MERCEDES — Owen Surles gently stroked the belly of “Scout” as the judge slowly looked over the animals in the show ring.
After carefully inspecting the heifers and pointing out their qualities and areas for improvement, the judge delivered a first place ranking to Owen, 8, of Dilley, Texas.
“It was fun, exciting,” said Owen with a broad smile on his face.
It was day three of the 2022 Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo, and young ag kids in their smart jeans and exuberant eyes were primed and ready with their animals. The brisk chill wind charged the air with an electric excitement as kids blow dried their projects for the scrutiny of high standards.
The kids had spent long hours of many days and weeks and months preparing for the livestock show and they looked forward to the event.
Jacqueline Rodriguez and her sister Jazmin were eager to show their lambs today.
“We’ve been preparing them and bracing them to get them used to being in the show,” said Jacqueline, 18, a senior at Pharr-San Juan-Alamo High School.
She and Jazmin, 17, were both showing Dorper lambs for “Mi Ranchito Dorpers”, a local breeder, as was their friend Noah Cavazos, 16, a junior at PSJA.
“We’ve just been bracing her and walking her,” Noah said. “I’ve been showing since sixth grade. This one is a little bit more calm. She walks well.”
Jacqueline said she and Jazmine have been walking their lambs every day. Jazmin herself spoke about the many months she’s spent with her lamb.
“I have been working with her since November, and she’s really good,” she said. “I have been getting her used to me showing her.”
Owen had spent many months working with his animal, too, every day after school.
“Every day I check on her, pick up her poop, feed her,” said Owen, a fourth grader at Dilley Elementary School.
As it is for many, the livestock show is a family matter. Owen’s sister Lynnle, 12, had just won first and second place for her two heifers in their respective classes.
“I feel pretty excited, and I was a little surprised,” said Lynnle, a seventh grader at Mary Harper Middle School in Dilley.
She also has a specific daily regimen with her animals which she enjoys very much. Not only is it a family activity and project that’s important to her, it’s also a social occasion, a sentiment echoed by many kids.
“I like hanging with my friends and working with my animal,” she said.
Projects at the livestock show include more than animals. They also come in the form of photography, horticulture, crafts and endeavors from shop classes.
Keven Fuentes of La Feria spent months building a “whole hog cooker” for a specific restaurant in the Mid-Valley. The name of it says it all: it is indeed meant to cook an entire hog.
“It’s made of a quarter inch plate for the box,” said Keven, 17, a junior at La Feria High School.
The bright red piece set on a trailer was quite an eye catcher among all the black barbecue pits with emblems of A&M, white-tailed deer and other popular images.
His project bore four smokestacks and two small side doors for wood, plus the huge one at the top which could only be opened with a winch to place the entire hog inside.
While it was all a hard task, placing the box on the trailer was the most difficult.
“It’s insanely heavy,” he said. “The tractor, we pulled it up, and we had to push it and move it around and when we finally got it settled, we welded it on and hoped that it stayed.”
He especially enjoyed installing the top door.
“The door’s a very fun part, the framing of it, putting the frame on top of the box to hold the door up, and the hinge to pick up the door,” he said. “That had to be the funniest thing ever.”
The livestock show continues this week with more shows, more judges, and more winners.
To see more of the 2022 Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, view Brownsville Herald photojournalist Denise Cathey’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: 2022 Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show and Rodeo
