A total of 20 New Hampshire 4-H members were part of a livestock show at the Hopkinton State Fair on Sept. 2. The show featured beef cattle, swine, lambs and meat goats in the market class, all judged by Troy Pride. Hannah Majewski, the NH 4-H program manager, introduced the show by stating, “You can’t get more local than this.”
In the beef class, there were a total of three contestants, each a different breed. Looking at the three cows, Pride mentioned he saw “some pretty big differences,” which helped him in his final ranking. Olivia Mock took first place with their 1282 lb. Red Angus. Pride said this animal was “finished absolutely perfectly” and when it comes to ideal characteristics, “it has it all.”
Mock’s cow was exploding at the loin, which is “where the money is,” stated Pride, and exhibited a nice top line. Bellah Carter earned second place with their 871 lb. Pinzgauer, and Chase LaSala took third with their 1226 lb. Simmental cross.
There were seven contestants in the swine class; one showed a Berkshire pig and the others were crossbred. Pride was very impressed with the showmen, as they were “an amazing group of kids” and displayed the “best showing of pigs [he’d] ever seen” at a small fair.
Lucy Akerstrom took first place with her 272 lb. cross, followed by Natalee Cullen’s 271 lb. cross in second and Noah Cullen’s 254 lb. cross in third.
There were seven contestants in the swine class at this year’s show. Photo by Kelsi Devolve
The lamb class had the most contestants – a total of nine – with breeds consisting of Dorset cross, Oxford cross, Dorset x Romney cross, Southdown, Shropshire cross, and Teeswater cross. Pheobe Miner was awarded first place with her 136 lb. Shropshire cross lamb, and Charlotte Dill took second place with her 114 lb. Southdown. Pride explained that although the Shropshire cross was of better market quality, Dill displayed the best showmanship of the entire group. Hannah Cargill was awarded third place with her 159 lb. Oxford cross.
The show finished with a class of meat goats, with one contestant – David Morrill. Morrill showed a 59 lb. Nubian cross who took first place and entertained the crowd with his goat scream.
Overall, Pride said he was very impressed with the entire show and wanted to give plenty of credit to the young showmen. He recognized that livestock shows are a lot of work, as you need to find the right balance of exercising the animal to build muscle and feeding the animal to gain weight.
The show was a success thanks to the 4-H’ers, their mentors and their parents, who supported their journey throughout. Following the livestock show was a buyers’ auction, from which all proceeds were given to the 4-H youth animal seller.
For more information on NH 4-H, visit extension.unh.edu/new-hampshire-4-h.
by Kelsi Devolve
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