2024 Washington County Youth Fair Highlights

Mark Mauldin, UF/IFAS Extension Washington County

The 2024 Washington County Youth Fair took place February 29^th – March 2^nd at the Washington County Ag Center. In addition to the poultry and livestock related activities, over 500 Washington County youth displayed nearly 800 different projects. These projects included a wide variety of arts & crafts, food items, educational posters, and lots of dried and live plants. The plant projects were made or grown at school through a cooperative effort with teachers and the Chipley Garden Club.

In the poultry barn, 22 4-H members exhibited over 50 chickens. On Thursday 2/29 the exhibitors participated in the Poultry Showmanship Contest. During the showmanship contest, exhibitors are evaluated on their knowledge of, and ability to communicate about, their bird and how to properly care for it, as well as their ability to properly present the bird to the judge. Exhibitors competed in one of four age divisions – Cloverbud (5-7), Junior (8-10), Intermediate (11-13), or Senior (14-18).

Poultry Showmanship Winners

Junior Division

1^st = Aubrey Mauldin

2^nd = Collin Odom

3^rd = Saylor Woods

Intermediate Division

1^st = Cade Crawford

2^nd = Mya Speights

3^rd = Jackson Scurlock

Senior Division

1^st = Abigail Brown

2^nd = Emma Weeks

3^rd = Lynn McNamee

The Cloverbud division is not scored/ranked.

Large animals (steers, heifers, and market hogs) arrived at the Youth Fair on Friday morning. Twenty-eight 4-H and FFA members exhibited 60 large animal projects (6 steers, 11 pigs, and 43 heifers). The Showmanship Contests for beef and swine exhibitors was held Friday, March 1^st at 6pm. During the Showmanship contests the exhibitors were evaluated on their ability to effectively “show” or present their animal to the judge.

Beef Showmanship Winners

Junior Division

1^st = Maddox Grantham

2^nd = Makayla O’Steen

3^rd = Saylor Woods

Intermediate Division

1^st = Cason Hayford

2^nd = Levi Franklin

3^rd = Landon O’Steen

Senior Division (pic SBS)

1^st = McKenzie Locke

2^nd = Maddie Peel

3^rd = Abigail Dickerson

Swine Showmanship Winners

Junior Division

1^st = Ella Fisher

2^nd = Maddox Grantham

Intermediate Division

1^st = Beau Fisher

Senior Division

1^st = Kaira Owens

2^nd = Kaiya Owens

3^rd = Aya Whitehead

The livestock show was Saturday, March 2^nd at 9am. During the livestock show the judge evaluated and ranked the animals on their merit relative to the standards of the class. At the WCYF, all swine and steers are judged as finished market animals, presumably ready to go to slaughter. Heifers are judged as breeding stock – on their ability to be long-lived, productive cows. Each category of livestock was broken into classes; swine and steer classes were determined by animal weight and heifer classes were determined by age. The judge picked a winner for each class, then from the class winners a Grand and Reserve Champion was selected.

New this year, a Homegrown Champion was also selected from each category of livestock. To be eligible for the Homegrown category the exhibitor or immediate family must have owned the animal’s mother when she became pregnant with the animal being shown.

Grand Champion Swine

Exhibited by Kaiya Owens

Reserve Champion Swine

Exhibited by Kaira Owens

Homegrown Champion Swine

Exhibited by Ella Fisher

Grand Champion Steer

Exhibited by Will Barber

Reserve Champion Steer

Exhibited by Brantlee Pate

Homegrown Champion Steer

Exhibited by Beau Fisher

Grand Champion Heifer

Exhibited by Sarah Jane Riley

Reserve Champion Heifer

Exhibited by Maddox Grantham

Homegrown Champion Heifer

Exhibited by Cason Hayford

Washington County Youth Fair exhibitors had the option to sell their livestock project animals to the public via the Youth Fair Auction. The auction was held Saturday evening at 6pm. Only 10 animals were sold through the auction this year (3 steers and 7 hogs). A sincere thank you to each and every bidder that took the time to attend the sale. Your willingness to purchase market animals helps to ensure that exhibitors have a positive experience and are in a position to continue or expand their livestock projects in the future. Those listed below bought an animal in the auction.

Alan Cushman

ARC Underground Inc.

Brandon & Jennifer Tompkins

David Davis

J.A.B.E. Cattle Co.

John Hawkins Tel-Com Inc.

Misty Carter

RNS Construction Services Inc.

Southern Cattle Farms

Tall Pines Beef

Since a relatively small percentage of the project animals are sold through the auction, another important way the community provides financial support to the exhibitors is through the donation of add-on money. These donations are paid to exhibitors, as specified by the donor, as “add-ons” to their premium and/or sale check. Thank you to all those who generously donated add-on money to the exhibitors. Add-on donors are listed below. Note: Add-ons made to individual exhibitors are not listed here.

Chipley Jackpot Swine & Cattle Showcase

Washington County Cattlemen’s Assn

Farm & Pet Veterinary Clinic

Panhandle Watermelon Festival

Main Street Market

Thomas Register

Joseph Taylor, Superintendent

Sherriff Kevin Crews

David H. Melvin Inc.

Deidra Pettis

Washington County Farm Bureau

While the support of the exhibitors, described above, is of paramount importance it would not be possible for the Washington County Youth Fair to happen without additional community support. This year, in addition to hiring a judge and other costs related to making the fair happen, the WCYF will give out over $5,000 in cash premiums and awards to the exhibitors. None of this would be possible without sponsorships from the community. Thank you very much to all those whose donations make the fair possible. 2024 WCYF sponsors are listed below.

Orange Hill Soil and Water Conservation District

Washington County Farm Bureau

Farm & Pet Veterinary Clinic

ARC Underground Inc.

JAF Cattle

RNS Construction Services Inc.

CJS Group, Inc.

Trawick Construction Company

West FL Electric Cooperative

Sherriff Kevin Crews

Westville Meats

Alan Cushman

David H. Melvin Inc.

Chipley Pawn & Gun, Inc.

Community South Credit Union

Deidra Pettis

People South Bank

Joseph Taylor, Superintendent

Jeremy Rolling

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all who supported the Fair.

Mark your calendars – the WCYF 2025 will be February 27 – March 1, 2025. If you would like to know more about how you can be involved with the Washington County Youth Fair contact Mark Mauldin at the UF/IFAS Washington County Extension Office, 850-638-6180.