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GIRARD —
Livestock judging for 4-H swine, sheep and goats at the Crawford County Fair on Thursday was a success, officials said, and events ran more smoothly this year.
That’s due mostly to the fact that new pens were installed in the beef barn, allowing all livestock to be kept in one place, a practice that now allows more animals to be shown at one time, rather than individually.
“It went great, said swine superintendent Gary Shanholtzer. “They brought whole classes in at one time. We used to do it one at a time. It worked pretty good for the first time.”
Shanholtzer said he was impressed with this year’s swine.
“There were a lot of good ones, and there were some tremendous ones,” he said.
There were many successes Thursday. Jack Fox’s son, Riley, who is in the Hepler Hustlers 4-H club, took home a grand and reserve championship for breeding hogs, and a reserve championship for market hogs. It was his first year showing.
“To do that is pretty impressive,” said Fox, who grew up raising and showing animals at the fair. “A lot of people show for years and win one thing, or they don’t win anything. He won three things his first time. That’s kind of cool.”
Fox said Riley lost the championship in market hogs to his cousin, Nikki Harris, who also is in the Hepler Hustlers.
“Who better to lose to?” Fox said.
The judges look for wide variety of things when assessing the different classes. In market animal classes, judges look for things such as posture and the amount of available meat, said Clint Medford, a judge from Stillwater, Okla.. In showmanship, they look for things such as attitude, smoothness of motion and good composure.
“I always ask what the showers would change about their animal,” Medford said. “It’s good to know their weaknesses, and they should know how to hide them. That’s the work of a good showman.”
Samantha Crumpacker, 17, who competes in the Happy Hustlers 4-H group, said she like showing goats because of the variety of personalities they possess.
“You can get one that’s just stupid, or crazy, or smart, or stubborn,” she said with a wry grin.
Crumpacker has been showing goats for about five years, also shows in woodworking and photography. The biggest challenge of showing goats, she said, is getting them to learn to follow the lead, especially when some of them can weigh more than 100 pounds, like her goat, Johnny.
“If you’ve got good genetics, they can grow even bigger than that,” she said. “I thought “Man, he makes some of the other goats seem puny.’”
Miranda Hartman, 9, competes in the Happy Hustlers and took home the grand championship for junior showmanship for meat goats. She said she works with her goats every morning.
“It’s fun to walk them around,” said Hartman, who also shows horses. “And it’s fun winning.”
Livestock judging for 4-H swine, sheep and goats at the Crawford County Fair on Thursday was a success, officials said, and events ran more smoothly this year.
That’s due mostly to the fact that new pens were installed in the beef barn, allowing all livestock to be kept in one place, a practice that now allows more animals to be shown at one time, rather than individually.
“It went great, said swine superintendent Gary Shanholtzer. “They brought whole classes in at one time. We used to do it one at a time. It worked pretty good for the first time.”
Shanholtzer said he was impressed with this year’s swine.
“There were a lot of good ones, and there were some tremendous ones,” he said.
There were many successes Thursday. Jack Fox’s son, Riley, who is in the Hepler Hustlers 4-H club, took home a grand and reserve championship for breeding hogs, and a reserve championship for market hogs. It was his first year showing.
“To do that is pretty impressive,” said Fox, who grew up raising and showing animals at the fair. “A lot of people show for years and win one thing, or they don’t win anything. He won three things his first time. That’s kind of cool.”
Fox said Riley lost the championship in market hogs to his cousin, Nikki Harris, who also is in the Hepler Hustlers.
“Who better to lose to?” Fox said.
The judges look for wide variety of things when assessing the different classes. In market animal classes, judges look for things such as posture and the amount of available meat, said Clint Medford, a judge from Stillwater, Okla.. In showmanship, they look for things such as attitude, smoothness of motion and good composure.
“I always ask what the showers would change about their animal,” Medford said. “It’s good to know their weaknesses, and they should know how to hide them. That’s the work of a good showman.”
Samantha Crumpacker, 17, who competes in the Happy Hustlers 4-H group, said she like showing goats because of the variety of personalities they possess.
“You can get one that’s just stupid, or crazy, or smart, or stubborn,” she said with a wry grin.
Crumpacker has been showing goats for about five years, also shows in woodworking and photography. The biggest challenge of showing goats, she said, is getting them to learn to follow the lead, especially when some of them can weigh more than 100 pounds, like her goat, Johnny.
“If you’ve got good genetics, they can grow even bigger than that,” she said. “I thought “Man, he makes some of the other goats seem puny.’”
Miranda Hartman, 9, competes in the Happy Hustlers and took home the grand championship for junior showmanship for meat goats. She said she works with her goats every morning.
“It’s fun to walk them around,” said Hartman, who also shows horses. “And it’s fun winning.”
