Counties ready for junior livestock shows

Michell Seeber

This week will start a string of junior livestock shows, beginning with Bailey County on Thursday and concluding with Curry and Quay counties in August, county extension agents recently said.

In between will be shows for Parmer and Roosevelt counties.

The Bailey County Junior Livestock Show will start at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Bailey County Coliseum, when entrants weigh in their animals, Extension Agent Curtis Preston said.

At 8:30 a.m. Friday, the show of swine, goats and sheep will begin. At 7:30 a.m. Saturday, steers and heifers will be shown.

Sale of the animals is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Quay County Extension 4-H Agent Justin Bollinger said the shows are “great for the kids.”

“It’s a culmination of all their projects,” he said. “The … sales can help pay for the cost of the animals and much of the money goes into savings for college.

“It’s a lifestyle choice, too,” Bollinger said. “Families involved socialize, and it’s an opportunity for them to get together.”

The 2004 Parmer County Junior Livestock Show will begin with a weigh-in of the animals on Jan. 28 at the Friona Community Center in Friona.

The actual showing of the animals will start at 8 a.m. Jan. 29, said Brenda Wauson, secretary for Integrated Pest Management at the Parmer County Office of Texas Cooperative Extension.

At this show, students will display lambs, goats, steers and pigs, she said.

The sale of the winning animals is set for Jan. 31, Wauson said.

The junior livestock show in Roosevelt County won’t begin at least until the end of July during the Roosevelt County Fair.

“Ours is usually the week before Curry County’s fair,” Fair Board Secretary Jana Roberts said Tuesday. “It looks like it’s going to start a week before August, although it isn’t confirmed.”

For the juniors, Roberts said, there will be a Future Farmers of America and 4-H rabbit show; an FFA and 4-H poultry show; a replacement heifers show; an open breeding youth beef heifer show; and more.

“The open breeding youth beef heifer show is open to all kids,” Roberts said. “The rest of the shows (except for rabbits, poultry and replacement heifers) are limited to 4-H and FFA.”

Included will be market steers, market lambs, market swine and market goats.

“We’ll also have an open youth horse show,” she said.

The show will be held at the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds.

Curry County 4-H Agent Les Owen said the juniors in his area will show their animals during August at the Curry County Fair in Clovis.

“There’ll be a little bit of everything — beef steers, beef heifers, horse shows, goats and chickens,” Owen said. “We’ll have all species of livestock out there — a little bit of everything.”

The animals will arrive on a Monday and entrees will be displayed at the Junior Livestock Show on the following Friday evening, he said.

“It’s a week full of a lot of fun and work,” Owen said.

Bollinger said in Quay County, juniors will show livestock during the second or third week in August at the Quay County Fairgrounds in Tucumcari.

“There’ll be market lambs, market hogs, market steers, breeding heifers, and others,” he said.