The Lincoln County Junior Livestock Association held its Winter Classic Open Youth Show at the Lincoln Civic Center Saturday, with 65 students participating in the annual event.

4-H and FFA students from around Mississippi and Louisiana showed various livestock. Show categories included dairy cattle, dairy goats, market steers, market swine, market goats, commercial heifers, market lambs, commercial does and beef breeding.

The Winter Classic serves as the county livestock show for Lincoln County and surrounding areas.

“We’ve got a large and active youth livestock group in our county,” said Brandon Alberson, MSU extension agent in charge of 4-H/Youth.

Alberson said the Winter Classic brings youth with similar interests together to develop life-long connections and skills.

“A livestock project is day-to-day,” Alberson said. “Youth can’t just put it in the corner, so the responsibility that they learn from it, the work ethic they develop, all the life skills they develop working with those project animals, is the biggest benefit.”

Lincoln Civic Center Facilities Manager Quinn Jordan reiterated Alberson’s sentiment that showing animals develops useful life skills.

“Those kids learn so many life lessons by learning the responsibilities required to show animals,” Jordan said. “They learn the importance of nutrition, hard work, dedication, consistency and the commitment to excellence that allows you to win in the show ring.”

Youth who competed in the Winter Classic will participate in the Lincoln County Sale of Champions Monday. In order to qualify for the Sale of Champions, youth must compete in the Winter Classic and Southwest District Livestock & Dairy Show.

Alberson said the Sale of Champions allows youth to receive a premium price for a market animal.

“We do a Sale of Champions within our county because a lot of the kids do not have a chance to be in the Sale of Champions at the Dixie National,” Alberson said. “If they did not win, they really didn’t have a way to get a premium for that market animal. That is why we developed the county sale, which is kind of rare in Mississippi.”

The Lincoln County Sale of Champions will be held at the Lincoln Civic Center.

“We try to provide a facility conducive to an environment that allows kids to bring in the most money for those animals,” Jordan said. “The facility is a multi-purpose, climate-controlled building that we set up to be comfortable and enjoyable for buyers.”

Community members are encouraged to come out and support the youth of Lincoln County at the Sale of Champions on Jan. 18 or the Southwest District Livestock & Dairy Show Jan. 31-Feb. 4.