LONDON, Ohio – As county fairs across Ohio open their doors after a year of COVID-19 shutdown, one county fair in the state in not only looking for higher attendance but increasing participation as well.

As a way to get youth involvement and increase enrollment in 4-H, Madison County Ag Society president Paul Gross created the fair’s first-ever “Livestock 101.” Any youth 17 and under who has never handled or shown livestock at a fair can get this golden opportunity. The thrust of Livestock 101 is to provide new opportunities for young people to get involved with showing livestock and offer leadership opportunities for those with experience in the show ring.

“You don’t have to live on a farm, nor do you have to be in 4-H or FFA to participate,” Gross said. “Even if you’ve never handled livestock, this is for you. The ultimate goal of this is to get more kids involved in 4-H.”

Participation is free for those 17 and under to exhibit a livestock project. Each participant may select the species/project of their choice. Madison County youth exhibitors representing each species area will serve as coaches, interact with participants and provide guidance before and during the show.

“All of our junior show activities will have already taken place,” Gross said. “This will be a separate show and not part of the junior show. Each species will have its own show and its own judge.”

Gross’ concept didn’t come by accident. Several years ago when Gross was managing an assisted living facility a 90-year-old resident there spoke about the goats she once had.

“Not many enjoy being a resident in an assisted living facility, and this woman was not happy,” Gross said. “I wanted to find out what her interests were so I asked her what she was good at. She said ‘I’m really good at clipping goats’. That opened up the conversation line, for sure. She bragged on and on about how she showed goats at many local and state fairs, earning the champion status with her goats at 27 state fairs across the United States.”

Gross was anxious to learn more.

“Back in Union County (Ohio) in the 1950s the local goat association said any kid who wanted to show a goat at the fair can have one for free,” the woman told Gross. “I was a city kid, but that didn’t stop me, so I jumped at this chance. Me and my sister went down and picked up a goat and began showing goats ever since. That’s just what I did.”

That conversation led to Gross’ creation of “Livestock 101.”

“It dawned on me that this would be a great concept of getting kids involved,” Gross said. “Maybe not like they did in the ‘50s, but with the same spirit,” Gross said.

Other fair board members loved the idea, as did 4-H members in the county.

“There are so many kids who live in a trailer park or live in the heart of the city, who don’t have such an opportunity to work with animals,” Gross said. “I’ve had kids keep their animals at my farm since they don’t have a place to raise them.”

So before schools in the county let out for the summer, Gross and his associates created leaflets with this announcement and put them in each of the elementary schools, targeting third and fourth grade students.

“This should be one incredible experience for these children,” Gross said. “We’ll have roughly 200 kids participate and we’ll pair them with 4-H or FFA students who are showing at the fair. Those 4-H and FFA members mentor the novice individual and teach them how to show. They will actually go in and show that alpaca, horse, steer, pig, goat, lamb, poultry or rabbit. I didn’t think of offering a show class for dogs, but I’ve had a half dozen requests for that. We’ll have that for next year’s Livestock 101. We’ll have ribbons, trophies, T-shirts and prizes. And, they don’t have to be a resident of Madison County.”

The fair runs from July 10-17. The Livestock 101 event will be July 16.

“What I love about FFA is the student leadership, and the thing about 4-H and this project is the members are proud of their work and get to introduce their trade to another kid,” Gross said. “Here we have an opportunity to make it a better experience as well for our current 4-H’ers with this. Hopefully we can introduce new kids to the program who will show at the fair with their own projects in years to come.”

Signups for this event go right up until the show. For more information or to register for Livestock 101, visit www.madisoncountyfairoh.com/livestock-101.