Алaska State Fair: 11-летняя фермерша выставила на аукцион свинью весом 261 фунт ради оплаты колледжа

Kinley McKee walked her pig, Louie, up and down her family’s driveway on a recent sunny afternoon. The 11-year-old farmer has taken this walk about 100 times this summer, nudging and pushing her squealing swine — which now weighs more than twice as much as she does — up the hill for a treat of goat’s milk and a marshmallow. The walks are just one task among a long list of farm chores McKee does every day to make sure Louie grows big and strong, in hopes that he will help pay for her future education. McKee is part of the Midnight Sun 4-H club, and one of hundreds of Alaska youths who nurtured animals and vegetables throughout the growing season for the chance to show their work off at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. McKee is a veteran of 4-H and the fair. She’s raised and sold three pigs in the livestock auction, has submitted baked goods each of the last six years, and has entered vegetables she’s grown in her grandma’s garden to display at the June Tull 4-H building. But since February, McKee has been working extra hard preparing for this week. She and Louie entered competitions in the Craig Taylor Farm Exhibits barn, where they were judged for their showmanship and market quality before the auction Saturday. “I’m really excited about market,” McKee said. “That’s the thing that I am most excited for probably every year because we have gotten so close to winning.” McKee comes from a family of farmers. Her grandfather is Bryan Scoresby, director of the state’s Division of Agriculture and a backyard beef farmer. Before Kinley was born, her mother, Katie, raised pigs and cows to pay for her college education, alongside her four siblings who did the same. Kinley, her brother and cousins continue their family’s legacy on the same plot of land where their parents learned to muck stalls decades ago. “Being born into it, when I was young I didn’t really understand what I was committing to,” McKee said. “I really like the farm girl life, I do.” Kinley originally planned to raise one of the pigs born on their farm, but consecutive windstorms hammered the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in December, which stressed out the sows and caused them to lose their litters. Without show-quality piglets to raise for the auction, Kinley and her father, Phil McKee, went to Boise, Idaho, where they’d pick up Louie, some Chick-fil-A, and head back home. McKee has cared for Louie since they brought him home in February, bottle-feeding the piglet during the spring until he was big enough to leave the insulated barn and move to an outdoor pen, where his diet graduated to milk-soaked grains. Caring for the animal is Kinley’s responsibility alone. Even when she’s sick, tired or busy, her parents very rarely step in to help. Aside from 4-H, McKee participates swim club, battle of the books, cross country, track and field, takes voice lessons and dance lessons. She said farming is an exercise in time management. “It teaches me responsibility, it teaches me how to commit to things and not quit or give up halfway through,” McKee said. McKee gained experience raising the family’s backup pig for several years, which her younger sister handled this summer. They will enter whichever pig grows largest in the auction, and the other will feed their family throughout the year. For Katie McKee, Kinley’s mom, the 4-H projects are a means to save for her children’s future, but also teaches them valuable lessons in the process. “A driving factor is, this is what is going to put our kids through their college education,” Katie McKee said. “In addition to that, I just think that kids need to be actively engaged in a good cause, and this is something that keeps them motivated and off of a screen and working hard. I think a lot of the world’s problems would be solved if kids stopped playing video games and scooped a little more manure.” Beyond beef and swine, 4-H participants have raised quail, yaks and reindeer, and some young beekeepers entered their own honey. Not every animal raised by 4-H members is auctioned off at the fair, but most are. Youths ages 5 to 18 are required to present their projects somewhere, and most choose the fair. Samantha Blumenkonig directs the 4-H program for the Copper River and Mat-Su area, and said the projects are designed to help students learn to grow their own business. Members track their expenses and their animal’s weight, and often use their earnings to pay for the animal they’ll raise next year. “By the end of it, you can see the confidence growing within these kids. You see them blossom,” Blumenkonig said. “There’s nothing like having that whole livestock barn full of people applauding for you.” Last year, the Alaska State Fair set a record with more than 388,000 attendees. The fair began as a celebration of families who survived their first year in the Matanuska Colony in 1936, and now ranks among the best in nation, according to USA Today. The livestock auctions date back to the early 1980s, according to Melissa Keefe, director of marketing and communications for the fair. “The Fair has long served as a place where Alaskans can celebrate agriculture, learn about where their food comes from, and recognize the people who contribute to the state’s agricultural community. The 4-H/FFA livestock program and auctions are a meaningful extension of that mission. By providing a prominent, established platform for these events, the Fair helps shine a spotlight on the next generation of Alaska’s agricultural community and gives them an experience that goes beyond the auction itself,” Keefe said in an email. Although the rich Mat-Su soils make the region Alaska’s hub for growers, the cold climate and shortened growing season limits the state’s agriculture industry. Blumenkonig said auctions in the Lower 48 can get “cutthroat” among commercial buyers, but the Alaska State Fair auction is more relaxed and community focused. After the animal has been sold, audience members typically call out “add-ons” to donate additional money to support the 4-H member projects. “In our auction, everybody’s just in it to support the future of Alaskan agriculture and to support the kiddos,” Blumenkonig said. Last year, McKee’s pig sold for $13 a pound, yielding around $3,000. “I put it in my savings account for college and hopefully get a good education with it,” McKee said. McKee doesn’t plan to pursue a career in agriculture, but hopes that someday her children can raise animals just like she did. She wants to study pediatric nursing or become a dental hygienist after high school. According to Blumenkonig, the 136 animals auctioned last year raised $740,000 for young 4-H members. At Saturday’s livestock auction, Louie weighed in at 261 pounds, and sold for $14 per pound, or $3,654 total. Next year, McKee wants to raise a steer, a male bovine, but her mother might make her wait until she’s old enough to drive. Even if Louie doesn’t end up winning this year, McKee earned several blue ribbons with her baking, including her “Piggy in a mud puddle” cake, which was awarded grand champion. “After the fair, everything fizzles back into place and you’re just excited to start again next year,” McKee said.