By SUSAN BLOWER
Indiana Correspondent

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — When 9-year-old Dylan Burns was preparing for his first year in 4-H, his grandma told him not to be disappointed if he didn’t win any awards.

She needn’t have worried. He came away with eight awards at the Marion County Fair, five of them champions. He showed Polled Hereford cattle and Barrow hogs against older, more experienced 4-Hers.

“I am totally surprised and very happy,” said Dylan’s grandma, Nancy Bailey.

Dylan was rewarded with a trip to the tractor pull on his last day of showing, while his mom and grandpa cleaned up the animals for him.

His mom, Heather Bailey, said Dylan works two to three hours every day with his show animals.

“He’s out there every single day walking, washing, brushing and blow drying them. He’s involved in the feeding and watering, morning, noon, and evening,” Bailey said.

With one cow acting up in the ring, Dylan was at first intimidated, but the evening culminated in six awards: the champion junior beef showmanship, champion and reserve champion polled hereford steer, champion and reserve champion beef rate-of-gain, and grand champion born and raised.

“He was very happy. He gave me a big hug and kiss and said, ‘Are you proud of me?’ and we started to cry,” his mom said.

Bailey expects big things for the future. Bailey said Dylan, a fourth-generation 4-Her, loves what he’s doing and has worked hard to get those awards. Beyond that, he’s got something extra.

“He seems like a natural,” she said.

Little brother, Gage, 3, isn’t far behind. He helps wash and feed the eight cows, seven goats, two sheep, and the 30-year-old pony on the Bailey Farm, located two miles south of the Indianapolis Airport.

Bailey wants to encourage both boys to participate in 4-H because of the opportunities they can have.

“I did it, my dad (Stan Bailey), my grandpa and great-grandpa did it. It’s a good opportunity. It offers college money, a lot of people skills, and confidence,” she said.

 “You (as a parent) just have to keep encouraging and working with them,” Bailey said.

The proud mom did not see any other 9 year olds in the ring. Dylan competed in the 9-18 year old category, and most of the other winners were much older, she said.

On his first night in the ring, Dylan received the first and grand champion Barrow hog awards, as well.

Dylan’s grandma has gone from warning him about the competition to optimistic rhetoric.

“He’s going to keep getting better,” she predicted.