The 75th annual Randall County Junior Livestock show kicks off today
The 75th annual Randall County Junior Livestock Show will start its competitions today at the Happy State Bank Event Center, located at 1111 Loop 335 in Amarillo. Running from Saturday, Jan. 7 through Jan. 12, the junior livestock show will feature about 200 students showcasing 420 animal entries in various exhibitions including cattle, goats, sheep, rabbits, pigs and chickens.
Starting off the livestock exhibition at 10 a.m. today will be the rabbit category, including more than 125 rabbits that students will exhibit. These encompass exhibitors from Randall County 4H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapters from Randall, Canyon and West Plains High Schools.
All events, with the exception of the cattle exhibition, will be held at the Happy State Bank Event Center. The cattle exhibition will be held Jan. 9 at the Bain Events Center, located on the West Texas A&M University (WT) campus in Canyon. Events will resume Jan. 10 at the Happy State Bank Events Center with goats and sheep; continuing Wednesday, Jan. 11 with broilers; Thursday with gilts, and then an all-day barrow show.
J.D. Ragland, a Randall County Extension Agent for more than 35 years, spoke about the importance of the event for its young exhibitors. Ragland also grew up involved in FFA, growing up in the region.
“These exhibitions teach these students work ethic,” Ragland said. “Many of these students have been feeding, washing, grooming and taking care of these animals for the last four to 12 months to prepare for this. There is a huge amount of responsibility to be the sole caretakers of these animals for this amount of time. This is also a great family project, preparing an animal to be shown at this event. One of the things that this is, it gives kids and family a chance to meet others that are exhibitors that have gone through the same things.”
Ragland also said that this event also helps to teach students to develop their verbal communication skills, which he felt is a needed skill that many students need help with, within today’s technologically driven society. He also felt that this type of project is a great way to get the whole family involved in their students with some level of hands-on interaction with the animals being prepared for the exhibition.
Exhibiting animals is a great way for students to learn responsibility.
“This is one of the only projects that the whole family can take a big part of; one of the major things we hang our hat on in 4-H is the total family involvement,” Ragland added.
Following the completion of all livestock competitions, there will be a buyer’s reception at WT Legacy Hall, which will feature award presentations, a buyer’s meal and a premium auction sale, where people will bid on the winning livestock.
A premium auction sale has winning bids going to the exhibitor of the animals in support of their education and future projects. No animals changing hands will be a part of the transaction. Buyers will get recognition for their winning bid as animals will stay with their exhibitors.
Last year’s premium sale brought in $375,000 toward student exhibitors in the interest of agricultural education and future projects. Yearly, the junior livestock show has brought in around $350,000 and has raised up to $425,000 for these students’ endeavors.
All exhibition events are free and open to the public.
For a complete schedule and information on the Randall County Junior Livestock Show, go to http://counties.agrilife.org/randall/files/2021/07/2022-RCJLS-RULES-Final.pdF .
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: The 75th annual Randall County Junior Livestock show kicks off today
