The 78th Kansas Junior Livestock Show (KJLS) offered numerous learning opportunities and rewards for exhibitors. During the state’s largest youth livestock show, held September 24-27 in Wichita, 626 4-H and FF A members from 84 counties competed for auction premiums and scholarships by exhibiting 1,216 head of livestock. Major sponsors of the show are the Kansas Livestock Association, Kansas State University and the AgriBusiness Council of Wichita.
Seventeen-year-old Haley Lauer of Abilene led her I ;309 lb. Charolais entry to the title of grand champion steer. Cargill Meat Solutions paid $13,982 for Lauer’s steer during the Auction of Champions held at the event’s conclusion. The reserve grand champion steer, a 1,274 lb. crossbred shown by Cody Hrabe from Stockton, was purchased by Kansas Feeds of Dodge City, MicroBeef, Hartford Insurance, Westway, Elanco and Walco International for $7,823 . A total of 114 steers was exhibited at KJLS.
Cole Hanna of Wichita led the supreme champion heifer, selected from the AOB division. A Charolais shown by Grady Dickerson from Paradise was reserve supreme heifer of the 245-head show.
Champion cattle showman in the senior division was Hannah Talkington of Hays, with Jarrod Beam of Beloit earning reserve. Casey Craver of Gypsum was named the top junior cattle showman, with reserve honors presented to Jake Nikkel from McPherson.
Ten-year-old John Fritts of Emporia guided his 277 lb. Yorkshire to the grand champion KJLS market hog title. Kansas Farm Bureau paid $3,790 for Fritts’ entry during the premium sale. A 262 lb. crossbred owned by Kylie Holmes, Lebo, was the reserve grand champion hog of the 274-head show. S.O.W. Corporation of Wichita placed a final bid of $1,13 7 on Holmes’ hog.
Lane Mai of Russell was named champion senior hog showman, while Elizabeth Koch of Abilene took reserve. Caitlin Dreher of lola claimed the champion junior title, with Chisum Grund, Wallace, earning reserve. Boone Ott from Coffeyville exhibited the grand champion market lamb, a 143 lb. crossbred that brought $3,635 during the Auction of Champions. Southwestern Remodeling of Wichita was the buyer. The reserve grand champion market lamb, a 147 lb. crossbred worth $2,216 to S.O.W Corporation of Wichita, was shown by Taylor Stanley of Baldwin. A total of 219 lambs was shown at KJLS.
A Hampshire yearling owned by Holly Swearingen of Lawrence captured supreme champion registered breed ewe honors from a field of 39 head. The reserve supreme registered breed ewe, also a Hampshire, was owned by Allison Smith of Emporia. The grand champion commercial ewe, selected from 158 entries, was exhibited by Alyssa Heitschmidt from Garden City. Billy Slyter of Spring Hill owned the reserve grand commercial ewe. Lindsey Pease from Chetopa won the senior division of the sheep showmanship contest, while Kylie Naber of Osborne captured reserve senior honors. Jansyn Van Hom of Garfield claimed champion junior sheep showman honors for the second year in a row. Lindsay Francis of Yates Center was the reserve junior sheep showman. Nine-year KJLS veteran Lindsey Pease from Chetopa received grand champion honors with her meat goat. The champion goat, besting 166 others to claim the top prize, weighed 82 lbs. and was worth $1,204 to State Farm Insurance/Jim Maddox and Xtra Factor. Fifteen-year-old Hunter Haney from Johnson led the reserve, which
weighed 87 Ibs. S.O.W. Corporation of Wichita placed a final bid of$3,202 on Haney’s goat.
Champion goat showman in the senior division was Lindsey Pease of Chetopa. Myriah Jenssen from Gypsum was the reserve senior goat showman. Grant Simpson of Columbus earned top junior goat showmanship honors, with Kaylee Houston of Bartlett capturing reserve.
Prior to the Auction of Champions, KJLS presented $18,900 in scholarships to 11 exhibitors. Those receiving $2,500 awards were Kurtis Clawson of Satanta, Christopher Davis of Scott City and Lindsey Pease of Chetopa. Scholarships worth $2,000 were presented to Allyson Ottensmeier, Oskaloosa, and Kashly Schweer, Garden City. Greg Harris, Abilene, and_Brady Jensen, Courtland,_each re_ceiYe.eLa $1 .. 500 scholarship. Exhibitors earning $1,200 awards were Cody Jensen from Courtland and Katelyn Vincent from Fort Scott. Ethan Frantz of Hillsboro and Reed Gleason of Uniontown each received a $1,000 scholarship.
Teams from 11 states participated in the Mid America Classic Judging Contest held in conjunction with KJLS. The senior college contest was won by Oklahoma State University. Caleb Crosswhite with Texas Tech University was the top-scoring senior college individual. He was followed by K-State’s Jara Settles.
In the sophomore division, a team from Redlands Junior College placed first, with Austin Perry from Redlands finishing as the high-scoring individual. A team from Butler Community College topped the junior college freshman competition, with Brock Herren from Redlands ranking at the top of the freshman contest.
In addition to the three major sponsors, hundreds of volunteers help organize and put on the show.
Local winners were: Justyn Shafer, Ellinwood: 12th in class 9 - Crossbred Market Lamb, 5th in class 9 - Meat Goat, 9th in class 16 - Hampshire Market Lamb; Katie Shafer, Rozel: 10th in class 4 - Suffolk Market Lamb, 1st in class 5 - Meat Goat; 3rd in class 9-Crossbred Market Lamb, 5th in class 10 - Meat Goat; Mattie Shafer, Rozel, 2nd in class 18 - Hampshire Market Lamb, 3rd in class 6 - AOB Market Lamb, 4th in class 6 - Meat Goat, 6th in class 12 - Meat Goat; Athena VanderMeer, Great Bend, 11th in class 12 - Commercial Ewe Lamb, 11th in class 15 - Commercial Ewe Lamb, 5th in class 20 - Natural Market Lamb, 6th in class 11 - Yearling Commercial Ewe, 8th in class 19 - Natural Market Lamb; Austin VanderMeer, Great Bend:,11th in class 5 - Meat Goat