95th Central Texas Youth Fair’s exhibitors show top quality livestock & other projects produced by FFA & 4-H chapters around Bosque County & beyond
A county fair gives youth an outlet to show the livestock they have raised, offering them an opportunity to practice in the show arena, get pointers from the judges and gain confidence in their projects.
Besides the livestock shows, county fairs offer a variety of other contests, catering to a variety of interests. The smaller, but consistently of top-quality 95th Central Texas Youth Fair last week showed the best of the best from local Future Farmers of America and 4-H chapters. And this year, the temperatures were most bearable.
Like last year, Bosque County 4-H, Iredell’s Jagger Monroe gathered the most points with the different projects he entered in the fair. That distinction gave him the opportunity to present his Grand Champion pig as first exhibitor at the cash Sale of Champions Saturday.
Tying into the rural aspect of Bosque County, a large group of youth from Valley Mills, Iredell, Cranfills Gap FFA and Bosque County 4-H participated in the Ag Mechanics and Blueprint category with Valley Mills FFA winning sweepstakes.
“I think the show went really well,” Rummel said. “I mean, it was a good turnout with Valley Mills ISD. We’re hoping more ISDs in Bosque County will come out next year, so that would make it better.”
There was a total of 18 projects across six categories for judges Tyler Ketchum and Ryan Rummel to judge.
“Looks like ag education is working good,” judge Tyler Ketchum, Hillsboro ISD Ag Mechanics Instructor. “These kids are pretty well prepared for life after high school with these skills.”
The total number of ag mech show entries was about the same as last year’s, but there was a wider variety of entries this year.”
The diverse projects range included a cattle guard, cattle working stall, automotive work table, retro restaurant booth, table, picnic table set, garden bed, picnic table with swing seats, spool bench, Dublin Bottling Works spool, birdhouse, A-frame swing, canoe trailer, welding trailer, 12-foot utility trailer, game cleaning trailer.
“[The show] was great. We had a great turnout, we had great projects, great judges.”
Megan Miller, Ag Mechanics Show Superintendent and Valley Mills ISD ag teacher “This year we had a wider variety of entries, which was really exciting to see.”
Ruben Flores and Jacob Galbreath of Valley Mills FFA received Ag Mech Grand Champion for their welding trailer. Landon LeMaster of Valley Mills FFA was awarded the Blueprint Grand Champion, beating out three Iredell FFA youth.
In the Ag Build-off there were two Valley Mills FFA teams, one team from Iredell and one team from Meridian FFA.
While the Central Texas Youth Fair is known as a livestock show, the Home Economics has always been a big category. This year saw 560 entries in 10 divisions that each have multiple classes, with entrants amassing points per division.
For the second consecutive time, Brooklynn DeJong won Best in Show, this year with a Trombone Lamp Table. She also won in textiles. Top Points per age group were Junior (8-10 years) Cami Dorward with 203 points. She won the crafts division. Senior (13-18 years) group Kaleigh Sartori with 384 points. She won in Photography, Canned Goods and Pallet Projects. The Open/adult group top points went to Davis Dorward with 68 points.
The divisions include sewing, textiles, art, photography, crafts, home canned items, homegrown vegetables and fruit, horticulture, baked goods and recycled pallet projects.
This diversity gives exhibitors a range of projects to work on and enter and they are not as time consuming and expensive as raising livestock, and the points awarded count towards fair totals.
While the main entrants are the students from Bosque County there is also an open division that anyone can enter. According to HE superintendent Beth Ratliff, this year had entries from persons ranging in age from eight months to 99 years. The Lutheran Sunset Ministries residents are yearly participants in the show.
The cake division saw 43 entries from exhibitors as young as eight to 18-year-old high school seniors, the same amount as last year. Judges Sterling Goolsby and Kerry Kretzmeier tasted all of them, looking for great taste, interior and exterior appearance, texture and color. They awarded Grand Champion to Shelby Bartels from Valley Mills FFA for her strawberry-lemon layer cake. Reserve Champion in cakes went to Coy Putnam with his Oreo layer cake. Their cakes, along with eight others were sold in the Sale of Champions on Saturday.
On Wednesday morning, 15 pens of three broilers each formed a large semi-circle for judge Keith Staggs from College Station to assess. Staggs acknowledged that with all livestock projects, not only the exhibitor, but the whole family participates in the projects, adding to conversations during dinner, bringing people closer together and offering a learning experience.
Staggs looked for the longest, widest and thickest breast meat, promising the highest meat yield. He also took the time to quiz the exhibitors on their knowledge of their birds, something he does not have time to do at larger shows.
“The top end of this show was great,” Staggs said. “This is a very competitive show.”
Staggs awarded Shelby Bartels with the Grand Champion buckle. Reserve Champion went to another Valley Mills FFA youth, Kaegan Richards.
With their livestock projects exhibitors learn daily care, health of livestock, responsibility, dedication, time management and personal achievement. With each project they grow and sometimes they learn hardships along the way too.
“These fair projects are also a connection to agriculture,” Bosque County AgriLife Extension agent Chelsea Dorward said. “These youth are our future and understanding where their food comes from is important. Most will not make agriculture their chosen livelihood, but it is important for all to understand where our food and clothing come from.”
According to Dorward, youth exhibitors will meet the challenges of feeding a growing population and livestock show programs are critical in the development of agricultural industry careers of young professionals.
This year’s county fair numbers for 4-H and FFA includes 140 animal entries, and over 500 home economic entries, 46 cakes, 26 ag mechanic/blueprint, 16 crop and 10 floral design entries.
According to CTYF board president Ben Thiele, there are several factors playing into the lower numbers, like the high cost of livestock, feed and veterinary bills, and now increasingly high cost of fuel to transport animals to and from fairs. More often than not, both parents are working, taking away opportunities to help their children with time-consuming projects. And not all youth want to dedicate that much time to a livestock project. With the CTYF being during the week also affects the number of entries. Jackpot shows at the Clifton fair grounds on Saturdays sometimes draw around 800 entries.
The number of entries for the CTYF might have been light, but the shows were heavy on quality, according to the judges. The consistency in quality made it harder for them to single out the champions. Every time it came down to minor details.
Family and friends who showed up at 8 a.m. to support the youth showing their goats and lambs on Friday.
“You guys have it good in this county with this incredible support,” goat and lamb judge Luke Parr said. “I’ve also seen the most respectful youth, showing some topnotch animals.”
There were 37 lambs in 11 weight classes, with Meridian FFA’s AJ Villareal taking Overall Grand Champion and Taylor Ivy taking reserve.
There were 19 goats in five weight classes, with Jagger Monroe taking Overall Grand Champion and Taylor Ivy taking reserve.
Judge Dustin Lambert judged 27 pigs in six weight classes, awarding Jagger Monroe Overall Grand Champion and his younger brother Jett Reserve Overall. Lambert looked for power, square chests, bold build, but with good range of motion.
The CTYF board is always looking to add categories that might be of interest to youth to participate in. This year that was the Floral Cup competition and the judging of fryers (single rabbits.)
In the market division, all three rabbits need to look, feel and weigh the same. Rabbit judge Kendall Lisle sees the addition of the fryer show as a way for exhibitors to show their best rabbit again. In the market division, Clifton FFA’s Katie King won Grand Champion, with her younger sister Lilly taking reserve. Blanca Esparza from Iredell FFA won the fryer division, with her rabbit bringing $3.500 at the sale, which by the way was the same amount raised for the reserve champion steer.
In floral cup, which was held at the Clifton High School ag class, 4-H or FFA exhibitors created an 18 by 18-inch floral arrangement using the same buckets of materials, flowers and foliage within an hour time frame. Winning this new category was Will Goolsby.
Cakes, broilers and rabbits might bring in the most money per pound, the heavy weight, the steers are always impressive to see in the show arena. And especially so when the youngest exhibitor could easily be overmastered by the behemoths at their side. This year 10-year-old Teagan Roughton from Clifton FFA won Grand Champion Overall with her 1320-pound Hereford. Reserve Overall went to Maryn Roberson from Meridian FFA with her fluffy, caramel colored European steer. Judge Conner Hardy from Iola – some knew him from judging swine at the CTYF – took the time to explain his choices, offering the exhibitors pointers for improvement.
Bailey McMillan’s native steer from Donna Hampe’s ranch won that special category, followed by Heather Thiele’s steer from the same ranch. Native steers must have been conceived and born in Bosque County.
In the third year of offering commercial heifers in show, young Krece Greene received the Grand Champion buckle from judges Steve Conrad and Chris Corby. Bailey McMillan’s trio won Reserve Champion.
“This is a good, strong set of heifers,” Conrad said of the five pens on show “It seems like every year they’re getting better and better. I would be proud to take any of these home, so we had a hard time choosing the winner.”
For Rance Dorward, this was the second year of showing a pen. He selected the Angus/Hereford cross trio out from a group of eight heifers, for their size and for being gentle. He had brought the heifers close to the home, for them to get used to people prior to the fair, giving them some extra pellet grain.
His heifers were going back to the ranch to add to the family herd.
This year’s CTYF scholarship went to Clifton FFA’s Bailey McMillan. Mason Lane received the David Bevels Memorial Scholarship, Cooper Pembelton from Valley Mills FFA received the Monty Belvin Scholarship, Taylor Ivy from Valley Mills FFA received the Buck Thomason Memorial Scholarship, the Jasmin Brown received the Bosque County Farm Bureau Scholarship. Vanessa Berumen and Hayley Tarver received the Henry and Ora Marie Sanders Memorial Scholarship.
About eight years ago the CTYF board decided to award a scholarship to a current college student. This year Texas Tech student, majoring in Animal Science Gracie Kessler received the Brandenberger Angus Scholarship. Both “Big” Brandenberger, his children Mark and MaryAnn Brandenberger and granddaughter Dacey Parker are all Texas Tech alumni with Big and Dacey also having Animal Science degrees. Kessler was present at the CTYF fair show, assisting.
The future in livestock exhibitors got the chance to test out being in the show arena for the first time in the pre-4-H lamb, goat, rabbit and swine shows.
The early Saturday Pet Show is another chance for the little ones to show off their beloved pets. This year, Maggie Chovanec of Clifton with her half-lab, half-wiener dog Bobie in costume won Best in Show, and Yesenia Flores of Valley Mills won runner-up with her exotic leopard print bald python Cleopatra.
While the CTYF market shows and premium sale are for Bosque County youth, the market shows during the fair week bring in the youngest exhibitors and exhibitors from outside the county, making for larger shows. The market rabbits show brought just four exhibitors, but the jackpot show attracted 59 entries, with several different breeds. There were 87 jackpot market lambs, 24 jackpot market goats, 33 jackpot heifers and 26 jackpot market steers. Increased prize monies for the jackpot shows play a role in the elevated entries in those shows.
It takes an army of volunteers to get the grounds ready and to keep the fair running smoothly during show week. And a lot depends on a board with a positive attitude that works together, to offer the best possible opportunities for the youth.
The Sale of Champions brings in the bulk of sale amounts, but over the next couple of weeks, supporters of these youth projects have the opportunity to offer “add-ons” to the original sale price. This year, add-ons are accepted until June 20, making the total amount a project raised available after that date.
The Grand and Reserve champions and the final sale amounts will be printed in the annual CTYF special section of the Clifton Record Tribune after that date.
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