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Youth exhibitors excel during MO State Fair

As the Missouri State Fair begins, at least 6 youth exhibitors already know they’ll be participating in the Sale of Champions. Livestock shows and competitions began earlier this week and continue through the fair.

Hayden Duncan, a member of the Columbia FFA Chapter, has the Grand Champion Pen of Chickens. He tells Brownfield they are a pen of Cornish Cross chickens.

“Usually you want chickens to be around 6 pounds or heavier. That’s like what you’d buy in the store,” says Duncan. “They’re evaluated by their muscle and chickens are good to eat if they have muscle.”

This will be his fourth time participating in the Sale of Champions. He is also showing market hogs and sheep. Blake Cates of the Neighborly Community 4-H in Cairo has the Reserve Champion Pen of Chickens.

Kennedy 4-H Club member Ty Murphy had the Grand Champion Market Goat. Murphy tells Brownfield he wasn’t sure the animal would make it to the fair, because of a broken leg this spring, but it finally healed.

“We said we’d make it to the fair and people said we wouldn’t. We didn’t stop. We kept trying and it worked out really good for us,” says Murphy.

He explains what makes a good market goat.

“A good market goat has plenty of muscle and they have to be wide as they walk toward you and going away. They need to walk in big, long strides and they need to be wide over their back.”

This will be Murphy’s second time in the Sale of Champions. He has other livestock to show the second week of the fair. Payton Rodgers from the Savannah FFA Chapter has the Reserve Champion Market Goat.

California FFA member Madison McCord has the Reserve Champion Market Ham.

“I’ve been doing hams since I started in 4-H,” says McCord. “My dad is really interested in curing hams and bacon. He got me interested in it and I’m really excited about this. My sister did well with her ham project a few years ago and it feels like a legacy.”

She explains how to cure a good ham.

“A lot of people don’t think of country hams, they just think of a Thanksgiving or Christmas ham,” she says. “We get our hams and cure them in December and hang them up until the spring. Then, we’ll take off all the paper, wash the hams and hang them in a big shed. In the late summer, we’ll wash them, trim them and smoke them for the fair.”

This is her first time in the Sale of Champions and she’s helping out in the Missouri Farmers Care booth this week. Timothy Holtsclaw from California FFA had the Grand Champion Market Ham.

The Sale of Champions, which consists of 16 youth exhibitors and their market animal or meat projects, is Saturday, August 19.