Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 6, 1990 TAG: 9004041011
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELAINE VIEL SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
This Saturday will add another year to that total when the Virginia Tech Block And Bridle Club sponsors The Little I Livestock Show.
Kathryn Meadows, immediate past president of the club and organizer of this year's affair, said that Block and Bridle is the animal sciences curriculum organization on campus and that it boasts the largest membership of any extracurricular group with about "150 members.'
The show is divided into four divisions - horses, cattle, swine and sheep - all of which will be shown by Virginia Tech students. Meadows said that those interested need not be animal science majors or Block and Bridle members.
Those showing, she said, have three weeks to prepare, which means "halter breaking them [the animals] and getting them used to people."
The animals shown belong to the school, Meadows said. On Saturday before the judging, exhibitors will "fit them [the animals] for show." Fitting an animal means bathing the pigs, carding the wool on the sheep and washing them, cleaning the horses and with the cattle "clipping the hair off short or if it's long you cut it to the same length. Then you tease, wash and ball the tail and paint the hooves."
There are different ways of showing each animal. With the cattle you walk them around the ring, show that they are trained and you are the boss. You show the sheep on your knees, she said, and with the horses the judges and ringman gives commands and the exhibitor gets or tries to get his ro her horse to respond to those commands.
The pigs are a different matter altogether, according to Meadows. "You just put them in and chase them around."
All of the judges for the event are alumni of Virginia Tech.
The horse division will be judged by Kelly Adams Cockrill, the sheep by Natalie Schley Glunz, the swine by Henry Holloway and the cattle by Reggie Reynolds, who is the executive secretary of the Virginia Cattlemen's Association.
All of the student exhibitors will receive a ribbon and the champion of each division will receive silver and a ribbon.
After each diviison has been judged and the champion slected, those four will compete for the grand championship fot he show.
The exhibitor whose animal wins the grand championship will receive a silver and gold belt buckle, Meadows said.
Winners will also be eligible to compete int he National Little I competition against winners from universities from around the country.
This past year, Meadows said, the national competition was held at Purdue University in Indiana . This year's site hasn't been selected yet.
The 1989 show, she said, drew 450 people, even though there was "six inches of snow." And Meadows expects another large crowd this year.
Many alumni and parents attend the show yearly and one of this year's special guests will be Dr. Sam Obenshain "one of the oldest winners," from 1928.
The sheep judging will begin at 9 a.m., swine at 10:30 a.m., horses at 11:45 a.m. and cattle at 1 p.m.
After the cattle judging a ham show and auction will be held. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Meadows siad a barbecue will be held.
There is no admission charge, and the event is open to the public.
by CNB