Grassland FFA members recently participated in the New Holland Farmers Fair.
To participate in the livestock shows, FFA members choose a livestock species to buy, raise, show, and then sell to market or to return back to a breeding herd. These students become entrepreneurs who take full ownership and responsibility for their animals and complete project books, including writing a project plan, journaling time spent with the animal, and writing detailed financial entries. At the New Holland Fair, the students compete for the title of overall Grand or Reserve Champion. Animals are judged alongside entries of other species by 4-H and FFA members.
Grassland FFA was represented at the swine show by Olivia Bramm, William Hartman, Madison Myers, Tate Myers, and Cheyenne Martin and in the goat show by Hosanna Hoover and Cheyenne Martin. Natalie Apgar and Timothy Martin showed sheep.
Participants experienced a variety of livestock successes. Tate Myers' pig was selected as the overall Grand Champion market swine, and Cheyenne Martin's pig was selected as the Reserve Champion pig. Hosanna Hoover showed the R.D. Herr Scholarship goat. The R.D. Herr Scholarship is presented to a Grassland FFA senior who plans to major in agriculture education or an animal science-related field at the postsecondary level and who has shown livestock through the FFA. Dr. Robert Herr, a retired Grassland FFA adviser and agriculture teacher, donates a Boer goat and buddy goat to a student who is chosen through an application process in the spring and assists in supervising the project until the livestock sale at the fair. The proceeds from the sale of the R.D. Herr Scholarship goat supply the fund, with a percentage also being given to the student who showed the goal.
FFA members helped tabulate, make announcements, take photographs, distribute awards, and set up and tear down pens. These helpers were Natalie Apgar, Robert Ford, Andrew Horst, Jack McCarty, Daniel Horning, Kara Martin, Allison Zimmerman, Kendell Moats, Hunter Weaver, Timothy Martin, Jan Martin, and the members of the Agriculture 1 classes.
On Friday of the New Holland Farmers Fair week, Grassland FFA alumni, FFA members' parents and guardians, and retired Grassland FFA advisers and agriculture teachers helped to set up and conduct the annual Safe Tractor Driving Event. This competition is based on the National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program, which is a project of Hazardous Occupations Safety Training in Agriculture (HOSTA). The event consists of a written exam, parts identification, backing up a wagon into a set space, and driving through an obstacle with a spreader attachment. This event is a qualifier for the Regional Safe Tractor Driving Event held at Manheim Fair the following week. The members competing are split into a senior and a junior class based on their age, seniors being age 16 and older and juniors being age 15 or younger. This year, the competitors in the senior division were Olivia Bramm, Madelynn Sasso, and Luke Shirk, and the junior division competitors were William Hartman, Timothy Martin, and Hunter Weaver. Due to partners that donated equipment, the members were able to practice operating the equipment and the attachments daily during and after school. Equipment donors included CNH Industrial, PowerPro Equipment, Pequea Machines, Deer Country Equipment, and the Eberly family. The regional qualifiers in the senior division were Madelynn Sasso, first place, and Luke Shirk, second place, and in the junior division were Hunter Weaver, first place, and Timothy Martin, second place.
Grassland FFA's participation in the New Holland Farmers Fair originally consisted of competition in the sheep, goat, and swine show and later included the Safe Tractor Driving Contest for high school students. These events have attracted many participants from the Grassland FFA program, which seeks to develop students who adhere to the FFA motto, "Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve."
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