Livestock Shows

What is a livestock show?

     A livestock show is a place where kids and adults go to show their livestock animals. This purpose of this is to show off their animals to show that they have good stock. The objective is to breed/ make an animal as close to the "ideal" as possible. By showing their animals and winning or placing in the class it shows of their great characteristics and lets others know that their genetics/ animals are superior over the other animals. It is very good publicity when they win at a major stock show because it make people want to buy into their stock and genetics.

Visit the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo for more info!  http://www.fwssr.com/#

Getting their name out there....

      

     When a breeder has animals that win major livestock shows it really helps their business. When the kid wins Grand Champion or Reserve Grand Champion they get recognized for their hard work and nice animal that they are exhibiting. This makes other people showing or that are in the business want their animals, in hopes of winning the title and money.

How to go about buying a show project...

     Find a reputable breeder that you want to do business with. Peferably one whose stock/ animals have placed or done well at major or junior shows. Contact them, weather it be in person, email, or phone and explain to them your budget and a time to go look at their animals for sale. When going to look at animals don't be afraid to get you hand on them and feel the muscle on them. Be educated on what type of animal you are looking for and make sure you are getting/ paying a fair price. Also, make sure that the animal is physically sound and not sickly as this could effect them in the long run.

What to do when you get your animal home...

   When you get you animal home make sure it is in a low stress environment. This is especially important when discussing pigs, as they can stress out very easily, to the point where they can start having seizures and possible die. Next is to get them to eat, you want them to stay on their feed as this is important to keep the muscle and fat on the animal. Getting them to trust you is essiental to a successful show season. Watch your animal drink water to make sure they stay hydrated, if they don't they could develope kidney stones and die.

Fort Worth Barn. 2012. Photograph. Fort worth Texas. Russel Feed. Jan. 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

Show Wether. N.d. Photograph. Sure Champ Blog. Web. 4 Mar. 2014.

Show Pig. N.d. Photograph. Marketing and Development Division. Web. 4 Mar. 2014

Tarrant County Junior Livestock Show

     Today I will be talking about the Tarrant county junior livestock show. This will be our next and last show we will be attending as an FFA. Last year was the first year that our district has a livestock team! I was fortunate enough to be one of the first people to be on the BCTAL FFA livestock team. BCTAL is a abbreviation for Birdville Center of Technology and Advanced learning. Last year there were about 300 livestock animals at the show and countless more arts and crafts projects. The Tarrant county junior livestock show has been around since the 1950's and insnt going anywhere soon.

Birdville Independent School District also know as BISD recently bought a roller rink for our FFA to convert into an Agriculture barn. I am really excited about this opportunity that the district has offered us! This program went from 7 goats the first year, to currently 12 goats, 3 steers, 15 rabbits and 2 lambs, and it's still growing!

Anyways back on topic, last year at the Tarrant county show I was fortunate enough to win Reserve Grand Champion market wether at the 2013 show. I got second out of 77 overall behing the Grand champion goat! I feel that I was truly blessed to have had that opportunity to be able to show and get to experience something as cool and interesting as this.

Earlier this week I was interviewed by the star telegram about my experiences with FFA. The lady asked my how FFA how positively affected my life and the many benefits I see and have experienced being in the amazing program. She went on to question how I felt about the district buying and renovating a new barn for our program and how we felt about it. All in all FFA has greatly effected my life in many positive ways and will continue to support this program well into the future.you can see the article here.

 

 

 

Campbell, Elizabeth. "Birdville School District Converts Roller Rink into Agricultural Facility." Star Telegram. Star Telegram, 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

 

FFa Emblem. N.d. Photograph. North Dakota. North Dakota FFA. 15 June 2012. Web. 17 Feb. 2014

 

.N.d. Photograph. TelegramStar. 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

 

Tarrant county show, Fort worth Texas. Personal photograph by author. 2013.

 

Agriculture in the news

Agriculture is Everywhere all the Time

Agriculture is all around us, all the time. In the supermarket, clothing stores, and even in your house! Today I will be talking about agriculture in the media. As you may know the Fort Worth stock show recently ended last weekend. Thousands of exhibitors and live stocks animals attend in hopes of winning the grand or reserve grand champion title. 

Types of animals shown at the show: 

Cattle     Chickens     Rabbits       Ducks     Goats      Pigs     Sheep 

Most of the animals raised by the 4-H or FFA members will become food for people all over the country. Most of them are put on the meat truck after the show is over and head to the butcher plant to be processed and sold as meat to the public. In total there were about 29,000 livestock animals show and about 11,000 were market animals were shown and sold/ took to butcher during the 23 day event (star telegram).

The grand champion steer "Here I Am" was owned and shown by, Flint Newman. He got named that Grand champion at the 2014 Fort worth stock show on Friday. He sold the next day on Saturday for $200.000. This was $5,000 less than lasts years grand champion.

watch the video here!

Sakmari, Elvira. ""Here I Am" Named Grand Champion Steer." NBCDFW [Fort worth] 7 Feb. 2014: n. Web. Print.

Bahari, Sarah. "Stock Show Wraps Up, Attendance Tops 1 Million." Star Telegram. N.p., 9 Feb. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.