Showmanship tested in 4-H round robin

With the judging for individual animal and showmanship competitions complete, a select group of 4-H members competed in the round robin event on Saturday. The event includes the top showmanship winners for each species trying their best at showing other animals.

First up Saturday afternoon was the small animal competition, in which junior and senior 4-H members showed a cat, chicken, rabbit, dog and goat. Judges had the competitors lead the animals, identify parts of the animal and answer various questions. 4-Hers started with the animal for which they won the showmanship award, then rotated to other species.

In the junior small animal division, Cooper Spurr started with her cat, Kendall Spurr with the chicken, Leah Stover with her dog and Katherine Wrobleski with her rabbit. Bella Buchanan, a senior 4-H member, offered her goat Daisy for the junior competition. Kendall Spurr got the most combined points in the competition, winning grand champion, and Cooper was the reserve champion.

The senior small animal competition featured Claire Wrobleski and her chicken, Buchanan and her goat, and Hannah Warnes in the dog species. There were no competitors who won cat or rabbit showmanship. Wrobleski won grand champion and proved the best at all species, and Warnes, a first-year 4-H member, was reserve champion.

The seniors went first in the large animal competition, with Hannah Warnes starting at sheep, Hailey Roofener at horse, Mikiah Cook at swine and Kara Christensen at beef. Christensen won the grand champion award and there was a tie for second between Warnes and Cook. To determine the reserve, judges looked at who scored highest on the species for which they won the showmanship award, and Cook was determined the round robin reserve champion.

The final competitors were the junior large animal showmanship winners: Gavin Hafner at beef, Kyla Warnes at horse, Kassidy Dana at pig and Ayla Rehbein at sheep. Dana won grand champion and Rehbein was awarded reserve in the round robin. Dana said the horse was the hardest to show. "It was fun, but the pig was the hardest," Hafner said.