BRANCH COUNTY – For the second year, a special group of students and mentors entered the show ring at the Branch County Fair Saturday morning to experience the excitement of livestock showing.
Twenty-two mentors from the Branch Area Career Center’s 4-H and Future Farmers of America program have teamed up with five apprentices, special needs students from local schools. “This gives them the opportunity to show five different species that they can exhibit,” said program coordinator Dana Albright.
Albright said the Grandest Drive program strengthens the networking of the ranching community by providing a shared learning experience around the care and presentation of ranching projects.
The students come to the Career Information Center in July and decide which animals should be shown.
Albright said, “We provide them with a mentor who can teach them how to do this.”
The students and mentors meet to practice before the Saturday show at the fair.
Albright said, “It’s unbelievable.”
Of the 4-H and FFA students, Albright said, “They get to know other people in the community and develop understanding and relationships with each other.”
The program is not unique. Albright and her co-coordinator Donna Hines said there are Grandest Drive programs at state fairs in Ohio and Iowa.
Albright’s sister-in-law founded one in Henry County, Ohio.
Kyra Wattle, a Quincy High School graduate, has shown calves and pigs at previous fairs. She mentored a student who showed a first calf. “It’s not just about teaching and getting to know others, but also learning new things about yourself that you may not have known before.”
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The students also showed rabbits, sheep, goats and pigs.
Professional judges provided commentary during each species show.
— Contact Don Reid: [email protected]
