The Alabama Cattlemen’s Association is celebrating their youth who proudly represented their state at the National Youth Cattle Working Contest. Bailey Watson with the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association told us more.
“So last week our state winning team from Alabama, who was actually the first team to represent Alabama as this was our first year having the Youth Cattle Working Contest, went to Kentucky and Elizabethtown, Kentucky to compete in the National Youth Cattle Working Contest. This is the second year this contest has been held. Last year it was held in Georgia and this year it was held in Kentucky. So, our team competed against eight other states,” recounted Watson.
“There were nine states there represented total. And they did a great job. This team was composed of Aubrey Lovelady, Luke Meadows, Merrick Carter, and then we did take an alternate Paige Denton. But you know what this contest is intended for is for these kids to practice safe cattle handling, good BQA practices. So, they work three head of cattle through a chute and they are judged based on how well they handle those cattle and how fast they handle those cattle. They also had to do some paperwork,” said Watson.
“But while we didn’t place in the top three, we are super happy and super proud of this group because it takes a lot of courage to step out of your comfort zone and compete in this contest for the first time when you haven’t had any other teams in your state serve as an example. So I had a really great opportunity up there and I am super thankful for all those who put it on and super thankful for this team and the courage they had to participate in this,” Watson added.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.