North Lake FFA: Lake County Fair

North Lake FFA at the Lake County Fair
By: Cheyanne Strong, Reporter

The North Lake FFA chapter stayed busy over Labor Day weekend showing steers, lambs and swine. Twenty-three FFA members took their Supervised Agricultural Experience project (SAE) down to Lakeview, and participated in the Lake County Fair. Members of the FFA Sheep club who participated were Adam Henkel, Gonzalo Reyes, Rafael Valencia, Shayne Dinger, Raven Waldron, Tylor Bryant, Keifer Watson and Avery Overton. Beef club: Sydnee Bias, Felicia Bias, Hunter Kittredge, Tyler Meyer, Cheyanne Strong, Kori Worthington and JJ Smith. Swine club: Amanda Dark, Lesley Dark, Josh Hand, Jessica Hand, Kody Worthington, Kourtney Worthington and Kayle Podijil.

In its seventeen year history, the North Lake FFA chapter has generally had between ten to thirteen members participating in the county fair. Last year they had eighteen members show. Beef Judge and Former Agricultural Teacher, J.B. Dimick, praised our local chapter and stated that we have more students involved at fair than most chapters in the state, even the chapters from bigger schools who have two or three advisors. Chad Waldron, North Lake FFA Advisor, stated, “The increase in participation can be traced back to a great 4-H feeder program. North Lake is very fortunate to have a plethora of good, devoted 4-H leaders who care about kids. Students come into my classes in high school excited about raising fair SAE projects and most know more about showing and fitting livestock than I do. I don’t have to recruit students to participate at fair; I just have to keep them interested.” Virginia Prosenick, Carrie Brown, Tami Dark, Sue Warmington, Debbie Hendrickson, Marie Kelly, Holly Vore, Hallie Nelson and Lois Miles are some of the 4-H leaders that have been especially helpful in training and preparing FFA students to compete at fair.

Avery Overton and Felicia Bias dominate the highlight reel this year. Avery’s lamb earned the Reserve Grand Champion Market Sheep, and helped Avery win the Grand Champion Sheep Showman, as well as the overall Grand Champion Showman in the Round Robin Event. The Round Robin Showmanship contest requires the two best showmen of each type of livestock to compete with each other showing all the livestock represented at fair. This year Avery had to show his lamb, as well as swine, beef, goats, rabbits and poultry.

Showmanship is an event where students demonstrate how well their animal has been prepared and trained, as well as the students knowledge of the animal species such as breed characteristics, meat cuts, gestation period, feeding requirements and livestock terminology. The showman spends many hours during the summer preparing their animal for the ring. Steers are by far the most demanding when it comes down to fitting and training before a show. The steer has to be broke to lead and to set up its feet in a square position to highlight the animal’s attributes and overall quality. Students are judged on how well the animal cooperates with showman during the show. The fitting of the animal is also taken into account. Each species of livestock has a different process and technique that best demonstrates the muscling and finish of the animal. “Finish” is a livestock term used to describe the amount of fat on the animal. Each species of animal has a specific amount of finish necessary to ensure a quality carcass. Too much or too little finish will make an undesirable carcass. Over the course of the Summer, students strive to come up with a specific feeding program that will produce the optimal quality carcass at the time the animal is to be sold at the market sale.

Felicia Bias also competed in the Round Robin Showmanship Event. She earned a spot in the event by placing 2nd, or Reserve Grand Champion Showman in the steer show. Felicia also had the Reserve Grand Champion Market Steer. Felicia not only showed her steer, she also competed in the open class show with her sister, Sydnee. Together they brought a total of ten animals to the fair: two steers, four first-year heifers and two cow-calf pairs. Felicia won the Breeders Cup with her first-year heifer which is a trophy for the best breeding animal.

Some other highlights during the weekend were Gonzalo Reyes winning the Sheep Average Daily Gain Contest, and Kody Worthington winning the Average Daily Gain for swine.

Cheyanne Strong’s record book won Reserve Grand Champion in the advanced category, and Raven Waldron won Grand Champion in the Beginning Record Book Contest.

North Lake FFA would like to once again sincerely thank all those who volunteered and sponsored awards, bought animals and contributed to the North Lake Pool. FFA members understand and are aware that hay prices are down and input costs and inflation keep going up, so we really appreciate all those who sacrifice their time and resources to help make our chapter so successful. Mr. Waldron stated, “I am constantly grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity of the North Lake community and their enthusiasm and dedication to ensure that agriculture and the FFA continue to be an integral part of our students’ education. North Lake is a great place to be an FFA Advisor.”

*FFA makes a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for Premier Leadership, Personal Growth and Career Success through agricultural education.

Tylor, Gonzo and Raf discuss showing techniques and strategies while they wait their turn to show.

Front Row: Rafael Valencia, Tylor Bryant, Keifer Watson, Gonzalo Reyes, Kayle Podijil, Jessica Hand, Lesley Dark, Amanda Dark, Josh Hand, Andrew Miles. Back row: Kori Worthington, Adam Henkel, Raven Waldron, Tyler Meyer, Hunter Kittredge, Cheyanne Strong, Avery Overton, Kourtney Worthington, Shayne Dinger, Felicia Bias, Sydnee Bias, JJ Smith