Growing a Future Farmer
story by Donna Hecker & photography by Talitha Schroeder
While the scream and squeal-inducing rides at the county fair spin and soar above the midway, activities much closer to the ground and howls of a different sort can be heard coming from the livestock pavilion. That’s where dozens of 4-H students are busily applying last minute touch-ups to themselves and their show lambs before their turn in the ring.
One of those students is 14-year-old Peyton Zinner. We met Peyton earlier this year as she and her family were wrapping up their lambing season. Six months on, she’s showing several of those lambs at the county fair in preparation for the upcoming state fair.
We watch her lead a lamb into the ring for the first class of the evening. Peyton’s dressed in an emerald green long-sleeved shirt, embellished jeans and cowboy boots; her long strawberry blond hair is pulled high up in a ponytail. It’s a showmanship class for the 13-16 age group and Peyton’s father Jeff explains the judging process to us.
The youth are evaluated on how well they handle their sheep. Without a lead rope and using only their hands and legs, they position their lambs so the animals present with a straight back, elongated neck, high head and steady stance, feet squarely under their bodies. As the judge moves around the ring, the teens adjust their poses to keep their lambs in his line of sight.
As the evening goes on, Peyton makes several trips to the ring, winning Reserve Champion awards in the Market Lamb and Breeding Ewe classes. She’s no stranger to competition; she’s been showing lambs since she was three years old, she’s active in her FFA chapter and she swims on two different teams.
Asked if she’ll continue her FFA involvement as she starts high school this fall, Peyton answers with an emphatic “yes!” She told us how she’s looking forward to “doing more leadership training and maybe entering different types of competitions. Having more speaking opportunities.”
Peyton had recently attended the state FFA convention where her team placed third in a contest on conducting meetings. “I really liked competing on a team and working with different people. I learned that it was important to be organized and have strong officers, and that everybody needs to work together and not talk over each other.”
To get a sense of how Peyton and other young people benefit from participation in 4-H livestock shows and groups like the FFA, we turned to Peyton’s uncle J.R. Zinner, himself an FFA advisor at her high school.
“A lot of our students come out with several attributes. They have a foot up on their peers when it comes to soft skills like communications and time management. They gain a sense of responsibility while learning to care for something other than themselves, whether it’s raising livestock or growing crops. It’s a perspective that can’t be gained without actually doing the work. It’s a good introduction to adulthood and when that time comes, they just get it.”
Kentucky’s farm economy is in a bright spot at the moment. After surging for the last two years, it’s on track to surpass $7 billion in cash receipts by the end of 2022. Both Governor Andy Beshear and Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles are enthusiastic cheerleaders for a new era of technology-enhanced farming. And supply-chain interruptions and inflationary pressure are strong arguments for supporting local agriculture, especially meat production.
Peyton Zinner and her classmates are not just the future of Kentucky farming; they’re our future too. As Chef Ouita Michel says, Peyton’s generation has a foot in each of two worlds. One with infinite possibilities and one with finite resources. Youth organizations like 4-H and FFA can help bridge those two worlds. It’s up to the rest of us to make sure the bridge is strong enough for their safe passage across.
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