VEEDERSBURG — The Fountain County 4-H held its annual Supreme Master Showman contest on Wednesday at the fairgrounds.
In the event, the top showmanship award winners in individual species competed by showing all seven types with the winner being the one who did the best overall.
The seven contestants ranged from a first year 4-H member to two with 10 years in the program.
When the night was over, fifth-year 4-H member Dawson Bell of Colfax became the latest Supreme Master Showman and 10-year member Avery Donaldson earned the Reserve Master Showman title.
The older competitors were Bo Rice (10th year, swine), Donaldson (10th year, dairy goat), Bell (fifth year, beef cattle and dairy cattle) and Ella Grubs (fifth year, boar goats).
Younger participants were Lily Crowder (third year, sheep), Jake Grubbs (third year, Reserve in beef cattle) and Tinsley Bowman (first year, horse).
Except for the horse showmanship which is done individually with the same animal, the seven contestants all present a different animal of the same species at the same time while wearing letters A-G so that the judges have no idea who qualified with any animal nor what their names are.
Each species has a judge who is in the ring with the participants and that person goes around asking each showman questions related to the species being shown and testing how well each contestant handles the animal.
At the conclusion of each showing of a species, the judge ranks the individuals from 1-7 and after all seven rounds, the rankings are added up and the awards are given.
Participants are given slips of paper that show their rank for each animal but, unless they show each other, no one knows anyone else’s scores.
Bell, the winner of the Supreme Master Showman title, will be an eighth-grader at North Montgomery Middle School in the fall, but before that, he plans to enter the showmanship contest at the Indiana State Fair displaying dairy cattle.
The key to winning the Supreme Master Showman title is to be knowledgeable about all the different species as well as know how to handle each one.
Bell said he learned how to do this from the owners of the various animals that he had to show but also gave credit to his mother, Nancy Bell, who teaches Ag at North Montgomery High School for help before the contest.
In any such showmanship battle, there are animals that the winner shows well and those that cause problems.
Bell said that he had a ewe that gave him trouble, but that he thought he did well with dairy goats and beef cattle.
One other thing that Bell said helped him out was going to multiple open shows where “I got feedback and learned what I needed to do better.”
The winner of the Supreme Master Showman is not allowed to enter the contest again after winning it.
Often, the winners are 8-10-year members who do not compete again, but for Bell, he has five more years of 4-H.
He said he is not worried about that and will continue to raise and show animals even though he cannot go after the Supreme Master Showman title again.
