Tuesday is always the hardest day of fair for me.

The fashion revue started at 10 a.m. I modeled around 11 a.m. and received champion construction in my class and reserve champion model in my class. I also received a state fair entry in construction. I modeled a golf outfit I made with the help of my grandma, Cindy Claycamp.

After the fashion revue, I had swine show, and this is always a hard time because to show swine and win, you have to have money. And I don’t have thousands of dollars to spend, so I am always the first one penned in my class during show, meaning last place.

Every year when I walk through the swine barn, I see a lot of people that spend hard hours with their pigs and love the show.

This year, I was showing two heavyweight cross barrows I raised myself. With the help of my dad, we ground our own feed and did everything ourselves for breeding the sows to weaning and castrating them.

When I went up to show, I told my friends I’m going to take eighth place and seventh place because my pigs were shown together because there was a 1-pound weight difference between them.

When the judge started penning pigs, my brother, who was showing one of my pigs, was penned in eighth, and right after, I was penned in seventh.

I was upset at first knowing my pigs got last place with all the work I put into them, but after I had time to think, I’m proud of my pigs because they are healthy and happy, and that’s what 4-H is about.

It’s the experience you have with your animals. Not how much money you can make or spend or the trophies you get, but the experience you gain and the ability to raise a healthy and happy animal.