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Showing animals part of the family business

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By Everdeen Mason, Staff Writer Updated 7:30 AM Wednesday, July 29, 2009

HAMILTON — The six Summe children are bringing the family business to the Butler County Fair.

The Summes, who have a small dairy farm in Shandon, have six pigs, four goats and a dairy feeder calf at the fair, said Sarah Summe. All of the children show at the fair.

The children, ages 2 through 10, sell chicken eggs, have six pigs, four goats and a dairy feeder calf at the fair, said Sarah Summe. She said all six show at the fair.

“My husband and I were both in 4-H when we were little,” Summe said. “We just love it.”

Katie Summe, 10, is the oldest child. She competed in her first junior swine show Tuesday, July 28. However, she has been showing in the open since she was 4.

She said she received her pig in April.

“I take him on walks every day, in the evening, giving baths and clean pens,” Katie said. The family feeds the pigs three times a day, she added.

Her siblings “usually all get together and clean the pen.”

Katie also teaches her little sisters — Elizabeth, 4, and Mary, 2 — and 5-year-old brother Luke about showing pigs. The 2-year-old, in fact, directs a 220-pound swine.

“I show how to hold the show stick and not to hit the pig very hard,” she said. “Always smile when they’re in the showroom and keep an eye on the judge.”

The children don’t stop at pigs. Katie already is competing in the tractor pull, her mother said.

The 10-year-old, along with her brothers – Herbie, 9, and Henry, 7— shows goats. Luke also shows pigs.

“It was supposed to teach responsibility and how to take care of an animal,” said Herb Summe, their father. “And later in life, how to take care of themselves. Not everything is free, you got to work for it.”

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