LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KERO) — The Summer Showdown is a practice show that allows Kern Valley High School Students to practice showing the animals they have spent months raising.
- The Kern County Junior Livestock show takes place Sep 26-28. You can register to become a buyer here, and can buy the animals for their meat or become an add-on buyer, with that money going straight toward the student to help reimburse the costs of raising the animal.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Early on Sunday morning Kern Valley FFA students were busy at the barn on campus preparing to show their animals for the Summer Showdown.
“I saw her and her and I was like, that’s Cardi B right there.”
FFA member Danika Damico is talking about her dairy heifer.
“I’m really close with her, she’s like my best friend,” Damico said.
She was one of the students that participated in the show, which helps the kids prepare for the Junior Livestock Auction at the Kern County Fair - and she’s no stranger to these shows.
“I’ve shown two dairy heifers, five or six lambs, one rabbit, two pigs,” Damico said, “I get to learn a bunch of new stuff with every animal.”
The Summer Showdown give a chance for the students to practice showing their animals, and receive feedback from judges.
“It’s a way to just kind of get some nerves out, a way to get them in front of a different judge, a different adviser,” said Maghan Miller.
Maghan Miller is the Department Chair for Agricultural Studies at Kern Valley High School and said through raising and showing these animals –
“They are going to learn so much that they can't get anywhere else.”
Senior Christine Levack has been raising and caring for her dairy heifer Periwinkle since she got her on June 15.
“I’ve been working hard pretty much non-stop since,” said Levack, “You have to spray them to keep their hide healthy and it’s a lot of work.”
However, despite the hard work three students put into their dairy heifers this year –
“Everyday I work her morning and night,” Damico said -
The dairy heifer show at the Kern County Fair was canceled this year after a rise of avian flu cases in dairy cattle.
“I was really sad, especially this year I put way more work into my heifer, I was really excited,” Damico said.
“I’m a senior so it was my last show with my heifer,” Levack said.
But the Summer Showdown allowed them to show their dairy heifers in front of a judge, and students who did the best received handmade awards, with Damico taking home the top award for dairy heifers.
“I was happy when I won,” Damico
And although there won’t be an in-person show, there will be a virtual one - and Damico says it’s not only about the show.
“It’s still about the experience of having her all summer,” Damico said.
“It’s definitely worth it,” Levack
And as a past champion, she knows the dedication it takes to raise these animals.
“It just doesn’t happen overnight, it's really something you have to spend everyday on,”said Damico
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