Iron Valley Genetics

09/27/2026

Keystone Livestock Exposition

💥Reserve Champion Berkshire Gilt💥

Bred by us

Sired by Henhouse @ Thompson Brothers Genetics

07/25/2026

🐽𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕣 ℙ𝕚𝕘 𝔻𝕚𝕕🐽

These next few weeks can be exhilarating or profoundly frustrating.

That's because it's easy to let the outcome carry all the weight.

County fairs don't always celebrate your barn favorite.

What they do provide is something just as valuable: a chance to compete close to home while refining your process.

The last three weeks of feeding.
The hours of training.
The skin and hair work.
The daily decisions that slowly transform a pig into the very best version of itself.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦.

They may be excellent. They may be less than excellent. They may love exactly what you built—or they may walk right past the thing you poured your heart into.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴.

When it does, we have a choice.

We can become bitter, or we can be proud of the process that produced the pig standing in front of us.

Because the people whose opinions you truly respect? They noticed.

They noticed the freshness. The fill. The attention to detail. The training. The growth of both the project and the exhibitor.

If you leave without the banner, it's okay to feel disappointed. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯.

Talk it through with your tribe. Ask the people whose opinions you've earned the right to value what they would have done differently.

Maybe there really was something to learn. Maybe there was a management decision you could have made better. Or maybe they'll simply remind you that the judge evaluated one afternoon—not the hundreds of small decisions that built that project.

Either way, you'll leave with something more valuable than resentment.

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦.

And if this happens to be your last year...

Don't let one placing rewrite what this project gave you.

The discipline to manage details.
The patience to trust a process.
The eye to recognize quality.
The satisfaction of doing right by an animal.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴.

A disappointing showing cannot convince you that the process doesn't matter.

Because even if no one appreciated the elevated care you poured into this year's project...

𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙞𝙜 𝙙𝙞𝙙.

04/03/2026

We extend our gratitude to all attendees of this year's sale and look forward to another successful season.

03/05/2026