The 2011-2012 Butler Livestock Judging Team flocked from all ends of the country, racking up a grand total of 17,885 miles and over 285 hours on the road simply to arrive in El Dorado, Kansas. We came to spend two years with 29 teammates gaining invaluable knowledge about livestock and life. We came to learn how to look, understand and speak. We came to learn how to make fast decisions. We came to learn how to defend ourselves, how to build our vocabulary impeccably, how to speak with confidence, poise and perfection. Yet, we are on a never-ending quest to find the feeling that leaves us speechless.
It is an exhilarating emotion walking side by side with teammates into the sunset, as the wind sends shadows of a bright red show barn and sturdy oak trees dancing onto the ground after hours of analyzing hogs, sheep and cattle. Seeing three different teammates receive high individual at three consecutive contests grants the greatest satisfaction any team can gain. Bundled up in snow gear, crammed in a fifteen passenger van surrounded by some of the most amazing, driven, dedicated, passionate livestock industry members there are, driving through the hills of Iowa blanketed in untouched, freshly fallen, delicate, white snow is matchless. Somewhere between phenomenal stock, breath-taking sights, and people that changed the livestock industry, it just hits you. It’s a feeling that paralyzes a person for words.
So, to all the Butler Alumni, to all the Butler faculty, parents, supporters, donators, and followers: the Butler livestock judging team has a confession. We may practice in the Oklahoma sun until 29 team members are burnt crispy, we may burn fuel to rush to Nebraska so we can look at sheep until 3 am, we may give reasons until our voices are hoarse, we may spend scholarship money on endless stenos and pencils that are used to describe everyday, common livestock…..but there are just moments when even WE are left speechless.
Butler Agvocates 