Wasilla youth brings in the bacon

Tucked away in the livestock pavilion of the Alaska State Fair you'll find the real winners of the 12-day event -- the 4-H'ers.

4-H students work all year to show off their animals and livestock during the state fair, and Melissa Windel is no exception. The 15-year-old Wasilla High School sophomore-to-be was a grand champion last year after showing her pigs, and this year, she has used that experience to start her own business of breeding pigs.

"Animals teach you a lot of things," Windel said. "You have to take care of a lot of things. It's a big responsibility. You have to spend a lot of time in the mornings before school and a lot of hours after school."

Windel is showing three pigs and a steer at the fair this year. As a member of the Matanuska Valley 4-H Club, Windel is following in her father's footsteps. He was a 4-H'er in Oklahoma, and now his daughter is active in the program as well.

"I started out with a rabbit when I was 5, and that's all I knew about raising animals," Windel said. "And now I have pigs and this is my third steer."

Naturally, she has learned quite a bit about livestock, and she enjoys sharing her knowledge with other students who may not know as much about livestock.

"I have to laugh when someone comes up to my steer and points and says, 'Look at that bull,'" Windel said.

Windel has been raising pigs for the last five years, and she has since started raising steer as well. Raising and showing livestock is one thing for a 15-year-old. But starting a livestock business at such a young age is something much bigger -- a challenge Windel has accepted wholeheartedly and enjoys.

Windel bought several pigs in Oklahoma and imported them to Alaska. She has since bred them and started selling them to other 4-H club members, as well as a 4-H club leader. Running a business is another lesson 4-H has taught her -- lessons she probably wouldn't have learned in school at such a young age.

"That's another thing I've learned through 4-H, the money involved. I have to really keep track of how much feed costs and everything else I need," Windel said.

While Windel spends most of her time raising livestock, she is also very active at Wasilla High School. She swims and likes to play basketball, she said.

"I just hate sitting on the couch and doing nothing. I've always got to be doing something," Windel said. "I have to be active."