LOVINGTON, N.M. – Amber Groves smiles a bit as she reflects on the past two years at the Junior Livestock Sale at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo.

The emotion comes from watching the children succeed, seeing their parents’ pride and everyone on the fairgrounds knowing that a bunch of hard work has been justly rewarded. She can feel the sense of accomplishment in the youngsters’ hearts as they show their pigs, goats, steers, etc. She’s been there before, but she was never part of something this big.

The auction has produced million-dollar sales each of the past two years, and that’s a reflection of the kids, their work and a society celebrating the fruits of that labor.

“We have absolutely wonderful support from our community,” said Groves, a Lea County Fair Board member and chairwoman of the livestock show committee. “It seems like everybody wants to come out and make sure these kids are successful in their showing careers, and I just think that’s wonderful.”

Can those records be broken at this year’s sale, set for 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9?

“I sure hope so,” she said. “We’re very appreciative of all our buyers that show up, and, hopefully, we’ll get some new buyers that didn’t know about it before and will make it even better.

 “That would be awesome.”

Yes, it would. While the last two years have seen a financial windfall for the youngsters, the support for the children showing livestock has been prevalent for years. Groves was raised around it, showed herself and was part of the livestock judging program at New Mexico State University.

She has felt frustration of getting an animal ready to show. She has sensed the rush of walking into that ring. She has experienced the highs of winning and the lows of losing. Through cleaning out stalls to grooming her animals, she’s grown and learned and understood the importance of work ethic.

“Showing livestock is just so rewarding,” said Groves, now in her third year on the fair board. “It is hard work. These kids get up every day and go out and feed their animals and work with them. They spend their entire summers working very, very hard to get that reward at the fair.

“Whenever they get rewarded and they go into that sale ring and somebody buys their animals, that just gets them money for next year to keep continuing it. It teaches responsibility, which is why it’s so rewarding.”

Groves spent 11 years of her youth showing. Over that stretch, she obtained friendships, and she always loved those August days in the show barn. It’s a sense of family and kinship that is highlighted by passion to care for something other than oneself. She’s been part of the growth in local livestock showing, with more animals coming to the fair this year. She wants to see the sale continue to grow and the children rewarded.

“I love the entire fair, but I’m going to be a little biased and say the livestock showing and what we give back to these kids is the best part of the fair,” she said. “I’m excited to see the human beings that they’re able to be and the adults they become and be successful in their lives. That’s hard to beat.”