Honesty in the Show Ring

As it becomes that time of year again, the flowers are starting to bloom, the grass is green, but most of all, it's show season! As we all embark on our week long trips, making the cattle trailer and the highway our best friend, keep in mind the value of the hard-earned ribbons that are sought out by so many. Every day, the world is growing further and further from where it once stood with agriculture.

 

Looking at the practices performed for the sought after blue ribbons, today would make past-on generations of beloved farmers shed many tears of sadness to see that all they had worked so hard to preserve, being thrown away for a colored cloth ribbon that will eventually only fade to a colorless rag. An exceptional quote from Sophocles once said, “I would prefer even to fail with honor than win by cheating”.

The dishonesty and mistreatment of animals for show purposes has become a serious problem because of such care methods as harsh dieting, administering medication for unintended purposes, and using unethical treatment towards the animal. Thomas Paine once said, “Character is much easier kept than recovered”. Today, mankind is being taught that cheating is the only way to win, the only way to become successful, and the only way to be as good as everyone else. However, in reality, man is only becoming one who cannot be trusted or believed, and his words roll off his tongue like worthless pieces of paper, holding no value. Although superintendents, Show Officials, and the Humane Society have put laws and regulations into place to try to eliminate the abuse and malpractices done by dairy and livestock exhibitors, there are still those that are trying to find loop holes through the system.

By using these methods to win, respectable farmers who refuse to perform these practices will begin to no longer attend the shows or even have their children be a part of such functions. With no younger generations coming up to pursue a career in agriculture, mankind will watch before his eyes the diminishing of the only life he has ever known, and the one that he wanted his sons and daughters to follow.  It was all for what? To the hot-shot exhibitors, it was for the blue ribbon and their name in the local newspaper, losing one’s character in the midst of it all. What a high price to pay for fame and glory that will only fade with time.