Middle and high school students from across the North Georgia region gathered Saturday morning for a moo-mentous cattle battle at the Lumpkin County High School agriculture barn during the annual “Heifers in the Hills” event.
The booming baritone voice of announcer George Van Voorhis greeted citizens as they arrived for the show.
“We want to thank all the participants here today, and also their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who have helped them along the way,” Van Voorhis began.
He invited the audience to buy raffle tickets for a whole hog, processed, or to check out the concession stand for tasty treats like biscuits, grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Special “Heifers in the Hills” T-shirts commemorating the occasion were also made available for purchase.
After initial announcements, Van Voorhis introduced the visiting judge for the day’s competitions.
“Our judge today is Mr. Breck Debnam, from Madison, Georgia. He’s judged collegiately at Black Hawk East and Western Illinois University. He currently manages Innisfail Farm,” he said.
After a word of prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, Van Voorhis thanked the many school officials in attendance including Lumpkin County Schools Superintendent Sharon Head, Chief Operating Officer Greg Trammell, Associate Superintendent Kerri Whitmire and College & Career Academy Director Cindy Hunsinger. He also recognized administrators from the high school and the middle school, and the local Board of Education.
THE GREATEST SHOW
This year’s competition kicked off with an exhibitor showmanship contest that was broken down by grade, as well as an open showmanship class that paired interested observers of all ages with a registered exhibitor.
Showmanship contests are less about the specific animal being shown, and more about the ability of student exhibitors to effectively display them for the judging official.
The showmanship portion was immediately followed by an extensive breed show.
Registered heifers were judged according to their pure breed of Angus, Fleckvieh, High Percent Simmental, Shorthorn, Shorthorn Plus, or one of two “All Other Breeds” [AOB] divisions consisting of British breeds and exotic breeds.
A commercial breed competition, broken down by weight class, rounded out the all-day gathering.
Several Lumpkin County students earned honors at this year’s event, including Mackenzie Wigington, who took home first place in sixth grade showmanship.
In the registered heifers competition, Levi Moss was named Reserve Champion in the Angus category, while Sam Bogue was selected as Reserve Champion for the Fleckvieh breed.
SOUND JUDGEMENT
Debnam, who brought over 10 years of judging experience to the Saturday show, was calm and collected as he paced around the ring evaluating student showmanship.
After directing each exhibitor on where to lead their cattle, Debnam would instruct them to line up in a row and would briefly visit with each of them individually, introducing himself and asking questions to test the students’ knowledge of different breeds and how to care for them.
At the end of the process, he would pull a cordless microphone from the back pocket of his jeans and provide some insightful commentary for the audience before announcing the winners.
Debnam was careful to build up each student with some well-considered praise, while also acknowledging areas of potential improvement.
During the sixth grade showmanship competition, Wigington found herself squaring off against both Madelyn Tallant of the Dawson County FFA and Jesse McElhaney of Walker County 4-H.
“The cows are definitely different in terms of being team players and how they’re working with these young people out here this morning,” Debnam commented before announcing his ranking of the sixth graders.
“The young lady with the white heifer to my far right is going to win the class,” he said, gesturing towards Wigington and her cow, Angel.
Debnam said he spoke briefly with all three contestants “about some things maybe we could work on up here in the future in terms of getting these cattle set up just a shot better out here.”
As the event wore on, Debnam said speaking to all of the student competitors had sparked a feeling of optimism about the next generation of cattle breeders.
“It’s really exciting to listen to how passionate they are about … making this next generation a shot better than the one that’s on the end of the halter today,” Debnam commented.