Even as cold as it was Thursday afternoon there was no question Guillermo Medina, Italie Gonzalez and Emma Cawlfield loved being at the Los Fresnos FFA agricultural farm behind Los Fresnos High School.
After all, each of them spends hours every day, weekends included, grooming, feeding, walking and otherwise watching out for the well-being of the animals under their care.
“We’re training them to walk the way we want them to, so we’re trying to make them look pretty, but also to act appropriately,” Cawlfield said as the three explained the attraction of raising an animal to show at the Cameron County Fair and Livestock Show, now only a couple of weeks away, and later at the big Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show in Mercedes.
This year will be bittersweet for Medina, Gonzalez and Cawlfield, who are seniors and officers in Los Fresnos FFA, so this year will be their last exhibiting animals in the two shows.
“My dad’s an ag teacher, so I’ve been doing this since I was wee small,” Medina said. “I’ve been around this all my life and I just can’t say no to it, going around that arena.”
Medina is the chapter vice president, Gonzalez the president and Cawlfield the secretary. All three said they spend considerable time at the ag farm, wouldn’t have it any other way, and that one of the big attractions of FFA is the camaraderie the members develop by caring for their animals together and traveling to shows.
“It depends how many animals you have. I have multiple animals so I’m here 4-5 hours a day even on weekends,” Gonzalez said.
“For me it’s the camaraderie and the way we get along here,” Medina said when asked what’s most attractive about the program. “I’ve said it for years and my dad will agree with me. In the 16 years I’ve been coming here I’ve made another family.”
Gonzalez, who grew up in a ranching family, put it this way: “Sometimes we travel to shows together and after we’re done we sit down to a big dinner together just like a family, which we are.”
Omar Gonzales, the lead ag teacher at Los Fresnos High School, said Los Fresnos FFA and the ag program at LFHS is about more than animals, although the show ring plays a big part.
“It’s taking care of one another … and I view these students as my kids. I want them to succeed, not just in the show ring but in life. These livestock projects aren’t just about getting a blue ribbon for the livestock project. It’s a tool that we use to raise blue ribbon kids ourselves, instilling responsibility, instilling hard work, and teamwork in some cases.”
The three seniors said working with younger members as they learn the ins and outs of properly feeding and training animals for the show ring makes it fun to come to the ag farm.
“There’s a misconception that you have to grow up on a big farm or a ranch,” Cawlfield said. “We have kids that grow up in a small house in the middle of town and have their animals here, which it’s obviously an advantage to have your animals here.”
The Cameron County Fair and Livestock Show is held in February every year in conjunction with the Los Fresnos PRCA Rodeo. This year the livestock show is scheduled Feb. 17-20. The rodeo is Feb. 19-21 at the rodeo grounds, 500 E. Ocean Blvd.
Medina will be exhibiting light cross hogs, Gonzalez a five-star heifer and a commercial AOB heifer along with a hampshire and a dark cross hog. Cawlfield is showing two hogs, a light cross and a chester.
“It’s cool having the show right in our own home town,” Cawlfield said. “It’s a five-minute drive from here, behind McDonalds. … It’s definitely crunch time from now until the end. Feeding is really important. Walking is really important.”
