KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Higher prices are on the minds of rural youth gearing up for the Missouri State Fair.
"Everything we do costs money," said Truman Wilson, a 13-year-old member of Hickory Grove 4-H Club in Cass County.
Truman and his older sister, Tyne, participate in 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA), two separate agriculture-based programs designed to educate members on how to raise livestock.
The organizations also offer a broad range of trades outside of agriculture.
In the Wilson family's case, they eat, sleep and breathe agriculture.
"I wouldn't be who I am without these animals," explained Tyne Wilson, a senior graduate of Pleasant Hill High School and FFA chapter member. "It’s taught me a lot about life, it’s taught me to be responsible, that I am going to have to miss out on some things that my friends do because I have to stay here and take care of animals."
Tyne and Truman both aspire to work in the agriculture industry.
Tyne's will head to college this fall to become a livestock judge, while her brother hopes to raise animals of his own one day.
The two have learned valuable, yet difficult, lessons in agriculture finance.
"Money is a big aspect in what we do here," Tyne Wilson said.
The payout for a show animal can be big if they place high at the Missouri State Fair in August.
As the agriculture industry is unpredictable, so is the other competition around the state.
Kansas and Missouri have a combined 93,000 members in both 4-H and FFA.
Tyne's entire animal project is a gamble.
"You have to pay the feed bill, you have to pay the shavings bill," she said. "It racks up, it really does."
The siblings have relied on their parents' guidance for the past 10 years.
"We have to set realistic goals," Nici Wilson, their mother, told KSHB 41. "Feed is up $10 a 50-pound bag than what it was 10 years ago."
The Wilsons feed a high-quality grain to their animals.
The grain's compounds provide nutrients to the pigs that are rated for animal showmanship. Later, the animals are processed for consumption.
But it's not just food that's inflated; the grooming products used for fair shows have significantly gone up, including the wood shavings used as the pigs' bedding.
"At one time, we would buy a bag of shavings to bed the pigs down on, and shavings were $4.50 to $5 a bag," Nici Wilson said. "Now, we're at $10 per bag."
The White Pine Shavings imported from Canada are changed through six stalls once each week, Nici Wilson said.
The Wilsons have been raising the animals since January.
"Fuel costs are higher, so transportation in getting them here, they obviously have to build those costs right back into the product. We have to take that into consideration," she said.
Her kids are learning lessons in how to budget and how to overcome slimming margins.
The family even cut their number of pigs in half, formerly raising 12 and this year raising five.
"Slim your numbers down so that way you have more quality over quantity," Truman Wilson said. "It’s a circle of money. You take it and use it to buy these pigs. Then, buy the product, buy the feed, buy the bedding. The goal is, let’s win it, get some money back and it goes back into the cycle for next year. That's how you pay for everything."
In Truman's older sister's case, some of that money has been allotted to her college fund, something her family started raising animals for in the first place.
"As I’ve gotten older, I can definitely see the cost and the damage it can do to a pocketbook. Just trying to show these pigs and do what we love," Tyne Wilson said. "To be competitive, you gotta narrow those numbers down and limit to the best quality. It’s not always quantity, it's about quality."
That's how this family of animal showmen is navigating rising costs, learning lessons large-scale farmers live each day.
Through hard work and determination, the Wilson family's goal is to feed their neighbors.
"You just have to put your head down and work hard," Truman Wilson said. "[The money], that has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is hard work."
The Cass County Fair is July 13-20 in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. Click here for more information.
The Missouri State Fair is Aug. 7-17 in Sedalia, Missouri. Click here for more information.
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