Good showing made at Benton Co. Fair

DECATUR — Ten Decatur 4-H members entered projects, from livestock to arts and crafts, in the Benton County Fair last week.

Club members entered goats, pigs, cows, sheep and a variety of crafts, leader Terry Burden said.

"Several of the crafts from our club qualified for the state fair in Little Rock," she said.

Courtney Beggs, 15, won reserve grand champion in the Arkansas Born and Bred Division with her Boar goat, "Ned." She also won a first and third place with her other goat, "Helen"

Courtney has been showing goats in the fair since she was nine. Her brother, Carter Beggs, also entered two boar goats inthe fair this year, although he transferred one to another girl who's goat died shortly before fair time so she could still compete.

The Beggs have been getting ready for the fair for months.

Their goats have to be fed, wormed and exercised on a regular basis. In the weeks before the fair, they have to be bathed and trimmed.

Sisters Lensey and Alisun Watson exhibited 30 sheep in the fair, including Cotswalds Sheep, Natural Color Sheep, Hampshires and Market Sheep. Lensey received several grand championships and one reserve, along with many first and second place ribbons.

Alisun won a reserve grand championship, along with many first, second and third place ribbons.

Both sisters said they have been preparing their sheep since April and March and the both said they learned that working your animals at home makes it easier to show them in the fair. The two sisters are planning to take their sheep on to the Arkansas-Oklahoma Fair and Arkansas State Fair.

Five-year-old Martha Smith Gomez won first place in the Clover Bud Market Lamb class with her lamb, "Daisy." Martha and Daisy also won a blue ribbon in showmanship and placed sixth in the Commercial Lamb Class.

Martha said she learned how to take care of an animal at home and how to keep her lambs head up and her eye on the judge in the show ring.

Haley Burden exhibited her two pigs, "Sweetie" and "Bella," in the market, gilt and breed classes. She won two first place awards, a third and a fifth place. She is breeding one and giving the other back to its breeder, Greg Davis.

Jayme Burden won a first place with her Limousine cross heifer and a second place with her Angus heifer in the Commercial Heifer class. She is planning to register her Angus heifer and show it again next year, and she will be showing her Limousinecross heifer next spring before breeding her and raising her calves.