our youth: AG STARS
Brock Student Is Enthralled
With Showing Pigs
By MELISSA MOORMAN
S
96
loan McGuire’s family raises cattle, so when
she decided to start showing pigs, everyone
assumed that she didn’t know what she was doing.
However, in her first two years showing animals,
she earned between $5,000 and $6,000 and was
hooked. At the outset, she didn’t begin showing
animals for the money.
“When I started showing, I didn’t understand
that I get money out of this,” she said. “I did know
I wouldn’t get to keep my pigs, though.”
She’s been showing for six years and attributes
her success to the Brock Agriculture Department,
her ag sponsors, and the community she’s gotten to
know through showing animals. “Once you jump
into the livestock community, anyone is one call
away,” she says.
“This year will be my sixth year showing,” she
said. She started because one of her friends had
too many pigs to show herself and Sloan took one
off her hands. Her family had been involved in
the stock show for years, but she had never shown
an animal herself. She did well, earning Grand
Reserve Champion at the Parker County Livestock
Show.
“I fell in love with it and I jumped into it for
fun. It wasn’t about winning, it was being involved
in something bigger than myself,” she continued.
Although her first couple of years she enjoyed
success, she didn’t have the same experience last
year. “This past year I had a rough time. One pig
broke his leg and the other one didn’t place. Stuff
like that happens all the time. It was eye-opening,”
Sloan said.
Her family is very involved in raising and show-
ing her pigs and she said she couldn’t have done it
without their help. It also made life easier because
they recently built a barn at their home for her
pigs. Her mom helps her start her day at 5 a.m.
to get up and go feed her animals. Then it’s off to
school. She also runs track for Brock High School
and has track workouts 10 times a week. Her days
are long, beginning with feeding pigs at 5 a.m.
then working with them for two hours after school
before leaving the pigs and heading back to school
for track practice.
She hopes to get a scholarship running track
and has been visiting smaller schools where she
might like to continue competing. Her event is the 300-meter
hurdles. She hasn’t decided where she wants to go to school yet,
or what she wants to study.
“I have another year and I don’t want to settle down yet,” she
said. To other students who are considering throwing a hat in the
ring showing animals, Sloan cautions them.
“It’s a big responsibility and you’re going to learn a lot. It
taught me how to be responsible. To handle finances, to maintain
schedules. And to take care of my business,” she said.
She summed it up saying, “Make sure you know what you’re
getting into. It’s a lot of time and commitment. Also have support-
ive people behind you. Build a community or a good support
system; you couldn’t go through it alone.”