Most kids think winning showmanship requires endless hours in the barn. Here’s the secret: it doesn’t. The truth is, five minutes a day can completely change your show career — if you’re consistent. That last word is the real secret.

Why Small Steps Work

I’ve seen it over and over: the showmen who do something small every day always beat the ones who work like crazy one week and then disappear the next. Animals thrive on routine. In the beginning your five minutes might just be walking a steer around the yard, setting up your sheep a few times, practicing turns with a dairy goat, or brushing your pig.

Those five minutes build trust, habits, and confidence — for both you and your animal.

A Few Five-Minute Drills

• Sheep and market goats: Work on setting legs and bracing pretending the judge is moving around you
• Cattle: Practice leading with that head up and walking right into the perfect set
• Dairy Goats: Practice setting them in front of the mirror so you can get the leg to udder placement perfect
• Swine: Start with brushing and move into head up drills as soon as you have the trust you need

None of these take long days in the beginning, but done daily, they create champions over time. Consistency makes such a difference – way more than people tell you. No one wins who never gets started. If you are working with your animals every day without failure, even just for five minutes, you are already ahead of 90% of the kids showing at the fair.

It’s easy to put things off until the show is close. But waiting until the month before fair is like cramming for a test — stressful and never as effective as steady learning. Five minutes a day gets you started early, rain or shine, and keeps you moving forward. As the show gets closer build up your intensity. The long days leading up to fair are easy to do when you realize fair is coming fast. But its four to six months ahead when you can’t put this off. You have no excuse not to do five minutes a day – start it the moment you have that animal in your barn!

Final Thought

You don’t need to have two hours every evening to be a winner. You just need a plan and the discipline to show up every single day without fail.

If you want a more step-by-step system for your animals or drills for each species? I cover training your animals to tons of tips on training drills — but don’t wait to read something. Start today, even if it’s just five minutes.