By 1812Blockhouse; Ohio Cattlemen’s Association
The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association’s (OCA) Beef Exhibitor Show Total (BEST) program wrapped up the 2022-2023 BEST season on May 6 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus at an awards banquet attended by over 750 participants and their families. Over 350 BEST exhibitors were awarded for their show success, cattle industry knowledge, photography skills, community service efforts and more.
This year’s BEST program featured seven weekends of sanctioned shows held throughout the state. Over 700 youth participants showed 1,000 head of market animals and heifers throughout the season. This year’s sponsoring partners were Evans Family Ranch, Ag-Pro Companies, Bob Evans Farms, Diamond T Land and Cattle Co., Dickson Cattle Co., D&E Electric – The Young Family, M.H. EBY, Inc., The Folks Printing, Jones Show Cattle, R.D. Jones Excavating, Ricer Equipment, 6R Farms, Shepard Cattle Company and Weaver Livestock.
The banquet kicked off with the annual Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) donation. BEST exhibitors raised money earlier in the year through the Celebrity Showdown and collected pop tabs all year. Over 600 pounds of pop tabs were collected, and this year’s donation total was $33,500. The highest donations were from HR Cattle Company with $5,030 and Kasen Cole, Preble County with $2,008. Taylor Poff, Geauga County submitted the most tabs with 220 pounds.
Thanks to the program’s generous sponsors, many door prize giveaways and drawings were held. The hottest drawings were for the BEST trailer, the Buckeye Breeders Series (BBS) trailer (both trailers donated by M.H. EBY) and the John Deere Gator (donated by Ag-Pro). The winners of these prizes receive a full year’s use of the item. The following were this year’s winners:
BEST Trailer – Beau Johnson, Gallia County
BBS Trailer – Savannah Cecil, Monroe County
The main event of the evening was the award recognition ceremony for the hard work exhibitors showcased throughout the season. The following awards were presented to Cami Gowitzka of Richland County:
Heifer and Market Animal Champions: Reserve Champion Charolais Heifer
BEST Novice Champions: Champion Novice Heifer
Buckeye Breeders Series Champions: Charolais Heifer Champion
Other north central Ohio winners included Clare Hahn, Ruger White Claire Atterholt, and Natalie Atterholt from Ashland County; Lane Bauer, Kylee Bloomfield, and Addison Lust from Crawford County; and Colton Beck, Caiden Daugherty, Porter Beck, Brextyn Grabiel, Mckayla Creasap, Brooke Jagger, and Olesia Looker from Morrow County.
BEST is a youth development program of the OCA that recognizes Ohio’s junior beef exhibitors through a series of sanctioned shows. Juniors who participate in these sanctioned shows earn points for their placing at each show. The OCA BEST program promotes educating Ohio’s juniors about beef industry issues, providing career development opportunities, and rewarding the successful accomplishments and hard work of those junior beef producers.
Image by mavis02455 from Pixabay
