FFA students prepare for the Yuma County Fair

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY-TV) - The Future Farmers of America are gearing up their livestock for the Yuma County Fair, that kicks off Tuesday, and runs through Sunday April 3rd. 

The 70th annual Yuma County Fair will feature the carnival, livestock shows, 4H & FFA exhibitors and fine arts, just to name a few.

This is the first full fair since 2019 and the students say they’re excited to get back into it.

President of Gila Ridge FFA, Mason Kissel, has raised and trained his pigs since November to be ready for the show ring.

“For showmanship, the judge is judging you as a showman and so how your pig walks, how you handle the pig, if there is any complications, how you deal with them, and then for market it’s more so how does the pig look, certain features, how it’s built, how it walks, all of that stuff,” said Kissel.

This is both Kissel and his friend, Gage Taylor’s last year showing.

Taylor is raising two steers this year, and watched them grow from 450 to 1,350 pounds.

“I’ll come at around seven o’clock in the morning, feed them a five gallon bucket of feedlot food and then I’ll usually come after school to see what’s all going on and then around five o’clock ill come here and I feed them another five gallon of feed, clean their pens and walk them to make sure that they’re show ready.”

Taylor says FFA has taught him much more than just showmanship.

“It takes a lot of time and commitment and work, but it’s well worth it in the end, the amount of memories you’ll get from working with these types of animals, the traits that you’ll carry over in life with these animals like commitment, leadership and working with others,” said Taylor.

The purpose of the project is to teach youth about production agriculture, animal care and agribusiness on a micro-scale.

The Yuma County Fair starts Tuesday March 29th, come out and see all the livestock being shown.