FFA 4-H Friend of the Week: Brady Blackburn

MARLOW, Okla. (KSWO) - At just 11-years-old, Brady Blackburn has a busy schedule. The only way to get it all done is to wake up before the sun.

“I wake up around 6,” Brady says. “That’s not early.”

He started showing when he was just 8-years-old, but the heifer he showed his first year wasn’t your typical show heifer. Brady’s parents, Jenni & Bradon, really challenged him.

“To prove he was going to be a showman, we made him get one out of the pasture,” Jenni said.

Knowing he probably wouldn’t place, Brady’s parents gave him one task - win showmanship, and he did. After that win, he stuck with it, splitting the cost of his first true show heifer with his parents.

“He went and won his class multiple times with her, placed third at the Tulsa State Fair,” Jenni said.

He’s earned plenty of awards with his heifers, but just this year, thought it might be fun to get into showing pigs. It’s something Marlow’s FFA Advisor, Quaid Kennon, couldn’t be happier to help out with.

“He asks a lot of questions, and has a willingness to learn,” Kennon said. “I’m passionate about show pigs and at Tulsa, I told them to try. A few days later, parents said Brady is ready to try a show pig.”

In addition to showing livestock, Brady also participates in wrestling and football.

“Most of the time football takes up a lot of my evenings because we do it three times a week,” said Brady. “Then, wrestling takes up a lot because we have tournaments and show on the same days.”

In fact, he was the state champion in wrestling the first year he tried it. But with so many irons in the fire, it makes you wonder, how does this 11-year-old do it all?

“You have to learn to work hard. If you don’t work hard, you won’t succeed,” Brady said.

A strong work-ethic - you either have it, or you don’t. It’s a trait that Brady’s Pawpaw, Ted Turner says is just innate here on the farm.

“There’s not a lazy bone in that boy’s body,” Turner said. “They get up early, they do what they gotta do. They work hard and play hard.”

Brady will continue to show all the way through high school and he already has plans for when he grows up.

“I want to be an NFL coach.”

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