I recently had to write a SLAM! poem for my Advanced English Literature class and as I was thinking about what to write, I thought about what was most important to me, my passion. So I picked showing cattle. It's where my heart lies, and I live to wake to go to the barn, work well past sunsets each and every summer night, and go to stock shows where I can spend a week with some of my best friends. It's a part of my life that I was born into and will die in as well. My true passion for agriculture, particularly animal agriculture, was brought to life on the original 40 acres my parents bought in 1994 where they started raising beef cattle and sheep at K Bar K Cattle Company & Club Lambs. A week before the 1999 Meeker County Fair, I was born, and that could be considered my very first stock show. The winter after my first birthday, I wanted to do everything I could to help outside, especially with the sheep and lambing. Those bottle lambs were my favorite animals on the farm. (I now know why my parents let ME take care of them, those things are a pain in the butt.) My love of the farm only grew from there. By the summer of my third birthday, I was showing my first sheep, Maggie. When I was 5, dad bought me my very first show heifer, Rebecca and we went to Hutchinson, Kansas the summer of 2006 for my very first Junior Nationals. I won showmanship that year, and won't ever forget it...the judge told me that, "All this girls' missin' is her two front teeth!" I couldn't see over Becca, so I looked under her and let her head rest on mine when my arm got tired. I fell in love with showing cattle that year, I just didn't quite know it yet. For years, I told people I didn't know if I liked showing sheep or cattle better... in fact, I took a sheep to the State Fair my first year. Looking back I don't know what I was thinking, showing cattle is so much more fun! But, it's a lot more work. I think that's why I love it. Not just anyone can show cattle. It takes a special kind of people. I love the dedication, determination, commitment, perseverance, positive attitude, daily work, early mornings and late nights, needed for success. In the show ring, on the basketball court, football field, pool, or in life, the ribbon or championship banner isn't just handed to you. You have to work at it to get it just how you want. For some people, it comes more naturally than others, but even the "naturals" put in the time. I want to share with you my poem. It holds a special place in my heart because my roots were planted in agriculture, and just because I go to school where I can count the number of stock show kids on one hand, it doesn't mean that we are all that different.... Because My Favorite Color is Purple By: Kylee Kohls Some may wonder why I spend countless hours in the barn. I tell them “because my favorite color is purple.” Rising with the sun in June, July and August, Just to go outside, get dirty, sweaty and just plain tired out. I tell them “because my favorite color is purple.” The late summer nights in the barn with my best friends. The smell of the Shampoo, and Sheen, Final Bloom and fresh wood chips. “Because my favorite color is purple.” I wake up in the morning to see their happy faces and feisty attitudes. The unbreakable bond, what every stock show girl covets. I tell them, “because my favorite color is purple.” We create a correlation so strong, I notice every nuance in each of them. We work so hard, fabricating the art necessary for success. For me, showing cattle isn’t just a hobby, no, it’s a component of my life that I hope to never lose. “Because my favorite color is purple.” Many of you wouldn’t understand the intense bond between me and my heifers and steers. You don’t understand why I’m “throwing away” my time and money, But I don’t understand why you do the same for basketball, swimming, dance, or wrestling. We have one common goal though, we put our hearts into what we love. Because we want to win, we are driven by success. This is just one reason I am passionate about what I do, why you love what you do too. Because our favorite color is purple. The color of champions and champion banners. Blue is for those who want to be average, first place...wahoo! But in our hearts, we all want to be champions. Some might say I’m just chasin banners. You now know why I wake with the sun to go to the barn, the same reason you go to the gym, the pool or the studio. Because, purple is an ambitious and powerful color. Plus, you can never win too many Champion banners.
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AuthorKylee Kohls - #passionateAGvocate Archives
July 2018
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