Junior Livestock show returns
vCooper Arnold (second from right) displays the Grand Champion Steer he presented at the 2021 Bandera County Junior Livestock Show auction. The steer drew a top bid of $10,000. BULLETIN PHOTO
The 86th Bandera County Junior Livestock Show will be held Jan. 12-15 at Mansfield Park outside Bandera, and officials believe it will be a big success like last year.
Bandera County youth work practically year-round with some projects to prepare them and ensure they are ready for judging at the county show and at livestock sows in other Texas towns and cities. Roughly 150 youths will enter this year’s livestock exhibitions, all showing animals weighing from four to 1,300 pounds.
Categories of animals to be shown include steers, heifers, show pigs, sheep and goats, as well as the small projects like turkeys, chickens and rabbits.
FFA and 4-H are leading youth associations providing an inside look at the hard work and responsibility required to keep farms, ranches and other agricultural operations going. Youth from these organizations take place in the show.
Youth also take part in ag mechanics classes at both Bandera and Medina high schools that teach them how to construct a variety of agricultural projects, like truck trailers and duck blinds.
Ag mechanics entries also are judge at the livestock show.
The birth of the Bandera County Junior Livestock show was in 1936 when the Medina Future Farmers of America hosted the first stock show.
In 1937, County Agent Howard Schlemmer started a county 4-H organization and used that foundation to jump start the junior show.
By 1938, the county show included 23 pens of sheep, several goats, some hogs and chickens. Twenty-three boys took part in the show, exhibiting more than 140 animals.
The show alternated its location each year from Bandera to Medina and back again, before moving to its permanent home at Mansfield Park in Bandera.