I always look forward to spring—one of my favorite times of year. I enjoy the show clinics, meeting people, and working with the kids and their families to help them get started on what I hope will be a fulfilling and rewarding project. I enjoy getting out on the road to look for show pigs for my kids. I enjoy the challenge of getting out there to make my show pig selection and bringing the baby pigs home to get them started. I really enjoy the sunshine and warmer weather!

I sometimes take it for granted how lucky I am to share an interest in something that my kids and I can do together. For me that is one of the great things about living on a farm and involvement in 4-h. I get to spend quality time with my kids every day.

I have been to some great show clinics over the past 2 weeks. We had record attendance (over 600) at our show clinic in Springfield, Ohio. The clinic had a great showing from my fellow Honor Show Chow Ambassadors. It was my pleasure to work with fellow ambassadors Mark Johnson, Kent Bennington, Mike Harbour and the good Doctor Kevin Burgoon.

I want to thank the very generous sponsors that helped us with the event–we had excellent giveaways from Eby (they gave away a stock box), Callaway Farms (they gave 2 families a years worth of bedding), Tarter Gate (they gave a goat stand), and eZall (a year’s worth of product).



Last week I was in Elkhorn Wisconsin for a show pig clinic-Again, another great turnout we had over a 150 people for the event. While in Wisconsin, I was able to stop in on Darren Lynd’s family and take a look at their spring pigs. I was impressed with the pigs in their barn. They should have a great summer!



This week I am headed to Muscatine, Iowa for a show clinic on Saturday, March 27 at 9am. This is the first year for this event and it looks as if they will have a good turnout as well. There will be a show pig sale following the clinic.

I started getting our barn ready earlier this month. At the end of every season we tear down our pens and power wash the barn. Cameron and I set the pens up earlier this month. I have been up to Northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to look at showpigs for my kids.

My kids start to get stoked when I bring home the pigs. We have 8 barrows and gilts on feed right now—with the intent of taking them to the World Pork Expo in Des Moines.

Iowa here I come! I will have some pictures to share with you from the clinic next week!

Check out this awesome article featured in the Springfield News-Sun featuring the HSC Showring Success Seminar!!

Here’s some photos of the event, also featured in the newspaper! Thanks to all who attended and made this event a SUCCESS!

The Show Ring Success Clinic will be held on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio. Topics include management, selection and showmanship for pigs, goats and lambs. We have fellow ambassadors Kent Bentington, Mark Johnson and Mike Harbour coming in to help along with Dr. Kevin Burgoon. If that isn’t enough, Dale Ricker is providing Quality Assurance and Dr. Price and Dr. Knoll will be covering the health issues for show animals. This will be a hands on event and demonstration.

Shoelaces will be catering lunch for the event. Pork loin and walking tacos and great desserts will be provided free of charge.

Be one of the first to hear about High Octane Fitter 35. The new high protein fat burner will be a great addition to the Honor Show Chow program.

We will also be giving a chance to win feed and bedding for a year. Tarter Gate is giving a goat stand. The grand prize is an Eby stock box. We are very thankful for the vendors and these giveaways!

The clinic starts at 9:00 am and ends at 3:00 pm. This is an indoor heated complex. The fairgrounds are easy to get to along Interstate 70 at St. Rt. 41.

Hope to see you there! See this flyer for more details!

I must confess I have really enjoyed watching the winter Olympic Games. I was rooting loudly enough for USA speed skater Apollo Ohno that I was told to “tone it down” by my 13 year old daughter! I was really impressed by his dedication in training-especially since he was one of the older contestants. I must have really gone on and on about his training during the race last night as my wife talked me into training with her to participate in the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati this May. My goal is to take a leg of the relay with her this year. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me in order to get into shape for that!

In other news around our house, Alex played in an indoor softball tournament this weekend. Her team went 3-0, they had a very good weekend. Alex batted .500 and had 3 RBI’s. Cameron has really enjoyed the 3 snow days from school we had last week. He was a very happy boy, as he’s been spending time (and making a little money) cleaning out everyone’s driveways with our little tractor. The weather man is forecasting we will get another 5-9 inches starting Monday morning thru Tuesday…the kids are scheming for some more snow days. I don’t think they realize that they’ll have to make the days up at the end of the school year!

Joe, our dog, has been busy this week too! He achieved a good canine citizenship certificate, graduated from basic obedience, got fixed at the vet and got into big trouble with my wife. I will admit he has been a little naughty this week! I’m not sure what prompted his naughtiness-if it was because the kids were home from school 3 days this week or because of the snow, or if it’s because acts as if he has the mentality of a 5th grade boy? Who knows? But, here is a photo of our sometimes naughty, sweet dog.





I am headed to Phoenix this week for work and am looking forward to some warm and sunny weather-and a bowl of Red Chile Posole (my favorite besides Cajun food)!

I wish all the Honor Show Chow families who are participating in the San Antonio Stock Show Market Hog show Good Luck this week!

What was the groundhog thinking? Both my kids both said more winter stinks! However, Cameron is certainly enjoying the snow days from school and plowing the neighbor’s driveways with the tractor. Here is a photo of Cameron and my uncle’s dog Freddy playing in the snow.



By the looks of it around our house, it’s definitely winter and more snow is to come our way this coming week. We got somewhere in the 6 inch range of snow accumulation over the weekend, school was cancelled on Friday-the snow caused havoc on the roads throughout the weekend. My wife was extremely grateful that we didn’t loose our electricity due to the snowstorm.

Cameron’s chickens are producing about a dozen eggs a day. All but 3-4 hens are laying eggs. He sold his first 4 dozen of fresh eggs last week and thinks he’s on the path to getting rich! The wheels in his 11 year old mind are spinning fast on how to make more spending money. In case you are curious on what he spends his money on…it’s collectible toy tractors.

Cameron is a professional “carpet farmer” complete with grain set ups, livestock barns, livestock, houses, semi’s—everything you would expect on a big farm we have in our house in small scale, and I mean everywhere. Polly and I need to build a bigger house to accommodate his hobby.

He is very fortunate to have my uncle live directly across the road from us—He is a big kid at heart and helps Cameron build these life-like set ups. I thought you might enjoy seeing one of Cameron’s pieces. This particular Grain set up pictured below was made from coffee cans and pop tops—everything was hand made. Very little cost in materials to make but it took many enjoyable hours to make!

Hope everyone has been staying warm! We had a beautiful morning with ice covering the tree limbs. Today, as I write this, it is 8 degrees outside with a wind chill of -2.







I know the weather is making it difficult to get your pigs ready for the upcoming shows. Keep your pigs warm and dry when the weather is like this. It is also very important that they have fresh water—I hope those of you with projects on feed right now have a heated barn.

With a winter like this one, I am personally glad we aren’t showing at Denver this year. For those of you who show in the summer—I know that you might be getting anxious as sows are farrowing currently. I have had several phone calls from people wanting to get show pigs lined up for the spring.

My schedule is filling up for February and March for spring show clinics. It looks like I will be in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and Missouri as of current. I will post information about the clinics on here as dates get closer.

On a personal note, we have had an exciting week. My son’s chickens have started laying eggs. For the past 3 days, Cameron has been getting 10 eggs a day. This morning he brought his eggs in and we had them for breakfast! He told my wife, she doesn’t need to buy eggs at the grocery-he is taking care of the eggs. He has made big plans to expand our vegetable garden, sweet corn patch, and increase the number of meat chickens he raises this summer. He wants to try his hand at the local farmers market. He likes the concept of “eating local.”

Hopefully, the kids can get back to school—they had 2 snow days this week.

Happy 2010!

We hope everyone had a great Holiday this year!

We decided to take a family vacation to Siesta Key, Florida this year. We had cooler than expected temperatures in Florida -but much warmer than Ohio and NO Snow! The kids were excited to swim and play on the beach during their Christmas break.







We bought and decorated an artificial palm tree to be our Christmas tree and it turned out pretty good! Santa did find the Vaughan kids in Florida!

We took the kids to snorkel with the manatees in Crystal River, Florida. This is always a favorite Florida activity with my kids. It was 30 degrees the morning we went to swim with the Manatees—surprisingly the water temperature in Bay was 70 degrees. I have never seen so many manatees in one place. They were everywhere. If you ever get the chance to swim with these gentle creatures, I recommend to try it. Manatees are docile, curious animals who actually like to be scratched (like a dog), they will roll over to let you scratch their belly too!







We drove over the Sunshine Skyway in Tampa-which is a giant of a bridge.



I have been talking with many of you who have show pigs on feed for upcoming shows—I want to remind those who have pigs in open barns to be conscientious about temperature and weather fluctuations. One of my friends in Texas mentioned in his area they saw temperatures as high as 70 one day then later in same week it was snowing! Be prepared to close up the barn when temperatures are cool as your pigs like warm, dry areas and open your barn up when it is warmer. Keeping your show pigs warm and dry will help the look their best on show day.

I am not sure if you know this or not, but my hometown is Wilmington, Ohio. The same Wilmington, Ohio that has lost over 9,000 jobs through the closing of its major employer, DHL. There are so many families who have been affected by this closure. I can stand at the end of my driveway and no matter which way I look I can see a neighbor who has lost their job as a result. There has been much discussion recently about my hometown and the economic condition of the residents on 60 minutes, Rachael Ray, People Magazine, and the list goes on and on.

Many local families are experiencing hardship due to the current difficult economic times. There have been a number of efforts by organizations and individuals to help those who are in need. Thankfully, our area has been the recipent of many acts of kindness both large and small.

My son’s Cub Scout troop recently had a Bake Sale to raise money to buy coats for the kids in our school district who need winter coats and Christmas gifts. We asked our good friend Kevin Mears to auctioneer the event. If you know Kevin, then you know he has a kind heart when it come to the kids. Kevin came down and donated his time to auctioneer the event.

Kevin did a great job! His enthusiasm at the event helped to raise over $1600 for the kids in need at our school district. We are very appreciative for his time! We know there are numerous people like Kevin out there donating and giving their time to help others or “Paying it Forward,” and we are grateful.

Happy Holidays everyone!

I had the pleasure of speaking at a show pig clinic in Pineville, Louisiana this past Saturday. We had over 60 enthusiastic kids and their parents. This event was held at the Austin Ag Service.

My hosts treated me well. Curtis Taylor, the HSC rep for the area, picked me up from the airport on Friday and took me to a great local Cajun Restaurant. I had blackened alligator and crawfish and it was really good!

Kevin Guidry of Cajunland Genetics brought pigs for the clinic. Kevin did a great job discussing selection and showmanship. Kevin and his family are very successful showing and breeding pigs (and the best boudin makers going!)

I covered the feeding and nutrition part of the event. I used the photos of our pigs from this past summer. We take pictures of our pigs every week to document how they change week to week. I made the presentation interactive by asking the crowd what changes they would like to make based on what the pigs looked like-I think it went well. The young kids seemed to enjoy the talk.

I really appreciated the opportunity to speak to the fine folks in Louisiana and hope to make it to their State (LSU) show to see how these kids do.



My family is getting ready for the holidays-Alex and Cameron’s last day of school for Christmas Break is this Friday. They have big plans lined up for their time off school. I’m sure my wife is looking forward to the kids having a break from school too…Because that means the kids get to help me more with the livestock. Tonight, I had her out sorting cattle in the dark after a big rain!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! My family went to my Mom’s for Thanksgiving—not that we had to go far, she lives 1 mile away.

I decided that I wanted to cook our turkey this year. I recently purchased a Holland Grill and learned from the rep that I could grill a whole turkey right on the grill. We had a 14lb turkey and was told that the total grilling time would be 2 ½ hours-that our turkey would be perfectly golden on the outside with very moist meat.

We ended up having a vegetarian Thanksgiving lunch and turkey for supper. What I didn’t do was make sure the turkey was totally defrosted. The cooking time ended up being much longer than I anticipated due to the bird being partially frozen. I will say that when the turkey was done it was great! Our turkey was perfectly golden and extremely moist. I will definitely try to cook another turkey on the grill, but will make sure I get the turkey all the way defrosted before I cook it!

We took two pictures of the turkey, one at the 2 ½ hour mark and the next when the turkey was totally done:

Earlier this fall, the co-op I work for joined Stephanie Spielman’s Breast Cancer Research Fundraising. We pledged to give money towards the Stephanie Spielman Research Foundation with every propane fuel delivery. We painted up one of our delivery trucks pink with “Fueling the Cure” on the tank. I thought I’d share a picture of one of trucks-my kids thought the truck was pretty cool.