Back to the Show Ring

Another livestock show canceled due to Covid-19 concerns. It was the news we knew was coming, a decision to help keep our community safe, but it was still disappointing. There were tears from GirlChild and a silent, dejected walk from BoyChild to the other side of the barn. A mumble of “I just want to show Miss Mae one more time” from GirlChild.

Family, friends, acquaintances, and folks all across the Stock Show community, like us, are excited to get back into the show ring. Not for the banners or the glory of the backdrop. Not for the over-market-price sale of a steer or the premiums gained. The desire to get back to the show ring is because this is our “thing”. For Stock Show folks, a livestock show is in their blood. A part of their DNA. For Stock Show folks, a livestock show fuels the soul.

If absence makes the heart grow fonder then, when it’s safe to reopen the country’s show rings, we’ll have a better appreciation of this thing we all love.

We’ll appreciate our people. Our friends. Our livestock show family. The ones we see at every show. The ones we hang out with outside of the show ring. The ones we only see once or twice a year at regional or national shows. We’ll appreciate talking cattle, or sheep, or hogs or goats. We’ll appreciate the “carry on” of our kids when they can’t contain their excitement of being together again – and maybe their behavior won’t aggravate us as much. We’ll appreciate the inside jokes and the laughter. We’ll appreciate meals together, eaten in the barn and served out of slow cookers.

We’ll appreciate the whole crew jumping in to fit one animal, transforming it together in a delicate dance of spraying, combing, and clipping. We’ll appreciate stepping back and admiring that animal in all its Sunday-go-to-meeting glory. We’ll appreciate the extra time we had at home to get said animal to this point.

We’ll appreciate the grins on our kid’s faces as they lead their favorite animal around the show ring again. We may mourn the steer they didn’t get a chance to show or the heifer who was going to take her last turn around the ring during one of these canceled shows (hence GirlChild’s reference to her beloved heifer she raised “Miss Mae”). But we’ll try to appreciate that there will be another steer, there will be another heifer and in a few months, we pray we can appreciate her calf on the ground. Maybe that calf will take her mother’s place in the ring. 

We’ll appreciate the way our hearts beat a little faster when we inhale the sweet scent of pine shavings mixed with pink oil. We’ll appreciate the beauty of a smooth show ring. The sponsor banners and flowers decorating a backdrop. We’ll appreciate the post-show scattering of shavings like glitter in trucks and laundry rooms… Ok, maybe we won’t exactly appreciate that one, but maybe it won’t bother us as much.

We’ll appreciate the first ribbon, or trophy, or banner, or premium won when we return to the show ring. That’s the nature of sport. The nature of competition. But that’s not what we’ll appreciate the most. Not even close. We’ll appreciate just being back in the barn. Being back at the show. Getting back to the thing that fuels a part of our soul. 

Until then, we’ll keep feeding. We’ll keep rinsing. We’ll keep leading animals in the barn or down the driveway. We’ll keep breeding. We’ll keep logging in to online sales. We’ll keep the hope that one day, hopefully soon, we’ll be back at the show. 

Until then, we’ll pray. We’ll pray for the show managers who have had to follow a directive or make the difficult, surely heart-wrenching decision, to cancel a show. We’ll pray for the show mangers and sponsors scrambling to put together virtual livestock shows at this time when it seems to be the best alternative. We’ll pray that those show managers understand that when we are all able to be together again, a virtual show will never be able to take the place of being together, taking it all in, learning in person from the veterans, seeing the exact moment when a novice finally gets it. We’ll pray that next year the shows that have been canceled, postponed or modified will be back, in person, stronger than ever.

Until then, we’ll pray. We’ll pray for those whose health has been affected by this virus. We’ll pray for those who have lost loved ones. We’ll pray for those who’ve lost jobs and all the other ways this virus has affected folks in ways that are much more imperative than missing the show ring. 

Still, we know it’s okay to miss it. It’s okay to grieve that animal that didn’t get shown. It’s okay to be disappointed that we’re not loading up the trailer this weekend. It’s okay to miss our buddies, to text and video chat them too much. It’s not about the money (seriously, if one can get rich just showing junior livestock, we missed the memo). It’s not about glory. It’s about the people, the experience, the way of life. When show after show has to be canceled, if we weren’t disappointed, if we weren’t a little upset, I’d worry we didn’t love it as much as we thought we did.

Until we all get back to the show ring, stay safe.