It’s early morning and the sun is starting to peek over the trees and barns, with a low glow through the cold air. Students who have been up long before the sun slowly start to trickle into the empty lot where they start their preparations. As more and more arrive, the grounds burst into life with sounds of people talking and noisy animals.

This is no rare sight to behold because this is just yet another competition for the members of FFA. They know what to do, their real preparations started long before the competition begins.

“Some people actually go through like really far lengths,” Jessica Heffley, senior and FFA rabbit shower, said. “They can do it for like months before shows, and some people just like show up.”

While people walk around seeing the sights, they can get glimpses of the FFA members doing final touch ups on their furry friends to get them just right for the judges. This time they spend together is also used to calm the nerves of both the shower and animal alike. It’s important that they have a strong bond between each other so nothing happens with the animal that can’t be dealt with in an appropriate amount of time.

“The more you handle them and get used to how they react to certain things, you know how to handle the situations,” Kelly Kowis, senior and FFA president, said.

Each animal division in a show is not judged the same. Different animal types have their own requirements and classes that they are separated into. The classes for each division are based on things like the age, weight and size of the animal.

“Under certain categories there are certain breeds of the animals,” Kowis said. “So there could be five to 40 people in your class.”

Even though the students take time and effort to get the animals ready, there are times when unexpected things can happen that cause the animal to not be completely ready for show. In these cases the only thing they can do is hope for the best and make sure the animal is able to recover from whatever it is that happens.

“I have had animals that weren’t ready,” Trey Polster, FFA advisor, said. “They may have had tapeworm, ringworm or something we couldn’t see until they were clipped, so we had to doctor ‘em to make sure they were ready for the show.”

During the shows it’s not just the animals that get judged. The students that participate are also getting judged on showmanship. Though each judge is different with their thought on the animals, how they are shown is judged more consistently.

“It depends on what the judge wants,” Heffley said. “So each judge is different in ways to say how they like it.”

To keep up with FFA check out their website. There are pictures from shows with the students that have won, information about the FFA officers and advisors, as well as an event calendar and parent page.