We had the opportunity to sit down in San Antonio with Dr. Brian Faris, Director of Competitive Events for the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, for a long, honest conversation about where one of the biggest shows in Texas is headed — and we mean long. This one runs over two hours, so buckle in.
Dr. Faris opens up about his path into the role — growing up in sheep and goat country, his years at Texas A&M, Kansas State and North Carolina, and the twist that took him from being his own kids' ag teacher to running one of the largest livestock shows in the country.
From there we get into it: San Antonio's mission and how a 7,000-volunteer, 1,500-person livestock-show operation actually functions day to day. Then the stuff you've been asking about — the chairs-and-campground space debate, why San Antonio moved the Premium ("Fast") Pass to a randomized draw, the jump in trailer minimums, new scholarships for commercial ewes, does, and crossbred gilts, the yearling classification and mouth-checking changes, and the leg wool / leg hair debate that's been burning up Facebook. Dr. Faris also addresses the rumor mill head-on — including some of the more pointed questions we've heard from exhibitors and from our own DMs.
We close it out with a rapid-fire round, a good conversation about the Dorper breed and where commercial sheep production is headed in Texas, and a rundown of just how much San Antonio puts back into kids every February — north of $7 million through the junior auction alone.
We want to say thank you to Dr. Faris for the time, for the candor, and for sitting through two hours of our questions. We kept this one raw and real, the way we always do.
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Episode 10
