April 25, 2016
Marlene Eick
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“And I hope they know I never would’ve made it this far on my own. Where would we all be without those fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, the friend’s we’ve made? I wouldn’t be who I am today if not for those I’ve loved along the way.” – Eric Church This screamed out to my stock show family. I was driving to a lamb sale the other day and was in tears from hearing these words. You know how people say, “It takes a village to raise a child“? Well it definitely takes an army to raise a stock show kid! Think about it… Could you have made it…
Posted on April 18, 2016
Sarah Mast
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Maybe you don’t think it’s possible, but whether you realize it or not, we all have an influence on the world. Influence is your ability to affect change in the world around you and the truth is that you affect change whether or not you’re even trying. You are already exerting influence. You do make a difference. What kind of difference do you make? What kind of influence do you have? Is it positive? Or something else? Do you encourage your friends to skip practice or do you encourage them to practice harder? Do you stand idly by while someone gets teased or do you step in and say something? Do…
Posted on April 10, 2016
Marlene Eick
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…here’s what I really mean. When your show career is finally over, there will be so many things that you miss at first. Reality pretty much sinks in the first time you head out to the barn to feed, water and work with your animal… but the barn is empty. Here is where you spend those early mornings and late nights. It’s where your lambs would greet you as you approached the gate. The barn is special, but it’s certainly not the only place you’ll miss. As time goes on, you find that you miss the things that you might have taken for granted. 1. The Rush There’s no feeling…
Posted on April 04, 2016
Sarah Mast
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Last month, I was LIVE on Periscope and Facebook for the first time. I don’t know that the content was all that awesome, but what is awesome is the ability to live broadcast to anyone from anywhere, all with the phone in my pocket. When I was growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, the biggest publicity I got was my name in the local newspaper for a county 4-H judging award, that week’s track meet, or maybe an FFA event. I bet I still have all those old newspaper clippings somewhere, probably in a scrapbook in the closet of my childhood bedroom. (Sorry, Mom! I promise I’ll get that…
Posted on March 07, 2016
Marlene Eick
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Your entire evening revolves around the goal of putting the kids to bed before the sale starts to wrap up at 8:00 PM… And if it doesn’t get done, the kids stay up late enough that you can almost guarantee a note coming home from the teacher or a call from the principal the next day. 2. It’s kind of like a game of chess (although I don’t play chess so I’m really just assuming) Wikipedia.org calls chess a mind sport that includes calculated strategies as well as caution to not make moves too hastily and foresight to look into the future and consider the consequences of our action...
Posted on February 29, 2016
Sarah Mast
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I showed pigs growing up. When I was in high school and thinking about college and career, I often wished I could start expanding my network. I wanted to meet people who had careers that interested me. (In high school, I wanted to be a farm broadcaster.) I wanted to talk to students a few years older than me who were at a college I wanted to learn more about. (You can major in Agricultural Communication?) Sometimes, I really wanted to talk to a professional whose work I admired. (I listened to the same voices on the radio each day and wanted to know more about their career path.) Since…
Posted on February 15, 2016
Marlene Eick
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Some say my kids are raised in a barn like it’s a bad thing. I’m here to tell you on the contrary, it’s the best thing. My husband and I have made a conscious decision that we want our kids to be involved in raising livestock from a very young age. In fact I can specifically remember that when we brought each one of them home from the hospital as a newborn bundle of joy, our first stop was the barn before we even set foot into our house. I have pictures of each of the kids fresh out of the hospital in their car seats, sitting on the barn…
Posted on February 15, 2016
Sarah Mast
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If you have friends that are not involved in the stock show lifestyle, these are topics you will constantly find yourself explaining to them. 1. The fact that it is perfectly normal to have best friends that live thousands of miles away from you. We all have that stock show best friend, that person you get so excited to see. Every time you do see them, it is like the “reunion of all reunions”. We met this person at NAILE or National Western, or at Jr. Nationals and this is “our person”. They just get it. No, you don’t have to see them or talk to them every day,…
Posted on February 08, 2016
Sarah Mast
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One weekend in high school, I attended an FFA conference along with a few hundred other participants from around the state. The conference was great, the speakers were inspirational, the sessions were motivating, but what I remember enjoying the most was the people around me. They were so uplifting, so motivated, so forward-thinking. Spending time with people like that was very impactful, because I, too, felt more motivated. Jim Rohn, successful author and speaker, once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Whether you’re in the high school hallway, on the basketball court or soccer field, in the studio, at your office,…
Posted on February 01, 2016
Marlene Eick
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