The 2014 annual 4-H and FFA St. Tammany Parish Junior Livestock Show and Sale was held January 17 and 18 at the Parish Fairgrounds in Covington. Hundreds of students, parents, and community leaders took part. The Farm Bureau Awards Dinner was held Saturday night, followed by the sale of the animals.
To view a larger, higher resolution version of the photo, click on the image below.
Among those attending the event were, from left, Mayor Mike Cooper of Covington,
Superintendent W. L. "Trey" Folse III of the St. Tammany Parish Public School System, St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, Dennis Glass with the Fair Association,
Patty Folse and Lawrence "Cotton" Jourdan.
Superintendent W. L. "Trey" Folse III of the St. Tammany Parish Public School System, St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister, Dennis Glass with the Fair Association,
Patty Folse and Lawrence "Cotton" Jourdan.
School Board Member Stephen "Jack" Loup III and his wife Shelia were in attendance.
Other participants included Parish Council Members Dennis Sharp, Richard Tanner,
Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Mike Strain and Fred Bass, president of the St. Tammany Farm Bureau .
Mayor Cooper found a picture on display of his dad, former Mayor
Ernest Cooper, at an earlier youth livestock show.
Ernest Cooper, at an earlier youth livestock show.
Dinner was served.
Twenty years earlier, in 1994, these were the livestock show winners at the parish fair:
Although annual livestock shows and sales (and junior livestock shows and sales for the younger folks) are well-known in the rural areas, the city folks don't always realize the importance of them. Livestock shows help encourage young people to get involved in the field of food production: beef, hogs, etc. The events provide a fun and competitive way to hone their skills, develop their talents in breeding, raising and bringing livestock to market, all key parts of keeping the rest of us fed. The sale part of the event helps introduce them to the business end of the process. Community business leaders often join in at that point to help bid for the animals at good prices so the young ranchers can afford to go to college and get degrees in Agri-business. Making a living in Agri-business takes just as much knowledge of profit/loss statements as any other business, and is often much less predictable in the area of expenses vs. revenues. Livestock shows and sales have been going on for hundreds and hundreds of years.
