VALENCIA — When 12-year-old Lexi Park and her 9-year-old brother, James, decided to raise market turkeys through 4-H this spring, winning wasn’t really part of the plan.
They wanted to learn about the birds, take care of them and try something new together.
Then they arrived at the Butler Farm Show.
Lexi’s turkey, Jim, was named Grand Champion Market Turkey. James’ turkey, Tom, followed as Reserve Grand Champion.
First year. First two turkeys. First and second place.
“I was happy and also very excited,” Lexi said, “because this was our first year in 4-H, so we didn’t really expect much.”
Neither did James.
“I thought we weren’t going to win anything,” he said. “I thought it was just going to be normal and just show turkey and stuff.”
Instead, the sister and brother from Valencia walked away with the top two market turkey honors — and an experience that became about much more than winning.
The Work Behind the Banners
Jim and Tom arrived in April through the Butler County Poultry Club. The Parks said the participating children received the same breed of turkey at the same time, giving everyone a similar starting point.
From there, the work belonged largely to Lexi and James.
For roughly three and a half months, the children were responsible for feeding and watering the birds and cleaning their coop and run. The Parks estimated that over that period, Jim and Tom consumed 400 to 500 pounds of feed — another measure of just how much daily care went into raising the birds.
“They were in charge of feeding the birds every day,” their mother, Megan Hull, said. “They were in charge of watering the birds … [and] cleaning out the run and their coop.”
Jim was the more laid-back of the two.
“He had more of a chill, laid-back, happy personality,” Lexi said.
Tom was calm as well, and James said the two birds liked staying together.
“If one goes to another place, the other one will follow,” he said.
There were less glamorous parts of raising show turkeys, too.
Like bath time.
Because the birds were white, the family wanted them clean for the Farm Show and free of parasites. That meant putting two very large turkeys into a plastic tub for a bath.
“They kept trying to fly away and keep walking,” Lexi recalled.
The baths apparently worked.
By Farm Show week, Jim weighed 38 pounds, 10 ounces, while Tom weighed 39 pounds, 6 ounces. They were the two heaviest among the 12 market turkeys shown.
But the judging wasn’t based on weight alone. The Parks said appearance and breed characteristics also factored into the competition.
An Unexpected Result
The family didn’t know how well the children had done until after judging.
When they first saw the other market turkeys at the Farm Show, John Park said they noticed Jim and Tom were larger and particularly clean. The children also began receiving compliments about their birds.
“We thought, wow, you know, maybe we might have a chance,” John recalled.
The next day, their 4-H leader met the family at the tent with some unexpected news.
“You guys set a record,” he told them.
John initially wondered what kind of record they could possibly have set.
Then the family learned Lexi had raised the Grand Champion and James the Reserve Grand Champion.
“We did not see that coming at all,” John said. “We were just starting out in the 4-H first year as just something to learn more about turkeys and something fun to do.”
The surprises weren’t over.
At the 4-H Market Auction, Lexi’s Grand Champion turkey sold for a record $5,250, while James’ Reserve Grand Champion brought $3,750.
The family said this was the first year turkeys had been included in the market auction.
“We couldn’t believe it,” Hull said. “We had no idea it was going to go that high.”
The children plan to put their proceeds into savings accounts.
More Than Two Championship Banners
For John and Megan, however, the value of the experience wasn’t measured by the auction price or the purple banners.
It was what happened during those three and a half months at home.
Their children had animals depending on them every day.
Hull watched them become more knowledgeable about the birds and more patient with the animals — and with each other.
“They definitely learned responsibility and, again, patience with the animals, with each other, with their parents,” she said. “Because it was new for all of us.”
Lexi discovered that patience may be one of the most important requirements of raising a turkey.
“If you have the time to work with a turkey, it’s probably a good idea to join 4-H,” she said, “because you learn a lot and you learn patience because the birds aren’t always doing what you want them to do at the beginning.”
“We have each other’s back,” Lexi said. “And we also get more work done when feeding and giving them water.”
James put it more simply.
“If you work together, you can get more stuff done,” he said.
Their parents noticed that, too.
“They don’t compete against each other,” Hull said. “They work together more than they try to compete against each other.”
Eight Generations on Park Road
Those lessons have a particular significance on the property where Lexi and James are growing up.
The Park family’s roots on Park Road reach back to 1797, when the first generation of the family settled the land.
Lexi and James are now the eighth generation to live there.
The original property encompassed more than 200 acres. Today, approximately 16 acres remain.
John’s father, Roger Park, was the last generation on this branch of the family to operate the property as a commercial farm. He ran a dairy operation during the 1960s and 1970s.
John remembers about 100 dairy cows on the farm.
Today, he describes the property as a hobby farm.
The house and barn remain as physical reminders of the family’s agricultural past. The family believes the house was constructed shortly after the Civil War by Lexi and James’ fifth great-grandfather, with the barn built afterward.
John isn’t trying to turn his children into farmers.
Instead, 4-H gives them an opportunity to experience some of what comes with caring for animals — responsibility, patience, hard work and working together — on the same property where generations of their family did it as part of everyday life.
Lexi, however, may have farming in her future.
John said his daughter already talks about someday having a small working farm of her own.
“She’s good with the animals,” he said. “So we decided that the 4-H would be good for her and for my son, and something that they could do together.”
Farming Remains Part of the Community
The community surrounding the Park property has changed considerably during John’s lifetime.
“There was a lot more farmland then when I was growing up,” he said. “When I went to Mars during the ’90s and early 2000s, the housing plans weren’t as prevalent at that time.”
John is careful not to characterize that growth negatively.
“There’s a lot more people, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing at all,” he said.
And while southern Butler County continues to grow, he doesn’t believe agriculture is going away.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to fully disappear,” John said. “There’s a lot of good small farms that are still going to this day that are in the area right now.”
4-H is one way children can continue to experience that part of the community.
The Parks estimate the Butler County Poultry Club has grown from about 19 members last year to approximately 52 this year.
Hull said the experience also gives Lexi and James opportunities beyond raising animals.
“They’re meeting kids they wouldn’t have had a chance to meet otherwise,” she said, “and forming connections outside of the immediate community.”
Back Next Year
There was one difficult lesson that came with raising market animals.
Eventually, Jim and Tom had to leave.
James especially missed his turkey.
But there was also pride in what the children had accomplished.
“I was happy for the kids, for what they did and what they accomplished,” John said.
After months of feeding, watering, cleaning, bathing, showing and unexpectedly raising two champion turkeys, the Park family celebrated.
They went for ice cream.
And despite the work — and the difficult goodbye — Lexi and James already say they want to do it again next year.
More than two centuries after the Park family first settled on Park Road, the property isn’t the dairy farm it once was.
But some things are still being passed from one generation to the next.
Take responsibility for something that depends on you.
Be patient.
Work hard.
Help each other.
Lexi and James learned all four this summer.
The two championship banners were a pretty nice bonus.
