Local agriculture students kick off Junior Livestock Show before official start of Santa Barbara County Fair
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Hundreds of local agriculture students from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties helped kick off the Santa Barbara County Fair with the start of the Junior Livestock Show on Monday morning.
While the fair doesn't officially open to the public until Wednesday, July 9, the event is now essentially underway with the beginning of this longtime tradition.
"Today and yesterday, we started moving all the animals in," said Katie Tanksley, Santa Barbara County Fair Livestock Office Manager. "Today is the craziness. All the trailers are coming in and then we start weighing the animals this afternoon. The show will start tomorrow and we'll start doing all of the classes for market and showmanship."
The livestock show has long served as the backbone of the county fair, an event where local agricultural students show and auction a variety of animals they have raised over the past several months.
"These kids have been working for months on end," said Russell Zimmerman, Nipomo High School agricultural teacher. "They've been working towards making these projects something that is going to be sold, and something that's quality. The product these kids are producing here is something far beyond that of what the average person seen in the grocery store. They're spending hours and hours every single day making sure these animals are getting treated well."
The Junior Livestock Show helps educate students on the value and importance of the agricultural industry, which is vital to the economic vitality of the Santa Maria Valley and surrounding areas.
"It's such a fulfilling experience," said Abigail Danley, Nipomo High School FFA President. "It's crazy because animal that you get so close with you, you get to show off to all the judges. You learn so much from it. More than just learning how to care for think. It's like caring for a human being. We stay at our school farm and we have to learn communication and responsibility, and taking care of an animal. It's just fulfilling and it's exciting."
On Monday, all students who are showing large size livestock are scheduled to have their animals weighed.
Tuesday will mark the beginning of the marketplace show for swine, sheep, goats and other small animals, while the beef showmanship will start later in the week.
The livestock show and auction culminates with the auction, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Some students will take home several hundred dollars, while others may actually take home several thousands in profit.
The Santa Barbara County Fair runs July 9-13 For more information, click here.
