Livestock key players in fair competition

This year’s Roosevelt County Fair will have more than its share of live animals: from bouncing rabbits to oily pigs, lactating heifers to bull-nosed steers.

And it’s these livestock animals — the county’s finest — which will be the subject of competition in various shows, vying for various honors.

And though some may not know, many people will cheer and jeer them. For the box turtles, the cheering may be excessive, especially with $1,000 worth of prizes on the line for a race to the finish line.

Officials at the Roosevelt County Fair say the livestock shows are some enjoyable and can be extremely competitive.

Livestock competitions and shows

All of the rules in the Junior Livestock section of the Roosevelt County Fair book apply to all livestock competitions.

The categories are as follows for livestock competition:

-- Poultry Division, judged at 9 a.m. on Thursday, includes the categories of cock, cockerel, hen, pullet, old pen or trio, young pen or trio, water fowl or other pure breed will be shown as singles only. All birds in the same pen must be of the same breed.

-- Rabbit Division, show time at 8 a.m. on Wednesday in the Pavilion.

-- The Youth Horse Show, scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday in the Pavilion. There are several classes in this division including stallions, geldings and fillies. Performance classes in this division include Western Pleasure, Horsemanship, Reining and Trail.

-- The Breeding Beef Heifers Show is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Thursday.

-- The Turtle Race, which boasts $1,000 in cash and prizes will start at 2 p.m. in the Pavilion. Registration is from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. The Kiwanis Pet Show, the Stick Horse Race, the Dummy Roping Contest and the Goat Branding will also start at 2 p.m.

-- The Showmanship Contest have the following Junior Livestock classes: beef heifers, market goats, rabbits, replacement dairy heifers, market lamb, market steer and market swine.

-- The Market Goat Show will be at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday in the show arena.

-- The Market Steer Show, including the Roosevelt County breed division will be at 10 a.m. in the Pavilion.

-- The Market Swine Show will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the show arena.

-- The Production Swine Contest will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in the show arena.

-- The Kids Pig Chase has five age categories: preschool, ages 5, 6, 7 and 8. Registration is from 5 - 5:30 p.m. in the show arena.

-- Market lambs, including the first year bred class, the booster class and the Roosevelt County bred class, will take place at 7 p.m. on Thursday in the show arena.

-- The Dairy Herdsmanship Contest is for the entirety of the fair.

-- The Replacement Dairy Heifer show will be at 2 p.m. on Wednesday in the Pavilion.

-- The Junior Livestock Sale will be at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Source: Roosevelt County Fair Book