Raising display animals is never too early for future farmers.
While it may appear premature to begin planning for the next county fair as soon as the current one concludes, many fairs do so.
The Villages High School Agriscience Academy’s steering project for the 2022 Sumter County Fair, on the other hand, began far earlier than advisor Scott Woythaler recalls.
So much so that his graduating senior class had already commenced the job that will be completed by the class of 2022.
Woythaler’s ambition is to lead an Agriscience Academy steer project to grand champion status in the fair’s steer exhibit, believing that the head start gives him and his students “a real good shot.”
The students have named their eight-month-old cream-colored purebred Charolais cow Moose.
The Charolais are named after the district of Charolles, France, where they originated. It is known for its muscling and size, according to the American International Charolais Association.
“We got him a week after this past fair, when he was six months old,” Woythaler said.
The Agriscience Academy’s students are raising a steer for the Sumter County Fair for the third year. The date for next year’s fair is March 4-12, 2022.
Seniors are also assisting students from The Villages Charter Middle School with their steer project, which entails raising a black Charolais cross for the Sumter County Fair.
Both steers are housed in an off-campus livestock lab on the property of Galaxy Whitetail Solutions, a whitetail deer breeding facility less than two miles from the high school.
Students are responsible for exercising Moose by walking him around a pen and bathing and blow drying him.
According to Woythaler, for a steering project to work, the animal must acquire at least two pounds each day to reach the fair’s minimum size criteria.
“We end up doing way more than that on average,” he said. “They have to be at least 1,000 pounds. He’s going to be well over that on the final weigh-in.”
Students develop professional and life skills through raising animals, which they can employ even if their future careers do not entail livestock — or even agriculture in general.
Sage Sunday, 17, said he grew up around cows but had never worked with them until the Agriscience Academy.
“It gives me more of an appreciation for what goes into them,” he said.
Sunday believes that the responsibilities and routine of caring for farm animals will help him achieve his dream of becoming a technician in the United States Navy.
Jayden Howard, 18, learned how to respect animals and what it takes to raise them while working with cattle.
“All around, you learn responsibility,” he said.
– Attributed Source, The Villages Daily Sun