EATON — While the Market Carcass show has an intimidating name, the additional show was really brought to the Preble County Fair to give the beef species participants an additional show and a chance to win some money.
The show was held on Wednesday, Aug. 2, halfway through the week and after the beef kids have already had their other shows.
“It’s a show based on the functionality of cattle, like a fat steer and how it should look. Looking at cap on its hoof and how it’s going to hang in a packer, stuff like that,” chairman of the Beef Committee Brad Johnson said. “It’s just like a steer show, it’s just called carcass, because the judge is trying to look through the hair and the hide to see how much product is in the animal. There will be no butchering of cattle today.”
The show does function like a steer show. They hire a judge, who will pick through the eight different classes. He will select what he thinks is the best. At the end, all the first place animals from every class will come back to compete. He will pick an overall champion. Then the animal who won second in the overall champions class will be able to come out and compete with the first place animals for reserve champion. Then they will pick a top five overall.
Unlike a normal steer show, the kids have to sign up for this show — it’s completely optional. Every kid who does sign up gets money and a hat. AgriGold Seeds sponsors all the money with Terry and Dorenda Lohrey. Johnson added,”They were the ones who came to me and said they wanted to start it and they haven’t had a sponsor and AgriGold sAeeds got on board.”
“This show is completely separate from the Junior Fair,” Johnson said. “This is just a show for the kids to have something to do on Wednesday night of the fair. Our fair starts on Saturday, our beef kids show Sunday and Monday, and then they’re done. We decided to put this in middle to the end of the week so our beef kids can get their cows out of the pens one more time.
“It’s such an expensive project and they come out here for two days and play with them and be done,” he said. “It gives them a chance to get them out and play and it gives them a little money to spend on the midway. We even let the people with breeding heifers show in it.”
