Aaron Fisher, Youth Livestock and Equine Specialist

A very successful Knoxville Spring Junior Cattle Expo was held at the Tennessee Valley Fairgrounds on April 26-27, 2019. The show featured 69 youth exhibitors from 18 counties. This included 17 market steers, 31 commercial heifers and 77 registered heifers. In addition to the individual hog classes, youth competed in showmanship (60 youth) and skillathon (53 youth). The judge for the show was Breck Debnam, Farm Manager for Innisfail Farm in Madison, Georgia.

Award and general sponsors are included below:

• David Thomas
• East Tennessee Polled Hereford Association
• Food City
• Knox County Farmers Coop
• Knoxville Chamber
• Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association
• Tennessee Farmers Cooperative
• UT Animal Science
• UT Block and Bridle Club

Complete show results can be found on the Animal Exhibitions website.

The Grand Champion Market Steer was exhibited by Chelsey Harvey from Claiborne County, while the Reserve Grand Champion Market Steer was exhibited by Kendell Latham from McMinn County.

McMinn County won the Outstanding County Group of Steers with Gage Latham, Kendell Latham and Kylie Cornelius.

The Grand Champion Commercial Heifer was exhibited by Kabry Tinin from Lawrence County, while the Reserve Grand Champion Commercial Heifer was exhibited by Blake Walker from Bledsoe County. The Farm Bred Division is designed to recognize youth exhibitors and their families that breed and raise quality animals on their home farm. The Grand Champion Farm Bred Commercial Heifer was exhibited by Caroline Garrell from Marshall County, while the Reserve Grand Champion Commercial Heifer was exhibited by Grace Wiggins from Monroe County.

Breed classes were offered for any breed that had 10 registered heifers from at least 3 different youth exhibitors. The Bred By Exhibitor Division is designed to recognize youth exhibitors that breed and raise quality animals themselves. Winners from the Registered Heifer classes are listed below.

McMinn County won the Outstanding County Group of Heifers with Samantha Roberts,
Gage Latham, Clay Pitcock and Abigail Henry.

The Crosby Murray Award is presented to a county based on number and quality of animals exhibited and number of youth exhibitors. This year’s winning county is Monroe County.

Premier Exhibitor Winners

The purpose of the Premier Exhibitor Program is to provide 4-H and FFA members the opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge that they learn through participating in the junior livestock projects. Premier Exhibitor winners are a result of adding the points earned in the animal show, showmanship and skillathon. Below are the top 5 winners in each division.