Katelyn Von Behrens gets ready to pose with her ewe and the judges as she gets her photo taken for winning overall surpreme champion.
Lacey Watt | Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Youth Sheep Expo filled the barns at the Hancock County Fairgrounds as kids of all ages showed off their best rams and ewes.
A new addition to the Youth Sheep Expo this year was the Hancock County Poss-Abilities Show, which allowed children with intellectual or developmental disabilities to get into the ring and show off livestock with the help of mentors. Friday afternoon of the weekend event, kids were able to show the judges what they had learned, like holding and presenting skills.
Hancock County Poss-Abilities was created by Emily Meckel earlier this year to help promote inclusion among kids in the disability community with kids in the agricultural and livestock community and create an all-inclusive experience for all kids of all abilities.
“I saw a ton of kids make new friends, and that barrier that’s there between, you know, the stigma of a child with a disability gets pretty much washed away by the acceptance of their peers,” Meckel said.
They had six kids participate in the showcase, and each kid had a friend to help with the livestock — some who participated in their very first showcase at the Hancock County 4-H Fair, including Meckel’s daughter, Emery.
Meckel said that her daughter loves working with animals on their farm and she wanted to develop something to where her daughter could be involved just like her peers and also have the benefit of working with the animals. Meckel believes sometimes the animals can read the child better than people can.
“It’s not only the kids, but also the families got to meet each other and friendships have been made that will probably be life-long because of it,” Meckel said.
Alisa Elliott watched her son Keaton participate and show an ewe with his friend Braxton. Keaton and his friend worked together and were in the 4-H fair showcase this past June. Elliot shared that with her son’s condition, showing wasn’t really an opportunity for him until the program was developed this year.
“It’s really allowed him to develop confidence and learn new things, and he said he has a new best friend with his mentor so it’s been really cool to watch their friendship develop through this program,” Elliott said.
Future events for Hancock County Poss-Abilities include a day camp with Agape Therapeutic Riding Resources in October and some events for the Riley Day Parade. For more information on participating, visit their Facebook Page, Hancock County Poss-Abilities, which lists their number and email for contact information.
Also taking place Friday afternoon was the Breeding Sheep Showmanship event, which featured five categories: novice, junior, intermediate, senior and overall grand champion.
Alivia Porter, 16, traveled to Hancock County from Ashkum, Illinois and has been showing sheep since she turned four years old. Despite being a little nervous in the ring, she won overall grand champion showmanship.
“It was a very good experience,” Porter said. “…There’s a lot of great people around here and I’m glad to call many people from many different states my friends.”
Alivia’s advice for others who are either new or haven’t been showing sheep very long is to always be patient, and that success comes with time, which will pay off eventually.
On Saturday and continuing into Sunday, the breeding shows took place. According to the Youth Sheep Expo schedule of events, they had approximately 30 different breeds of sheep.
While many kids won first in different breed classes, overall champion ram went to Vivian Stephenson, and overall champion ewe went to Katelyn Von Behrens.
Next year’s Youth Sheep Expo is already approved to be at Hancock County Fairgrounds and set for July 26-28.
