The Platte County Livestock Show is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, having just completed another successful run at the Platte County Fair July 22-25.
In 2007, the Booster Club approached the Platte County Fair Board, after a 10 year hiatus with no livestock shows at the annual fair. The board gave their blessing to reinstate the tradition, and the Booster Club was off and running.
There were 302 entries in the three-day event this year.
“On Friday we had our sheep and goat show,” said organizer Ruth Nelson. “We have separate shows for dairy goats, Boer breeding goats, market goats, and a sheep show. Saturday is the busiest day with three shows going at the same time. The livestock barn hosts the hog show which had 60 entries and the big top tent houses the rabbits and poultry show. This year we had 27 rabbits and 67 poultry entries. Sunday rounds out the three days of showing with the cattle show. The temperatures were the highest on Sunday, and it deterred some exhibitors from attending.”
Nelson said many exhibitors are getting their projects out before the judge to gauge the progress they are making and see what feeding and showing techniques need to be improved upon before state fairs, either the Missouri State Fair or Kansas State Fair.
“This is a great, relaxed setting for youth exhibitors to get the opportunity to put themselves and their projects in front of an evaluator and gain valuable feedback and sharpen their skills and techniques,” Nelson said. “The show staff works hard to hire professional evaluators that not only know what the industry is looking for in the specific species but are also good with providing constructive feedback to the youth so that they improve their skillset and become more competitive.”
Nelson said Platte County families are the backbone of the Booster Club, they plan year-round on selecting judges, prizes, and engaging with sponsors.
“The community has been very supportive from the beginning when the Booster Club relaunched the Livestock Show,” she said. “Without our dedicated sponsors we would not be able to host the quality shows that we have become known for. The Platte County Livestock show is open to other counties and states. We have had exhibitors from Iowa, Nebraska attend and we have a good pull of Kansas exhibitors as well.”
Platte County had a good representation with local youth taking the top honors in several of the shows. Jase Marx, Dearborn, exhibited the Grand Champion Steer. Brigham Nelson, Platte City, had the Champion Percentage Simmental heifer which ended up being the Reserve Grand Champion Heifer. Courtney Dehn, Dearborn, had a second-place Angus heifer and was the Champion Senior Beef Showmanship winner. Maddi Risa, Platte City, had a great first year of showing sheep and took home the following honors; Champion Junior Sheep Showmanship, Champion Southdown Ewe and overall Reserve Champion Breeding Ewe with her Southdown named “Sassy.” She also exhibited the Champion Tamworth barrow in Saturday’s hog show. Collin Risa, a freshman at Platte County High School, showed a market hog and took home a second-place ribbon. Wyatt Short, Platte City, also had a second-place market hog, this was his first time exhibiting at Platte County.
The Platte County youth not only show at the fair, but they are also very involved in the cleaning of barn, the set up of the pens and on the day of the show they are assisting with the awards and ribbons, tracking the results, and assisting in the ring. It not only requires the adult volunteers to run the shows but also the leadership of the Platte County youth to make the shows go smoothly.
“We do this for the youth of Platte County, and we could not do it without their involvement,” Nelson said.
This year the Booster Club awarded four college scholarships in the amount of $1,000 each to Platte County exhibitors pursuing higher education degrees. This year’s award winners are Courtney Dehn, attending Kansas State University, Lucas Leefers, attending Kansas State University, Paisley Nelson, in her second year at Redlands Community College and John Malter attending University of North Dakota.
“We are thrilled to be able to support the alumni of Platte County 4-H and FFA exhibitors as they continue their education,” Nelson said. “We are thankful to the generosity of our supporters over the years that have made this possible.”