FFA members spent a lot of time getting their animals ready for the annual McNeil show in hopes that their hard work and dedication will pay off at major shows and get their animal into the auction.

“The McNeil show was great,” senior Zach Drozd said. “People had a chance to work on their showmanship and work with their animals.”

What is unique about the McNeil show is that it is primarily judged on showmanship, a term defined as the ability to show an animal properly. Students in each animal group are asked a series of questions that are related to their animal. Questions, such as where your animal originated from? How much protein is in your specific bag of feed? Or just simple questions like how much does your goat weigh? To become grand champion showman students must know the answer to all the questions asked.

Another important factor that comes into play when getting grand champion is the time and dedication a student puts into working with the animal. A judge can tell by just feeling how much muscle and fat an animal has on it, as well as how easily the animal listens to commands while walking around the arena.

“Mostly every day I practice setting my goats up, walking them around to build up the right structure the judge wants to see,” junior Jana Kiefer said.

Whether a student is successful with his or her animal also depends on how much the student  knows about raising the animal.

“To prepare, I walked my pig every day to make sure he knew what he was doing,” senior Reagan Vanzura said. “I practiced showing my pig with Mr. Vinklarek as much as I could to make sure I knew what I was doing.”

Only the top two from each animal group get named champion and reserve showman. Results from this year’s show were: Vanzura, champion pig showman; senior Mikala Bonner, reserve pig showman; junior Jenny Bean, champion lamb showman; junior Zach Eason, reserve lamb showman; junior Jana Kiefer, champion goat showman; junior Emily Kaderka, reserve goat showman; Zach Drozd, champion steer showman; Jenny Bean, champion steer showman.

Now students will be focused on the major shows coming up, such as Travis County Youth Show in January and Star of Texas Fair and Rodeo in March.