By Garrett Stack

The Herald Bulletin

ALEXANDRIA — Trying to keep a 1,000-pound cow from doing whatever it wants can be very tricky, especially in front of a judge and a large crowd.

But that was the task of four contestants competing for the supreme showmanship prize at the Madison County 4-H Fair on Wednesday.

Each contestant had to show a pig, a goat, a sheep and a cow. All of the animals were randomly chosen for the contestants, so they were not familiar with the creature before they had to walk it around the ring.

“I had the most trouble with the cows,” said Stephanie Morris, 13, from Elwood. “It wanted to jump up on every other animal.”

Morris struggled to contain the giant steer, and having worked mostly with swine and sheep previously, she was not overly familiar with handling cattle.

“The sheep gave me the most trouble,” said champion Alyson Alcala, 16, from Summitville. “The yearlings that we had in the sheep department were a little jumpy.”

But forcing the animals to stand still and walk where they were directed was only a part of the competition. The other portion was supplied by the judge, who asked the contestants questions to test their knowledge.

“The showing is about 60 percent of it, and answering questions is the other 40 percent,” said competition judge Tracie Egger, the assistant director of academic progress in agriculture at Purdue University. “If they are not familiar with the species, the questions could be very tricky. They really had to do their homework.”

Contestants were asked specific questions about the animals while holding onto the creatures and making them stand still, which is a trial itself.

“We had to estimate the weights, the breeds and the ages of the animals,” Morris said. “It’s especially hard with an animal that you haven’t been around.”

Morris, who was defeated by her cousin Alyson Alcala, was upset by the loss, but refuses to give up.

“I’m glad that my cousin won, but I plan on working harder and trying again next year,” she said. “I’m going to study, work more on questions and work more with the cow.”

Alcala is proud of her win, but she does not have too much time to rest before she has to do it all over again.