CHATHAM — Goats, lambs and children were running around the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex on Saturday.
Some — the four-legged participants — were more well-behaved than others.
The Southside Summer Sensation was the result of 12 months of effort by Amanda Wydner and her family for the first-time event in Chatham that’s sanctioned by the Virginia Showmasters Circuit.
The show was the sixth of eight in a series that culminates at the State Fair of Virginia.
Participants of Saturday's Southside Summer Sensation listen to the judge during the competition.
About 300 participants, ages 9 to 19, were at the Saturday show to qualify for points ahead of the awards program at the state fair, which kicks off at the end of September.
“This is a youth livestock program, and our hope is that we are going to develop interest in our young people to support the industry of agriculture, specifically to support policy that protects our industry and perhaps propagates interest in a career trajectory in agriculture,” Wydner told the newspaper shortly before the event started.
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Robert Mills, the vice president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, speaks at Saturday's Southside Summer Sensation.
For Robert Mills, a first-generation farmer and vice president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, seeing the young people there Saturday reminded him how he first got started in farming.
“For many of you, this is your introduction to agriculture, and I want you to know that the agriculture industry is alive and well in Virginia,” Mills said to open the Southside Summer Sensation. “We've had our struggles with drought, we've had our struggles with policy, but I will tell you that we're continuing to thrive like we have for the last 400 years.”
It’s still the No. 1 industry in Pittsylvania County, something Mills champions on his many committees in the ag sector.
Children and their goats enter the competition Saturday at the Southside Summer Sensation in Chatham.
“Believe me when I tell you that agriculture is strong here, and agriculture is strong throughout the state of Virginia,” he said.
The first segment was dedicated to showmanship. Depending on the division, the children brought their animals into a show area where a judge was watching every move.
The judge looked at the individual and how he or she presents the animal, which may or may not want to cooperate.
It wasn’t out of the ordinary for the children to give a rather firm pat on the backside for the more ornery of the animals.
After that, there was breeding and market competition. The breeding focused on females and their characteristics.
The market class is driven by supply chain, Wydner explained.
“And there are some very significant awards that go with some of the breeding and market classes,” she told the newspaper. “It takes a lot of effort to feed these animals, to manage them from a weight standpoint, from an exercise standpoint.
A Southside Summer Sensation participant walks with her goat Saturday.
The judge also spends time interacting with the participant and providing pointers for what’s working and where there could be improvement.
Then winners are selected in order and provided a few remarks for the selection.
“So we're trying to do everything we can to provide the participants with solid awards and things that they can be very proud of when they go home,” Wydner said of the group that encourages young participants.
“Actually our largest groups of participants here are the younger groups,” she explained. “So there's a lot of energy coming into youth livestock programs.”
Sponsors make pulling off such an event possible, Wydner stressed.
“Well, we're very humbled by the support,” she said when asked how she was feeling after it all came together.
Robert Mills, the vice president of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, speaks at Saturday's Southside Summer Sensation.
“We have so many families that traveled a long distance to be here,” she continued. “We're humbled to have such a beautiful facility as ODAC is unbelievable, and we don't take that for granted.”
Mills pointed to agriculture as being the backbone of all rural communities when speaking to open the event, and reminded attendees that it’s the one industry that’s been through good and bad.
“When I look across this room, and I see all of you, I see the future of our industry,” he said before telling them the opportunities are endless across the state, nation and world.
“And it all starts here today, he said. “And when I tell you, the future of agriculture is standing here today, and I know that the future of agriculture is here to stay.”
