By: Bobby Smith

The Tenth Annual Charles Bell Memorial Farm Bureau Commercial Dairy Heifer Show was held on Thursday, Feb. 4, at the Morgan County Ag Center. This year’s show featured 18 youth participants (11 from Morgan County 4-H and seven from the Morgan County High School FFA program). These youth exhibited 23 commercial dairy heifers. The exhibitors competed against one another in four showmanship classes and five weight classes.

Showmanship classes are classes in which the exhibitor is judged on his/her ability to prepare the animal to show, exhibit the dairy heifer to her best advantage in the show ring, and respond to questions asked by the judge. The first place exhibitors received a belt buckle with all exhibitors receiving ribbons and cash prizes sponsored by Morgan County Farm Bureau.

In Class 1, fourth and sixth grade Showmanship, the results were: first place, Ben Porter, Morgan 4-H; second place, Constance Johnson, Morgan 4-H; third place, James Cagle, Morgan 4-H.

In Class 2, seventh and eighth grade Showmanship: first place, Will Porter, Morgan 4-H; second place, Victoria Cagle; third place, Alex Stump, Morgan County 4-H; fourth place, Amber Dodd, Morgan 4-H; and fifth place, Allison Bell, Morgan 4-H.
In Class 3, ninth and 10th grade Showmanship: first place, Katelin Benkoski, Morgan 4-H; second place, Chelsea Bell, Morgan FFA; and third place, Chris Dodd, Morgan FFA.

In Class 4, 11th and 12th grade Showmanship: first place, Sarah Wibell, Morgan 4-H; second place, Meagan Wilson, Morgan 4-H; third place, Caleb Bell, Morgan FFA; fourth place, Brandon Towe, Morgan FFA; fifth place, Candace Mims, Morgan FFA; and sixth place, Justin Dodd, Morgan FFA.

In weight classes, the heifers themselves are judged, according to their respective form and conformation. The Weight Class winner in classes five through 10 belonged to: Brandon Towe, Constance Johnson, Sarah Wibell, Victoria Cagle and Will Porter, respectively. Each exhibitor who participated received a cash prize and ribbons with the class winners receiving a new show halter, sponsored by the Morgan County Farm Bureau and Pennington Seed, Inc.

The Grand Champion Heifer for the overall show was the Weight Class 10 winner, belonging to Will Porter. The Reserve Champion for the overall show was the Weight Class 7 winner, belonging to Sarah Wibell. The judge for the show was Malorie Rhoderick of Valdosta.

This annual show would not have been possible without the financial support of the Morgan County Farm Bureau and Morgan County Dairy Association. Special thanks are extended to Pennington Seed, Inc., and the Morgan County Farm Bureau and their board of directors for their loyal support of livestock programs for the youth of our county.