Southeast Arkansas Youth Receive Show Ring Coaching

LON TEGELS 

MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS

 Heidi Parrish takes care of her animals on a small farm outside of Judsonia. She has a couple of heifers, a steer, a donkey, chickens, and a Guinea. She’s been showing her steer Trampus and heifer Sassy at county and state fairs for the last three years with reasonable success. 

This year, however, she decided she is ready for a change and bought her first sheep, named Pringles.  

“I've always wanted to show sheep. I think they're cute and just something different for me,” said Parrish. Parrish added she hopes to have Pringles ready in time for this year’s fairs. “I haven't shown sheep at all, so it's just a refresh and help with my technique and help me figure out what I need,” said Parrish. 

For her new animal she decided she needed a little extra hands-on training, and for that she turned to the University of Arkansas Extension Livestock Clinic 101 held July 15 at the Drew County Fairgrounds. 

At age 16, Parrish is a little bit older than some of the others at the Livestock 101 Clinic. Parrish, along with nearly 40 other students from across the state, spent the day with county extension agents and people who show animals on a regular basis. Parrish says the primary difference from showing her cattle is that she uses a halter and a show stick, while with sheep she uses her hands a lot more to position the animal for the judges.

 The Livestock 101 Clinic was put on by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. It provided space for showing cattle, sheep, goats, poultry and rabbits. Drew County Extension summer intern Rayvin Callaway, an agriculture senior at University of Arkansas at Monticello, organized the event. Callaway said, “We show them how to get their animal ready and some showman basics to take the animal into the ring.”

The show arena clinic was free, and most students brought their own animals.  Besides animal care, Callaway said, “there is so much that I can learn from livestock. They can learn responsibility, determination, and confidence. I can't tell you how much showing cattle has made me confident in myself.” Callaway herself is a member of the University of Arkansas at Monticello Show Team. She’s been showing cattle for about eight years and has shown goats, rabbits, and poultry.

Parents' clinic 
Something new at this year’s Livestock 101 was a parent clinic. While the students were outdoors learning arena techniques for the show pens, parents were indoors learning about vaccines, diseases and nutrition and feeding their animals.

Among this year’s seven speakers for the parent-focused section was extension educator Les Walz, who spoke to parents about forages.  

Also speaking to parents was Rocky Lindsey, veterinarian and University of Arkansas at Monticello associate professor of animal science. Lindsey said, “I wanted to train them on the veterinary-client patient relationship, which means the relationship they have to have with the veterinarian in order to get prescription medications filled like antibiotics.” Lindsey also taught them about the animal health requirements for livestock competitions.

The highlight of the day focused on students getting to practice with their animals and gain some one-on-one feedback from people with previous arena experience.

Lincoln County Extension Agent John David Farabough helped students learn how to show their cattle in the show ring. Farabough said, “entering the show ring is a good way to build confidence.”   

Farabough added that presenting a project they’ve worked on personally can also raise confidence levels. Farabough emphasized that the amount of time they work with their animals at the house, at the barn and walking these animals will determine their success.

Drew Central High School instructor Brittany Leek put her young sheep showman through a hands-on routine. Leek answered questions about animal care, maintenance, selling in the ring, what they need to be wearing, what they need to be doing. Leek said, “It is that important for them to know they're going to gain a lot from their first show.”  

Leek also offered,” We talked about things that were basic care for sheep and goats. Their feet are really important to them. We talked about health care; we talked about worming practices.

Worms can be a huge parasite issue here in South Arkansas.”

Not glued to her phone 
As for Heidi Parrish, she continues to work with her animals Pringle, Sassy, and Trampus on a daily basis. Parrish said, “Most kids are glued to their phone. But me, I can just come out here, play with the animals, and ride the horse.”  ∆

 LON TEGELS: University of Arkansas