Mini Showmanship is a Giant Experience

Tonight at the Wayne County Fair five of our "Cloverbuds" participated in the mini showmanship contest.  Mini showmanship is open to youth ages 5 - 8 and is a pre-cursor to the junior fair when then kids are able to participate in the older, more competitive showmanship classes.  As a participant in showmanship, the judge is analyzing the showman's ability in leading their cattle and making them look their best. Obviously kids this young aren't capable of typing a blog post, so as their 4H advisor, I took the liberty of interviewing them about their experiences tonight!

Dugan McLaughlin (6 Years Old) thought that mini showmanship was fun because his calf walked really good and there were a lot of people in the crowd.  He felt really comfortable in the ring because he had been practicing with his calf, Pepper, this summer before the fair started.  He was excited because the judge asked him when his calf was born and he remembered the answer - April 11th.  Dugan wants to be in 4H when he gets older (and graduates from being a Cloverbud) because he wants to get to be in harder classes every year.  He was also glad that Pepper didn't get stubborn in the ring.  (As the adult editor of this post, it's important for readers to know that every night before Dugan leaves the fair he has to make a stop at the barn to give Pepper a goodnight kiss.)

Sisters Haley (7 Years Old) and Hanna (5 Years Old) Wilson loved participating in mini showmanship.  They both learned a lot about dairy calves, and especially liked showing Storm and Pepper.  All summer, they practiced leading their calves and spent a lot of time learning their birthdays, the classes that they showed in and also how to properly set them up in the show ring.  They are already looking forward to next year's show!  Lizzy Howman (7 Years Old) also enjoyed showing her Holstein calf Blizzard.  Blizzard lives at the same farm as Storm .  Lizzy and Haley had fun this summer spending time together working with their heifer calves and preparing them for the show.  Lizzy's favorite part about raising calves is seeing them grow up.

Logan Topp (5 Years Old) thought that mini showmanship went really good tonight. His calf Pizazz is really nice and he likes that she's almost all black (he is pictured with his sister's calf Rosette).  This was his second time participating in mini showmanship as he did it earlier this year at the Ohio State Fair.  He really likes showing calves because all of his 5 brothers and sisters show calves too and he really looks up to them. He is looking forward to participating in mini showmanship next year!


I'm looking forward to watching these kids develop their showmanship skills in the coming years and enjoy every minute when I'm with them!