HARRISBURG, Pa. — Sara Kennedy, age 16, of Columbia Crossroads, PA., rose to the top of 86 talented exhibitors to become the winner of the Senior Division Showmanship competition at the 2021 All-American Dairy Show. The event took place Sunday, September 19 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show and Expo Center.
Kennedy was first selected as a top ten finalist. The finalists then had to fit, clip and groom a Holstein heifer with an hour time limit. Their fitting score was then combined with individual showmanship scores to name the overall winner of the competition.
Full resultsOpens In A New Window for the All-American Dairy Show Senior Showmanship Contest, including exhibitor names and hometowns, can be found at allamericandairyshow.comOpens In A New Window.
In a showmanship competition, exhibitors do their best to showcase their animal to the judge. The judge evaluates the participants’ ability to handle, control and focus on showcasing the best appearance of the animal while in the show ring.
The Senior Division Showmanship judge was Justine Kelsey of Conestoga, New York. The fitting judge who collaborated with Justine in order to name the senior winner was Joseph Stitt of Bellville, Pennsylvania.
The All-American Dairy Youth Show attracted 238 total contestants from 12 different states. The senior division was comprised of 87 exhibitors.
Kennedy, the champion senior, received a $250.00 cash award courtesy of Centre-Clinton Holstein Association, a custom embroidered Directors Chair courtesy of Jane and Bob Pepple, a custom ebroidered “Fitter” jacket compliments of MD-Hillbrook, Chris and Jennifer Hill, a $250 gift certificate to Frey’s Livestock Supply in honor of the “Bill Hughes Memorial Award,” and a custom embroidered blanket courtesy of Hoards Dairyman. The top ten senior showmen were awarded a Wrangler Jeans gift certificate provided by Wrangler Western Special Events as well as a neck medallion courtsey of Fight Bac, Dr. Geoffrey Westfall.
Pennsylvania’s dairy industry supports 53,300 jobs and contributes $14.1 billion to the commonwealth’s economy annually.
The All-American Dairy Show, hosted at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg, features four days of competitions highlighting the best of seven dairy cattle breeds through sixteen separate competitions featuring 570 national competitors exhibiting nearly 1,300 of the finest dairy cattle in the nation’s dairy industry. The show runs from Sunday, September 19 through Wednesday, September 22.
All-American Dairy Show events are open to the public. Parking and admission are free.
For more about the show, including a complete schedule, visit allamericandairyshow.com.
–Shannon Powers, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture