CLINTON TWP — The Sutej family doesn’t think of themselves as real, full-fledged farmers, but they sure appreciated the limelight from being honored as such last year.

Shana and Mike, and their children Sabrina and Paul Sutej, won last year’s Eagle Bowl with the help of a few sheep, pigs and chicken and only seven acres of land.

In the year since, they’ve raised five lambs and four pigs to show at this year’s Butler Farm Show. The family considers it their summer vacation.

“It’s like our Super Bowl,” said Mike, the patriarch of the family. “It’s the end of the year where you show all you’ve done.”

Last year’s win turned the family into minor celebrities in their community. They’ve been recognized at work and while paying their water bills. Sabrina, 15, said their first visit to church, St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cabot, was full of congratulations.

“Every time you turned around someone wanted to say something about it,” Sabrina said.

The Eagle Bowl, which is sponsored by the Butler Eagle, honors the family who shows the most involvement in the farm show each year.

When Sabrina was 5, her mother started a Cloverbuds group, though it’s now now-defunct, called the Saxonburg Sprouts. Cloverbuds groups serve as a sort of pre-4-H program, to get young children involved in country living and agriculture practices.

“There’s a lot more togetherness in 4-H than there is in something like sports,” Shana said. “I like that I’m not sitting in the stands somewhere watching my kids play. I’m with them.”

Since that early involvement, they’ve only dived deeper. This is Mike’s second year on the farm show’s sales committee, which arranges for each year’s auctions and buyers. Shana is one of the leaders of the local livestock club. Their children both help set up for the show every year.

The animals are very much the children’s responsibility. They rise to feed their critters around 7 a.m. each morning, and then give a second round of food in mid-afternoon.

The judges at each show recommend routine changes to participants each year. They’ve been walking their pigs a lot more this year, as a result. The sheep have a loop around the property to walk and run along each day.

The family keeps sheep year-round. Mike said they originally bought lambs each year, but found it kept the children more interested when they had a yearlong job to do.

This year, Sabrina will be showing three sheep — Thunder, Lightning and Midnight — and two pigs — Oreo and Chris P. Bacon. Paul has two sheep — Storm and Galaxy — and two pigs — Cummins and Powerstroke.

Sabrina minds the family’s chickens, but Shana sticks with property’s worst job: Cleaning out the coop.

The children prepare for the show by taking turns presenting their animals to each other, serving as stand-in judges to ready for the real thing.

In the past, they’ve entered in craft and photography competitions, as well as the livestock contests.

The family’s property isn’t really a full-fledged farm. They do some gardening, and they have their share of livestock.

The land was formerly Mike’s grandfather’s land. It was split up for him and his brothers.

Mike said he grew up in farm life. His parents got a ram and two sheep as a wedding gift. Today, he still works on a farm.

The Sutejs wanted the same upbringing for their children, and have found it coalesced each year in the farm show.

Paul has struggled with allergies for years. When he was first being diagnosed, he confirmed his parents’ aspirations for him.

“A buddy of ours, when he found out, he said ‘Paul, with all your bad allergies you’re going to have to go and be a big city guy and not a farm boy.’ He said ‘nuh-uh,’ I’m going to go get allergy shots. I’m not giving up on this,” Mike said.

They’ve spent the last several weeks looking forward to the event. They’re eager for midnight kickball games in the horse arena and catching up with the old friends they only see once a year.

“I’ve been counting down,” Shana said. “I can’t wait.”