Farm to Market

"And one of the best things about it is that a kid that is involved in 4-H is probably not out getting in trouble somewhere else."

Maybe that's true. It's nice to think that conscientious 4-H guidance, proximity to livestock and good, clean country living combine to create a model citizenry that competes, and wins and loses, with good-natured equanimity.

"I got kicked in the head once," says Kody, of tending his Brangus Steer Larry, who took seventh place out of 28 in his class at the Livestock Show. "It knocked me out, but I was all right after."

In a world in which only a few hundred pigs out of thousands are worth more than what it costs to feed them, and in an adult hog industry in which none are -- which is to say, in the world of modern rural agriculture promulgated so effectively by 4-H and FFA and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo -- that ability to take it on the chin without complaint and come back for more should prove an invaluable tool.

"I was disappointed," says Kody of his showing at Brenham, "but you never know how it's going to turn out. I had a pretty good year with my steers."

As Kody says this, he's traveling with his dad to San Angelo, where he'll show two more Hamps, including Robin's pen-mate Batman, in a field of 1,800. When the time comes, he intends to follow his sister to Texas A&M, but he's not sure yet what he wants to study.

Does he intend to carry on in the hog business -- show, market or otherwise?
"No, sir. I think I'm going to do something more like engineering.