By Colleen Barber, 2024 Sunbelt Ag Expo Social Media Intern
The Sunbelt Ag Expo has an interactive experience to offer in the beef pavilion. Both the beef pavilion and the Priefert booth had vendors, equipment, and expert had advice to offer Expo attendees to broaden and advance their operations. In the beef pavilion, there have been youth fitting demonstrations everyday, two per day. These demonstrations consisted of one beef demonstration and one goat demonstration. The fitting demonstrations offered more insight to the livestock industry for students, parents, and other attendees.
In addition to these fitting demonstrations, the Priefert beef pavilion held a Top Hand training demonstration. This demonstration utilized three students who went through Top Hand Training this past year. The three students were Maelee Dean, Mary Richard Dean, and Cora Crews. Maelee and Mary Richard Dean are students from Crisp County, Georgia, and Cora is a student from Brantley County, Georgia. The students led the cattle through the cattle chute, administered medication and performed physical wellness checks on each animal.
The Top Hand program is a stockmanship and stewardship contest and program. Top Hand is organized through the University of Georgia and the Georgia Cattlemen’s Association. This contest is open to any student in Georgia who is in 8th through 12th grade. Students compete in teams consisting of three members. This program goes beyond the entry-level side of beef operations giving students a deeper look into large cattle operations. This is a comprehensive experience for students to learn how to diversify their own operations. Students learn about animal behavior, effective handling measures, and animal welfare.
Cora, Maelee, and Mary Richard spoke on how the program helped them in their show careers and cattle operations. While they had experience working with livestock, they learned how to go deeper by learning about cattle behaviors and the causes of behaviors in livestock. They encourage any student interested to take part in this program to grow and advance their cattle operations as well.
