Thousands of competitors come to the American Royal Livestock Show in Kansas City, Missouri, each year to show their best livestock. The competition includes children as young as 7 years old, who take part in a long tradition of raising and showing their animals.
Bre Engler, 9, peppers little kisses across the forehead of her cow, Kinsley, while she waits for her father to set up the stall’s bedding.
“Sometimes after we wash her and comb her and all that, I'll give her kisses all over,” she says.
Kinsley is just one of the many heifers in the stalling, the indoor area where the animals are kept before the show. Families set up tables and chairs while their cows’ relax in their stalls and they wait for the shows to start.
Engler, who has just finished washing her cow, is preparing to enter her in the showmanship competition, where the judges will be watching for how well she handles the animal when she leads it around the ring.
“I feel pretty nervous and I have butterflies in my tummy, but as soon as I step in the ring, I feel like I'm home,” she says, “because when I’m in the ring with my cow, they just calm down and it’s my happy place.”
Over 4,000 head of cattle, sheep, hogs and goats arrived in Kansas City, Missouri, for the annual American Royal Livestock Show. The event, which is one of the largest in the nation, goes all the way back to 1899. Over 2,000 exhibitors, some as young as 7 years old, traveled from all over the United States to compete in competitions and show off their livestock.
Source: kcur.org
Photo Credit: getty-images-brandytaylor
Categories: Kansas, Livestock, Rural Lifestyle