How much different is showing cattle at the local county fair to playing a sport within your community?

I ask Reese Hissong, Junior, at Hamilton Southeastern High School her thoughts on being a part of two different activities. She has her country side, which includes cleaning stalls, brushing, preparing and working cattle for the upcoming shows. Then she has her athletic side, practicing, exercising and bettering herself for the upcoming season. Don’t these activities sound rather similar? While being so completely different!

“Both require a lot of dedication and time, however golf is more individual where I can just go out and practice my swing and get better. Whereas showing cattle requires a group of people and an animal you must rely on. It requires more time to make your animal look good,” Hissong claims. Preferring cattle showing during the offseason, Hissong still manages to balance both activities well!

I ask her favorite memories from both her showing and sport, her country side vs. her city side and her amazing efforts in both. “My favorite memory from golf was Mudsock this year, the entire team came out to watch and when we ended up winning, it felt like a team win rather than an individual win, as most matches are more individualized, but Mudsock was a group effort. My favorite memory from showing was the first time I won grand champion, as my entire family was there afterwards, and it was just super exciting and all the time and dedication we had put into that animal ended up paying off,” Hissong explains.  Story by Mackenzie Dreher