Show ring success requires good attitude, keeping cool

OTHELLO - So - everybody who has an animal in the show ring at the Adams County Fair has worked pretty hard to produce the best animal they can. How does a competitor make sure his or her animal stands out from all the others in the ring?

Johanna Burkholder was the grand champion in steer fitting and showing in the FFA senior division. "At home you have to work with it," she said. "It takes practice."

"I work with my steer every day that I can. Which is almost every day," Marlo Boyd, of Connell, said, who was the reserve champion in senior FFA. Unlike cattle, pigs aren't shown with a lead. "You need to stare at the judge, keep your eye on him, and keep your pig off the fence," Landon Ribail, of Wilson Creek, said.

Exhibiting an animal at the fair involves two competitions, the market class that judges the animal, and the fitting and showing which judges the way the animal is presented. Judges look at every detail, from the shine of a steer's coat to the way a competitor lines up a sheep in relation to the judge.

Boyd said she keeps her steer in the barn at home most of the day during the summer, which keeps the animal cooler and thus slows down the tendency to shed. Judges like an animal with a thicker coat, she said. "Then you have to clip it nice so it doesn't look shaggy," Burkholder said. A little hair product to keep the animal's coat shiny also helps, she said.

One of the main keys to success in the show ring is staying calm if an animal decides to act out, Boyd said. "It's happened to me multiple times," she said.

"I've been dragged in the show ring before," Burkholder said.

A competitor benefits from a good attitude, Cara Cox, of Warden, said. "Being excited and in a good mood. If you're happy you can make your pig happy," Cox said.

But pigs are notorious for having a mind of their own in the ring. Pigs want to explore the arena, get down on the ground for a good wallow. "If there's a spot that's cool in the ring, that's where the pigs want to sit," Cox said.

She is not above giving her pig a shove to keep him moving, she said. "I knee it."

Taeven Brashear, of Wilson Creek, was showing his first pig ever. "You need to direct him," he said. That involves some persuasion with the cane, a tap on the jowls, or up on the nose, he said. "You can also hit him in the hock, but the judge doesn't like that," Rebail said.

Despite it being his first pig, Brashear was confident "because this is a good pig." Cox said she wasn't nervous as she waited for her turn in the ring. "Not really. I've been showing since I was little," she said.

"It's just repetition mostly," Boyd said.