Last Updated on September 18, 2022, 6:51 PM | Published: September 18, 2022
OKLAHOMA CITY (Free Press) — Colton Stevens has a heavy schedule each school day of this 8th-grade year in Guthrie Public Schools. He has livestock projects for his Agricultural Education classes, carries a regular academic schedule like any other students, and plays football.
He’s also an active member of the local chapter of the Future Farmers of America or FFA which is the organization that ties in with school Ag-Ed classes.
I caught up with him coming out of one of the livestock show arenas at the Oklahoma State Fair acompanied by his family including two proud little sisters after showing his lamb and winning big.
He had just won the Reserve Breed Champion ribbon for his White-face Cross lamb in the Junior Market Wether Lambs division.
What’s a typical school day like for him?
- Feed the livestock before school
- Go to classes at school
- Football practice and extracurriculars after school
- Walk his lamb and put him on the treadmill after that
- Feed the lambs
- Eat dinner
- Go to bed
One of his three Ag-Ed teachers in Guthrie Schools, Savahanna Rennick, walked up and visited for just a few minutes until it was time to rush on to helping other students also showing at the State Fair.
She said that in all, Guthrie’s program is big. Any given year they have somewhere around 275 Ag-Ed students. And, it takes three dedicated Ag-Ed teachers to keep up with the interests of the students in the district.
Baby pigs!
Katie Cash talked with me for a few minutes and retrieved a white/pink baby pig from the crate that the litter was in with their mother.
She is a sophamore at Oklahoma State University, the flagship agricultural research university in the state.
“My degree is Animal Science with a pre-vet concentration,” she told me.
She was at the fair to interact with the many curious people who come into the Oklahoma Expo Hall where 4-H Club members show the results of the many projects in the organization that encompasses but expands beyond livestock work.
Woodworking, sewing, baking, gardening, and other projects are included along with agricultural projects that are counterparts to those in FFA like small grains, legumes, hay, and other crops.
Cash said that she was in 4-H Club in high school and is pressing on to conquer the science-heavy agriculture degree that will give her a shot at veteranary school.
People in the building were fascinated with seeing mother pigs nursing their babies and some about to have babies right there at the fair.
Here is a gallery of some of the sights at the various youth livestock competitions on Saturday. Note: The individual with the cowboy hat and looking intently at beef entries was the judge for those divisions on Saturday. He is carrying a mic in order to give reasons for his choice of ranking among the entries, a long – valued tradition in livestock shows for transparency and to help the youth showing to understand why their entry was either the best or not quite the best.
(For a high-resolution version of this gallery click any photo.)
Founder, publisher, and editor of Oklahoma City Free Press. Brett continues to contribute reports and photography to this site as he runs the business.
