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4-H and FFA members earn top honors in market animal competitions.

Mindy Ward, Editor, Missouri Ruralist

August 28, 2019

12 Slides

It was 11 days of sweat, sweat and more sweat. As temperatures reached into the upper 90s during the Missouri State Fair, 4-H and FFA members put the needs of their livestock before themselves.

Animals were kept cool before, during and after livestock shows. The competition was intense. By Aug. 17, 11 youth exhibitors earned top honors in their species, making them eligible to sell in the Missouri State Fair Sale of Champions. In all, the sale raised $156,300.

Click through the slideshow to see the winners and their sale prices.

About the Author(s)

Mindy Ward

Editor, Missouri Ruralist

Mindy resides on a small farm just outside of Holstein, Mo, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis.

After graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism, she worked briefly at a public relations firm in Kansas City. Her husband’s career led the couple north to Minnesota.

There, she reported on large-scale production of corn, soybeans, sugar beets, and dairy, as well as, biofuels for The Land. After 10 years, the couple returned to Missouri and she began covering agriculture in the Show-Me State.

“In all my 15 years of writing about agriculture, I have found some of the most progressive thinkers are farmers,” she says. “They are constantly searching for ways to do more with less, improve their land and leave their legacy to the next generation.”

Mindy and her husband, Stacy, together with their daughters, Elisa and Cassidy, operate Showtime Farms in southern Warren County. The family spends a great deal of time caring for and showing Dorset, Oxford and crossbred sheep.

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