Taylor Askew has been showing livestock at the N.C. State Fair since she was just 5 years old. Now, the 17-year-old is gearing up to finish high school and head to college, taking with her a long list of life lessons she’s learned along the way.
The Greenville native said showing livestock has been somewhat of a tradition in her family. She’s the fourth generation in her family to be involved in the agriculture industry.
“My whole family started showing cows when they were young,” Askew said.
When she first started showing livestock at the N.C. State Fair, Askew showed goats and pigs. This fall, she’ll show pigs and lambs.
The last 12 years have been full of ups and downs. Here are some of the lessons Askew has learned over the past decade.
Make the best of each situation
The weeks and days leading up to the N.C. State Fair every year are full of excitement, Askew said. From prepping with her animals to last-minute adjustments, Askew said she always goes into the fair excited and hopeful.
But it doesn’t always work out. Watching older competitors – and even friends – win year after year: “It’s a hard pill to swallow,” Askew said.
Still, she returned year after year to give it another shot, even though it was challenging. Askew said her animals are housed in Plymouth – about an hour away from her – so it’s hard for her to get as much time with them as she would like, especially leading up to the fair. Rather than giving up or making excuses, Askew decided she had to make the best of the situation at hand.
“I just told myself, ‘You’ve got to have that drive and dedication everyone else does and you have to prove that you’re just as good as anybody else,’” Askew said.
Finally, that hard work started to pay off – Askew has nabbed top titles in the past few years: Reserve Champion – Lamb; Grand Champion Goat Showman; and Reserve Sheep Showman.
“It was an amazing feeling, considering all my friends had won and I had never won before when I’d been showing longer than most of my friends,” Askew said. “It was an awesome feeling just knowing that you stepped up to the plate.”
Dedication is key
Askew said her sense of drive and dedication come from her father, without question. Seeing his work ethic and dedication from a young age instilled the same values in her, she said.
“He’s always had that drive in anything he does,” she said. “If he has his mind set to something, he’s going to do it, he’s going to give it his all.”
Following his example, Askew said she doesn’t do anything part way.
“He says he’s my biggest fan, but really, I’m his,” she said. “I get a lot of my determination and dedication and my whole mindset from him.”
She hopes to pass her passion on to her own kids one day.
“Making my family proud is such a big thing to me,” Askew said.
Friendship comes first
After more than a decade in the livestock industry, Askew has made many friends along the way. But, that means they’re also her competition.
Over the years, she said, she’s learned to separate the personal relationship from the professional one, and realized that the friendship should always be more important than the competition.
“If you’re showing against a friend and they beat you or you beat them, you can’t take that out on each other,” Askew said. “You have to congratulate each other and move on. If not, you’ll lose relationships over livestock. You just have to care about yourself and your own animals and not worry about everyone else.”
Building and maintaining relationships has been an important factor in Askew’s livestock career.
Be a good example
Over the years, Askew said she’s had tremendous support from breeders and competitors across North Carolina and beyond. For years, she said, she looked up to competitors that were older than her, and went to them for advice and encouragement.
“They’re great people and they want me to succeed, too, so I’m just trying to follow in their footsteps,” she said.
Now, she’s trying to be someone that younger generations can look up to.
“I know there are kids watching us, and I always try to encourage them, whether that’s by giving them a fist bump as they’re about to go out or just being there to support them after,” she said. “I want them to succeed, it’s all about building that supportive community.”
Askew plans to finish high school early this winter and is considering a couple different universities. Depending on where she ends up, she plans to study agricultural communications and agricultural business, or animal science and crop science.