Holmes County rolls out King of the Ridge show in style

Holmes County rolls out King of the Ridge show in style
Linde's Livestock Photography

Showmen both young and old, from near and far, ventured to Harvest Ridge in Millersburg for the inaugural King of the Ridge Showdown.

                        

When Kyle Hanna and Renee Zimmerman decided to delve into the idea of creating a winter steer show, they recognized it was something new to them, but with their combined experience in showing animals and their passion for the steer competition, they decided to dive in head-first and create a new show that would bring a lot of people to Holmes County.

While COVID-19 kept the anticipated crowds away from the event, it did draw a nice contingency of competitors and their families, and the event was more than enough to whet their appetite of making this an annual event and even expanding into other arenas.

Zimmerman said the one thing they did was to take every safety precaution possible in presenting the show.

"We submitted our plan to the health deaprtment, closed the event to the public outside of immediatefamily, had no bleachers, required masks and pretty much followed the same protocol we used at the fair," Zimmerman said.

The King of the Ridge Showdown event took place at Harvest Ridge’s main arena on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 28-29, where two rings hosted contestants in several different categories.

“My family has been involved with livestock for years, and both Renee and I are so passionate about these types of events that we wanted to share that with others,” Hanna said. “Our fair board came in and helped us out immensely, and we were able to put together a show that was really well received.”

Hanna said they thought about making the event a 4-H-age event but then decided they would open it up to anyone who enjoys showing cattle, so they welcomed people of all ages. The show drew people from Holmes County and even saw some participants come in from out of state.

The event featured a slate of competition that included purebred heifers, crossbred heifers, market animals and showmanship with payouts of $500 for the overall steer and heifer grand champions, $400 for reserve grand champions, and smaller amounts for those finishing third, fourth and fifth.

The competition was open to any age with qualifying heifers born on or after Sept. 1, 2019, and qualifying steer born on or after Jan. 1, 2020.

The event was hosted by Holmes County Agricultural Society, which provided ample opportunity for participants to show off their animals and their showmanship skills.

“It went really good,” Hanna said of the inaugural show, “even though it was a no-spectator show. Because with everything going on, we wanted to keep the attendance low. But for the first time we put something like this on, we were really excited with the way it turned out and are already excited about what can take place down the road.”

Judges for the event were Tyler Norvell, executive director at Oklahoma Youth Center, and Harlan Yocham of BK Cattle Enterprises in Oklahoma, and Hanna said bringing in quality judges was important to the show.

“You can find anything online now, but it was still tough to find good judges with the show right around Thanksgiving and with the virus issues,” Hanna said. “But we found a couple of guys who are passionate about the steer industry, and they were thrilled to come in and judge the show. They did a fantastic job and really brought a sense of professionalism to the show.”

Another reason the show was such a success was because the fairgrounds provides such an impressive place to conduct these types of shows.

“This is why our county invested so much into creating this incredible fairground and the facilities,” Hanna said.

"I think we built some momentum and excitment toward next year, when hopefully we can build on what we started," Zimmerman said. "We are thankful to everyone who helped us get it ready, to the fair board and especially for MIke Sprang and many others who volunteered."

Hanna went on to say one of the big reasons they wanted to create the show was to provide ample opportunity for younger 4-H-age youth to continue to hone their showmanship skills and to have an avenue to grow in something they enjoy doing.

“We definitely encouraged local youth to get involved,” Hanna said. “This kind of event allows our kids to experience what it takes to succeed in showing a steer.”

Hanna said kicking off this endeavor the right way was critical to making it an ongoing success, and he said they heard from many people who were both excited to participate and just as eager to come back again.

The winner of both the junior showmanship and overall showmanship award was presented to Ashton Bain of Fayette County, who worked his way past 364 other showman to claim the top honor.

The show proved to be a huge success, even with only the showman and their immediate family able to attend. What this event could be next year, when hopefully it can be opened up to anyone to attend, could help it grow into another special promotion by Holmes County and Harvest Ridge.


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