Cooperative Extension at LSU

Incentive for Sheep and Swine Building

Denver Loupe

Wyatt Winnie: Who was the director?

Denver Loupe: John A. Cox. I replaced John A. Cox. I didn't replace him, I became director after he retired. And I remember telling him, I said, "Johnny, do you see all these people here?" I said, "Every little kid in there has two parents with him. And probably a grandmother and a granddad with them. And we don't have any place for them." And I said the people then in the coliseum, in the livestock show, you had just one kid, an animal, an agent, and the specialist . . . we showed more attention to that aspect of the show because it was glamorous. And these kids back there, they were just as worthy of our attention as the one who was going to show the grand champion steer. He could show that little lamb over there which was, you know, very inexpensive, but it got the kid involved just as much or better than the other. And I made that note to him, and he says, "You know, you're right." And he went to work through the legislature and other things and within a few years we had the Sheep and Swine building built. I don't want to take credit for it, that's not my point. But it's a point we need to make. We had to acknowledge the fact that these young kids with the very inexpensive project were just as important as the kid who was going to show the grand champion animal.