Little American Royal gives students chance to learn how to handle livestock
multimedia project by Cathy Crowley, Aubrey Ellison and Jake Shipley
posted, Dec. 13
, 2011
The MU Block and Bridle club hosted its annual Little American Royal during the week of Oct. 3-8, 2011, at the Trowbridge Livestock Center on MU’s east campus. The event is designed to give students hands-on experience with livestock and to help them learn the responsibilities of caring for and showing the animals.
On Monday, Oct. 3, there was a mandatory informational meeting held to instruct the participants on their duties throughout the week and how to safely handle and care for their animals. Students selected an animal to care for throughout the next week and show during the event. The various animals included: beef heifers, dairy heifers, sheep, swine, dairy goats, and horses.
Exhibitors were assigned to an animal with one to two partners. When possible, exhibitors were paired so that there was one expert of the species with someone who was of novice or intermediate experience. The partners were responsible for working out a feeding schedule to ensure that the animal was fed and watered properly morning and night. They also were responsible for scheduling a time to meet with their species chair to clip and groom their animals properly.
On Saturday, Oct. 8, the time and work the exhibitors put into their projects finally paid off as they were able to show their animals in a showmanship competition. The winners of each species advanced to a round-robin where they were required to show each species against the other species champions. The winner of the round-robin was dubbed LAR Overall Grand Champion All Species.
