Artwork by
Dennis Murphy

For the students, by the students

The "Wild Wooly" Little American Royal
Amy Dunlap, reporter, CAFNR Corner Post

October 18, 2003- This isn't your usual county fair livestock show, this livestock show is different. Anyone who was interested in showing an animal who has an animal science class was invited to join the event, even if they had no experience in it whatsoever.

For one week students are given an animal to care for; including feeding, grooming, clipping, and washing the animal. MU Block and Bridle provided demonstrations by the species chairs for the novice showers on how to care for and show their animals. Unlike other livestock shows, the overall confirmation of the animal is not a basis for judging, but rather the student's relationship and knowledge about the animal. This is an educational event for students that incorporate the information that they learn in class and apply it to a real-life situation. There were three classes for each animal; novice, intermediate, and experience, and beef, sheep, dairy, and horse animals from MU farms are used for the exposition.

The Little American Royal 2003 Tri-chairs were Angela Bradley, Jenny Milligan, and Holly Sayre. "Where the Wild and Wooly Meet" was this year's theme for the 2003 Block and Bridle Little American Royal held on October 18.

The LAR judges for this year were Nathan Kelling, beef; James Coomer, dairy; Tom Shelton, horses; Helen Swartz, sheep; and Jeremy Cobb; Swine. The MU B&B Species Chairperson's for the event were Dallas Wilson, beef; Genevieve Barron, dairy; Luke Miller, horses; Christal Huber, sheep; and Cody Brock, swine.

"I think that this year's show was a great success. In my opinion it is the best activity Block and Bridle sponsors," said Jenny Milligan, junior agricultural education major, and one of the LAR tri-chairs.

There were 125 exhibitors showing 134 animals. Following are the winners:

Swine- novice, Bryan Sisk; intermediate, Nicki Busdieker; experienced, Cody Brock.

Beef- novice, Nicole Leitman; intermediate Ashley James; experienced, Rachel McGilvray.

Sheep- novice, Daniel Mallory; intermediate Beverly Barnhart; experienced Nicki Busdieker.

Dairy- novice, Lindsey Markworth; intermediate, Marin Summers.

Horse- novice, Laura Comotto; intermediate, Krystle Azerolo; experienced Katerine Cox.

The overall showmen and reserve showmen were picked at the end of the event. Champions from all classes were put in a round-robin contest that challenged them to show each animal for a total of five minutes. Judges asked questions to exhibitor and judged each person on a scale of 1, poor; to 10, excellent. At the end, points were added up to chose the showmen.

The overall showman was Cody Brock. The reserve overall showman was Daniel Mallory. The Herdsman award went to Marshall Beckman.

Michelle Dowell, sophomore animal sciences major said, "Being able to participate in LAR is a great experience. Last year was the first time that I ever done it, so I knew what I was doing this year. It's a wonderful way for students who have never showed before to have a chance to do it."

For more information please visit the Block and Bridle web site.

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