They clipped, groomed and prepared their animals, as they were getting ready to show them for the 64th Annual North Florida Livestock Show & Sale.

More than 100 youth from surrounding counties took part in the show and sale held in Madison, Feb 19th-2nd. Twenty-six Taylor 4-H youth were among the participants preparing their animal to show.

What is the Livestock Show & Sale

The show is organized to provide an opportunity for youth to raise and care for livestock, present them before judges for competition, and then sell them at a live auction.

The Goal of the 4-H Livestock Program

The main objective of the program is to teach youth life skills by using live animals. Youth learn about agriculture and livestock production and develop an appreciation for the livestock industry.

Building Character

The experience youth gain by participating in the livestock show and sale is a tremendous character building process. The youth are required to:

• Be responsible for their care, health, and growth
• Record keeping on their animal
• Feeding, grooming and exhibiting them in a competitive environment
• Recruit sponsors and the ever-daunting task of recruiting sponsors for their project

Taylor 4-H Club Awards and Achievements

Livestock participants did a great job showcasing their hard work. Swine weight classes ranged from 220-295 lbs. Taylor County 4-H had 4-1st place swine out of the 11 classes. Megan Murhpy, Conner LaValle, and Tucker Wiles all went back into the livestock ring for a chance to win Grand and Reserve Champion in the swine division. The swine show placings were as follows: Call 1; Anna Pemberton placed 6th, Cason O’Neal placed 11th, Hannah Claire Curry placed 4th, Grace Murhpy placed 2nd, and Caroline Murphy places 1st also placing 3rd in Junior Showmanship. Class 2; Susanna Curry placed 7th. Class 3; Addison English placed 10th, Anna Leah Curry placed 9th, Clara Lilliot placed 7th, and Megan Murphy placed 1st and also received a callback for showmanship. Class 4; Jaylee Peake placed 2nd, Clara Lilliott placed 10th. Class 5; Hannah Colson placed 11th, Chase Colson placed 4th, and Cooper Wiles placed 5th. Class 7; Macy Lundy placed 8th, Jade Fletcher placed 3rd and received a call back for showmanship, Christian Goodman placed 2nd. Class 8; Scout Smith placed 7th, Conner LaVelle placed 1st. Class 9; Noah Aman placed 12th, Max Strum placed 11th , Zeek Newman placed 3rd and won 3rd place in intermediate showmanship. Class 11; Tucker Wiles placed 1st and received Reserve Grand Champion for swine and 2nd place in Intermediate Showmanship. Taylor County 4-H Livestock club won the Herdsmen Award for the swine barn.

Three Taylor 4-H youth participated in the Steer and Heifer division. Hunter Fletcher lost her Heifer and Steer tragically this past August and was offered to show a Heifer owned by Cooper Nemcovic (from Mayo, FL), which won Grand Champion Heifer. Hunter also received 2nd in Senior Showmanship. Noah Aman placed 4th overall steer, 2nd place in Intermediate Showmanship and received 1st place in Record Book for the Steer Project. Jade Fletcher placed 3rd overall steer, 3rd place in Senior Showmanship, and 1st place in Record Book. Jade also won the Herdsman Award for the cattle barn.

Among the many achievements of the livestock club, senior 4-H’ers Clara Lilliott, Jade Fletcher, Megan Murhpy, and Chase Colson placed 3rd in the overall Agriculture Judging Contest and Jade Fletcher received 3rd overall in the senior division. Hannah Claire Curry, Susanna Curry, Jaylee Peake, and Hannah Colson placed 2nd in the Intermediate Agriculture Judging and Susanna Curry received 1st place overall and Jaylee Peake received 2nd place in the overall Individual Agriculture Judging for the intermediate division.

The show participants would like to give a special thanks to Kathy Aman, 4-H Livestock volunteer, for the countless hours she puts into their club. Ensuring all club members were prepared for the Livestock Show and Sale.

The show participants would also like to thank all of the sponsors of the swine and steer. The sponsors provide financial incentive to help offset the expenses of the projects.

The live auction was the culmination of the four-day event and it was held on Thursday night.

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