our youth: AG STARS
Clayton Addison —
Following a New Ag Career Thread
By MISTY BROWNING
C
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layton Addison is not ashamed to be called a pig
guy. The 18-year-old and Peaster alumnus has
been showing them from sixth grade until he gradu-
ated in 2018.
Why pigs?
“I’ve always been fascinated by the feed part
of it and developing them into their full poten-
tial, and working them and the training side of it,”
he said. “The showmanship of it and being able
to show something inside the ring that you don’t
have to harness one and can walk freely. It shows
the patience you can have with an animal without
having full control over of it.”
Addison became involved in showing after his
father recognized his interest in all aspects of agricul-
ture. That was while the family was still living in the
Lubbock area.
“I grew up in Lamesa until I was about in my
eighth grade year and moved to Peaster my freshman
year. I was working for my granddad, we had a thou-
sand-acre ranch at his house on my family’s land. I
grew up around cows and horses and doing manual
labor for him. And I had a really good buddy who
had showed. My brother started showing before me,
but he didn’t have much interest in it. But I enjoyed
going to the barn and walking the animals and clean-
ing out bins. My dad noticed my interest and asked
me if I wanted to do it. I said I was on board with it,”
he said.
Addison also played baseball throughout all four
years of high school, all the while he held down a
job. It was a schedule that taught him a precious skill
needed in today’s workforce time management.
“I worked when I didn’t have pigs on feed or in
season,” he said. “I had to be at school at 8:30 a.m.
and was fortunate to have a school that provided a
farm for the pig to be in a safe environment. I’d wake
up around 7:30 to feed and check on everything.
After school, I would go work them out, walk them,
exercise them, and feed them before I ate. There
were times that I would have to feed and I still had
practice and I still had pigs I had to take care of. You
do what you have to do for your animal.”
He hasn’t always showed pigs. Well, he didn’t
show one time. For his senior year, Addison showed
a heifer at the Parker County Livestock Show. He
got the permission to try something new from his Ag
Teacher, Eric Ribble.
“I’ve been familiar with them and worked with
them, but it was my first time to show them. We
raised them in his class and did it for fun. For a project for
him, you have to do the showmanship and I asked him if I
could show it at Parker County and I did. It was a senior year
thing trying to do it all,” Addison said.
He’s done well with his show career, placing Second Place
Duroc in a class Ag Stock Show in seventh grade. He had a
Reserve Breed Duroc in 8 th grade year, and placed fourth place
in class my freshman year in Houston Stock Show.
“I’ve had some good success and failure like everyone else
and that is all part of it,” he said.
Now headed to Angelo State University, he will study Ag
Business and hopes to move deeper into the economic side of
the business. He said that he’s always wanted to work in real
estate and insurance and will see where the road of life takes
him. While at ASU, Addison plans on judging wool his fresh-
men year, a new venture for him and something he’s excited
about.
“You base it [the judging] upon the fabric fineness of it,
you go into further detail with it. It’s a new chapter and a new
adventure, learning new things,” he said.
Addison said that he’s thankful for the lessons he gleaned
while showing pigs and believes that every child should show
sometime during their school career.
“I’m thankful for the good and I learn from the bad,” he
said. “You learn a lot about life in that business. In my opin-
ion, it’s one of the best things a kid can do and it teaches kids
to be responsible and the time management is amazing. Some
of the greatest times I had in my life was at the stock shows
and in the barn.”