Our Rural Roots

Tiffany Dowell Lashmet, Contributor

I speak for a living. I give presentations on agricultural law issues to rural landowners and agricultural producers.

My first 4-H public speaking contest was at age 9. It's in my genes -- Dad had trophies from his public speaking days on our mantle. My Nannie and my mom, both high school English teachers, helped coach kids on speech writing and presentation. In my family, public speaking was expected.

I still remember this poignant line from my first speech: "My first bottle lamb died in my arms." I mean, a kid's got the blue ribbon in the bag with a line like that.

I just assumed my own children would carry on the public speaking tradition. But, my daughter was a painfully shy toddler and kindergartner. She would not make eye contact with others. She could not participate in cheer or T-ball because there were people looking at her. Kindergarten picture day was a nightmare, as she would only cry and suck her thumb.

Then, we bought her a mini-Hereford steer named Bullet. The next thing we knew, my daughter started to come out of her shell. She would chat with other parents and kids at the steer shows. She answered the judge's questions in the ring. She convinced our steer fitter to give her a puppy.

When it came time for Junior Nationals, my son was practicing his sales talk when my daughter announced she wanted to compete, as well. Everyone was shocked. We practiced a little two-minute speech about why the judge should buy her calf. "He's my best friend" and "he always holds his big ol' head up in the ring" were among those reasons.

When contest day came, she marched right up and gave her sales pitch to the judge. The fourth-place banner she won was pure gold. Through Bullet, she found her courage and her voice.

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Tiffany Dowell Lashmet juggles family, farming, writing, livestock and a career in ag law from the Texas Panhandle. Follow her blog at https://alwaysafarmkid.com/…, alwaysafarmkid on Instagram and @TiffDowell on X.

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