Elementary and high school students traveled to Littlefield on the 6th and 7th of January to show their animals in the Lamb County Livestock Show. Among those students were 3rd grader Levi Mahler, 5th graders Myla Mosqueda and Bridget Marez, 6th graders Bryleigh Hall and Easton Bradley, 8th graders Riley Ball and Ethan Mosqueda, freshmen Hannah Alvarez, Reiner Goe, and Khloe Marez, sophomores Kenzi Henson, Grace Henson, Alix Campos, and Braileigh Goe, and junior Taytum Goodman. Mahler, M. Mosqueda, Hall, Alvarez, R. Goe, K. Marez, K. Henson, G. Henson, B. Goe, and Goodman all placed top of their classes, with R. Goe receiving Reserve Goat, B. Goe receiving Champion Cross and Reserve Division Goat, and Goodman taking Champion Fine Wool and Lamb Showmanship.

Competitors were a little nervous heading into the show; however, they are all proud of their performance and how their animal placed.

“I got second and third, and I felt real good,” Mahler said. “I love sheep.”

Mahler enjoyed getting to show his favorite lamb, who he named Emma, and he did better than he had previously thought.

“Last time I showed her, I thought she was going to do bad because she never got showed. I was the first one to show her,” Mahler said. “I thought it was going to be bad, but it was good.”

M. Mosqueda had also thought she would not perform very well because it was also her first time to show some of her animals.

“It was my first time showing a lamb and my pig,” M. Mosqueda said.

To her surprise, however, she fell top of her class with her animals, and she enjoyed the ease that came with showing her goat, Lady, lamb, Sadie, and pig, Kristoff.

“My lamb just stood there. She doesn’t really hurt you. With my goat, I did have a lot of marks from her. My pig, he was easy, too. I talk to him like Christoph talks to Sven [from Frozen].”

Unlike some of the younger individual showers, Goodman was excited to return to the ring for another year and add more accomplishments to her previous wins.

“The show was a good one to start off the year, especially with winning a belt buckle,” Goodman said.

Parent Kayla Goe was also very thrilled to see how Reiner and Braileigh did at the county show.

“I feel like Braileigh and Reiner did exceptionally well, and they excelled in showmanship. Their hard work and time spent with their animals was on full display, and I was very excited over the outcome,” K. Goe said. “They both work extremely hard throughout the year, including the summer, to be able to showcase their animals to their fullest potential.”

Going into upcoming shows, the competitors are extremely excited.

“My next shows will be local, and then, the majors start,” Goodman said. “I am really excited for the majors.”

For the parents, they wish the best for all of the Springlake-Earth showers in their upcoming events and hope they all learned something to help them improve in the future.

“I hope that all of the exhibitors were able to watch and learn from not only their own classmates,” K. Goe said, “but from all of the students at the show regardless of the school they may attend.”