By Sandra Meineke

Who are they? They are Katy ISD high school students involved in FFA and/or agriculture classes at any of the districts six high schools. And they are raising farm animals for spring livestock shows.

What would make a city kid decide to take on such agrarian duties as mucking out pens, dealing with stubborn and often cranky animals, lose sleep, and spend time in the cold and rain when they could be in their nice warm houses? The reasons for raising an animal are as varied as the students themselves, but basically they all hope to sell their animal at auction for a good price and put that money toward future college expenses. Jason Thomas, ag teacher at Mayde Creek High School, says, “These kids make an investment of approximately $500 for their animal, feed and supplies, and have the possibility of a $10,000 return if they work hard and do a good job preparing their animals for auction. If they don ’t, and the animal sells in the barn sale, they stand to lose a couple of hundred dollars. ”

During the six months or so that the students raise their animals, they learn responsibility, commitment, investment techniques, how to get the best return on their money, how to physically be responsible for the welfare of another creature, and how to compete in the real world, Thomas says.

Troy Oliver, ag teacher and head of the agriculture department at Morton Ranch High School, says ag teachers from all the schools encourage the students, help with a sick animal, and give guidance when necessary, but the full responsibility of raising the animal falls on the student. “These kids are in business for themselves. They make the financial and time investment. They are the ones who are here (at the district ag barn) every day, in all kinds of weather, training and tending their animals. ”

Bria Richard, 16, a junior at Morton Ranch High School, is participating in the show for the second year. She will be showing a 9-month-old goat named Gunnar. Bria won a showmanship award in last year ’s livestock show and sold her animal at auction. She saved part of her prize-winnings for college and invested part of it toward this year ’s project—Gunnar the goat.

Whitney LeBrun, 17, a junior at Mayde Creek High School, has shown an animal every year since her freshman year. She started with rabbits and advanced to a pig last year. This year, she is raising two pigs, one for the Katy livestock show on Feb. 26-28, and one for the Houston Livestock
Show and Rodeo in March. “The rabbits were fun and an interesting project,” she said, “but you only have rabbits for six weeks.”

Bria is the first member of her family to raise an animal for show, but she wasn’t totally unfamiliar with farm animals. Her grandparents have a ranch in Hempstead. Bria says the reason she decided to raise an animal was because of her career choice. She plans to attend Texas A &M University to study to become a large animal veterinarian.

Right now, Gunnar weighs approximately 104 pounds. The ideal weight for show goats is between 80 and 110 pounds, so Bria will try to make sure that he doesn ’t gain more weight before the show. But she will build his muscles by continuing to exercise him twice a day. She also works on showmanship every day.

Bria says she likes goats and has found her niche with them, but they are extremely stubborn creatures and don ’t always cooperate, so she spends a lot of time in the show ring with him, just practicing for the big show. Before Gunnar is transported to the L.D. Robinson Pavilion where he will stay for the three days of the show, Bria will shear and bathe him to make sure he is the cleanest and prettiest that he can be.

Whitney watched her older sister raise animals for show and decided she wanted to do the same thing when she got to high school. She doesn ’t plan to be a vet like Bria; she plans to major in business. But she has enjoyed the livestock so much that she is considering ag business as a possible career choice. After her freshman entry with the rabbits, she decided to do a larger animal her sophomore year. “The larger animals are a lot more challenging. We have to make sure they have the right amount of fat and muscle, ” Whitney said. To guarantee that the pigs have muscle, Whitney walks them up and down hills twice a day.

Whitney didn’t make it to auction with her animal last year, but she used the money she made in the barn sale to buy her pig for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Rickie, the Houston show pig, is a black and pink male. Katy pig Lucy is female and all pink. Whitney feeds them 10 pounds of show feed every day.

Of the two pigs, Whitney says Lucy is her favorite even though she is “a very moody pig. I call her Princess. Rickie is more mellow,” she said. After walking the animals, feeding and watering them and cleaning their pens, Whitney makes sure the heat lamps are properly working so the pigs will stay warm on cold nights. She will bathe them the morning of the show and condition them the morning of the auction, so that their skin stays moist and supple-looking for buyers ’ inspection.

Once the animals are sold, and the students find themselves with nothing to do, there is often a big letdown. “They get attached to the time and routine, as much as to the animals,” Oliver said. To fill that void, students can raise an animal for the county fairs in the fall. If they choose to do that, they get their county fair animal shortly after the February livestock show and raise it until October. Bria plans to get a county fair animal this year. Whitney is undecided since she has already raised two pigs this fall and winter.

The Katy FFA Livestock Show and Rodeo will be held at the L.D. Robinson Pavilion, 6301 S. Stadium Lane in Katy on Feb. 26-28. For more information, go to http://katyrodeo.org.l