Behind Karis Dadson’s iconic stare - it takes a family. Like her, Karis’s parents also grew up showing pigs with her grandparents who were livestock farmers.
“I want my kids to grow up learning to care for animals with other good people who care.” her father Kyle Dadson, told me as he styled the hair of one of Dadson Farm’s prized show pigs with product before Karis’s show at the Western Bonanza Junior Livestock Show. An agriculture teacher at the local high school in central California, Kyle is passionate about agriculture and cares for the family’s 12 show pigs, six sows, six piglets, two show sheep, four dogs, two ducks and four barn cats.
Her mother Kara grew up showing pigs and rodeo - she knows showmanship inside out. After doing Karis and Krew’s hair in the morning, fixing their show outfits, and washing the show goat between rounds, Kara records and shares their performances on social media which have garnered millions of viewers to the agriculture and livestock industry.
Millions of people have been transfixed by videos of Karis Dadson, a California teenager who shows pigs at livestock competitions with her signature icy stare. But she finds the whole thing very weird. “I’m not thinking about the way that I look,” she said. “I’m thinking about how I’m moving around the ring.”
More than 100,000 young people participate annually in pig shows across the U.S., according to Clay Zwilling, the chief executive of the National Swine Registry. But there is only one set of Dadson twins, Karis and her brother Krew, who, Zwilling said, offer a “positive example of the show livestock industry.”
Through social media, the Dadson family, who raise and sell pigs, have brought livestock shows to the masses. Their videos, many of which have surpassed 10 million views, are a mix of farm-themed tutorials, explainers, show recaps and, of course, Karis’s intense stares.
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