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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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Locals bring home prizes from Houston show
Published April 1, 2009
HOUSTON — A few students from Guadalupe County made names for themselves at the recent Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
At the event, 11–year–old Reagan Langemeier, of Marion Junior FFA, took home Supreme Champion Gilt from the Junior Breeding Gilt Show on March 8, while Konni Kelso, of the Guadalupe County 4–H, grabbed the title of Grand Champion Duroc from the Junior Breeding Gilt Show and Wayne Clemons, of Seguin FFA, was given the title of Reserve Grand Champion Angus of the Market Steer Show.
Langemeier said that there’s more to showing and placing hogs than one might first believe. A gilt is a female hog that has not yet been bred or given birth to piglets and a barrow is a castrated male, Langemeier said.
“The difference between the gilts and the barrows is the gilts get to go home and the barrows get auctioned,” she said. “She gets to come home and we are going to breed her, sell her babies or take them to San Antonio or different stock shows for gilts or barrows.”
Langemeier, who shows a Yorkshire gilt named Champ, said she is not the first in her family to take home the Supreme Champion Gilt title.
“My sister won it last year and she won showmanship also,” Langemeier. “So we were back–to–back.”
The Langemeiers are not the only family that makes showing a tradition.
Having won Grand Champion Duroc, Kelso said obtaining the title was a group effort.
“It meant at lot to me because we have been raising Durocs since 1965 throughout generations of us,” she said. “To be able to come up in to Houston, which is a really prestigious show, and be to be able to win the Duroc Gilt is a big deal, mainly because it is an award for everything that we put into that year.”
Winning is not always the icing on the cake, Kelso said.
“It is so rewarding when you are showing something that you bred and you see it grow up and fill out,” Kelso said. “When you start they are like three or four pounds and then when you show her and she is a 300 pound gilt.
“It is just rewarding to be able to see them from start to finish and know that you have done all of the work.”
Langemeier said she agreed that family pride, a belt buckle and ribbons are great — but that’s not all she walked away with this year.
“I got three Continental Airline plane tickets to go anywhere in the world,” she said. “My dad wants to go to Alaska but I want to go to Sydney, Australia or somewhere in Hawaii, but Sydney is where I am really thinking.”
Both girls said they learned a lot through out their experiences.
“I have learned to be real attentive to things and not to slack off and be responsible and to be more grown up,” Langemeier said. “It takes a lot of hard work, time and effort, getting up early with chores and chores after school until it is real dark.”
Kelso agreed, saying that the experience of showing is valuable — win or lose.
“It has taught me so much responsibility because even when it’s rainy or it’s cold or I don’t feel amazing, I have 30 gilts or 30 boars in the barn in the barn waiting to be fed and you don’t really have the option to put it off until tomorrow,” Kelso said. “These are animals that are depending on you. It has also taught me a lot about not only being a good winner, but being a good loser because it is impossible to go in and win every time and win everything.”
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