HOUSTON  ---  Three o’clock in the morning seems like a highly unlikely time for freshman and sophomore college students to arise from a deep, much-needed sleep to dress and head for the show barn.  But when your four Angus heifers have an 8 a.m. show-ring date with the cattle judge at the Houston Livestock Show during its 75th anniversary, you hit the ground running.  Food can wait and there’s no time to lose sipping coffee.  Washing, fitting, and grooming of the animals come first. 

That’s the situation which confronted the six-person Kilgore College Livestock Show Team as they prepared the college’s four Angus female entries for the open show here recently.

When all the dust had settled early that afternoon, this four-woman, two-man team had bested 24 Angus breeders from six states and three universities to be named the Angus Herdsman Award for the 2007 Houston Livestock Show.  In the process, they showed the Reserve Division Champion Angus Senior Female and her two-week-old calf.

The group’s combined work ethic and team coordination made their sponsor Bob Young feel very good about his young team.  “I couldn’t be more proud of the way these students worked together and the efforts they put forth,” said Young, agriculture teacher and manager of the College’s 450-acre farm near Overton.  Ironically, Young is an alumnus of Sam Houston State University, the school Kilgore College had to beat to capture top herdsman ship honors. It was the first time for Kilgore College to outpoint the four-year school in this category.

Show team captain Clayton Hicks, a freshman from Carthage, likewise was pleased with the team’s overall performance.  “I think we did well in keeping our focus and presenting the animals as best we could to the show judge,” said Hicks.  “This show represents a lot of long hours and hard work, but it is an excellent experience that each of us can build on. All of us were extremely tired, but realized we could go to bed early that evening after supper…..and we did.”

Members of the Kilgore College team in addition to Hicks include:  Dayla Ragsdale, Sulphur Bluff, sophomore; Ricky Martin, Carlisle, sophomore; Lucy Smith, Henderson, sophomore; Kendall Koch, Henderson, freshman; and Jennifer Hill, Rusk, freshman.

Good Herdsman encompasses keeping the exhibitor’s area walkways swept clean and tidy at all times, maintaining the animal area free from manure and foreign material, brushing the animals frequently to remove shavings or straw as they stand, and keeping the promotional booth space clean, organized, and uncluttered .  The judges prefer to see exhibitors constructively busy around their exhibit area at all times as good working representatives of their ranch or institution.  Stock show visitors tend to form lasting impressions of the exhibitor’s area, depending on how well it is kept.

Young said prospective students might key in www.KilgoreCollegeAgFarm.org  to view the Kilgore College agriculture program  in detail.  Kilgore College is the current Texas Junior College Agriculture Association “Chapter of the Year,” a distinction the school has attained for 12 of the past 15 years.

(Article published locally and provided by writer, Ralph Ward Jr.)