BROWNSTOWN

A good start guided Derek Rieckers to his first supreme showman title in his 10th and final year of 4-H.

After taking a written exam to begin Thursday night’s contest in the Jackson County Fairgrounds show arena, the recent Brownstown Central High School graduate got in a pen with a pig to get it ready to parade in front of judge Jill Richards of Vevay.

That was the perfect situation for Rieckers, as he had shown pigs in all of his years of 4-H.

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“I was nervous at the beginning sitting up here, and then as soon as I got in that gate with that pig, it all went away,” he said.

“I’ve shown pigs my entire life, and I got out there and my pig was walking good, and (Richards) asked me about ear notches, and I knew right off the top of my head,” he said. “I was driving it back and forth, and everything was really kicking out there. I was like, ‘I have a chance at this.’ I started gaining my confidence, and my nerves all went away.”

That strong start carried him through showing five other species of animal — boer goat, sheep, dairy cattle, beef cattle and dairy beef cattle.

“That’s like with basketball and football, too. I played both of those sports,” he said. “As soon as that tipoff goes away and you start getting physical play, all of the nervousness goes away, and you just play the game.”

To qualify for the supreme showman contest, a 4-H’er has to win the master showman title in their species of animal.

This year, for the first time, there were two double winners. Rieckers won master showman in dairy and dairy beef, while Brownstown Central classmate and fellow 10-year 4-H’er Taylor Schuerman won swine and sheep.

The other two competitors were Austin Branaman, a Brownstown senior who won master showman in beef, and Clint Main, a Brownstown freshman who won master showman in boer goats.

All of them had to display their knowledge of the animals and present them to the judge in front of a packed show arena. The contest lasted about an hour and a half.

Richards, a Purdue Extension educator in Ohio County, said in talking to the four competitors, she could tell they had worked hard to get to that point.

“I think all of these exhibitors did an excellent job this evening. They were very polite out here. They did everything I asked them to do,” she said.

“I told them when we were starting the beef that beef is one of my favorite projects, so I was going to make them earn that one and kind of work them a little extra,” she said. “There was one species where I called them all in and gave them a little bit of a suggestion on moving those animals around a little bit, and they all took my advice, and it seemed to work a little bit better for them, so I really appreciate that.”

To prepare for the competition, the contestants talked to other 4-H’ers who were experienced with their species of animal.

Rieckers hadn’t shown goats, sheep or beef cattle. After he won master showman at the dairy show and knew he would be competing for supreme showman, he said he went to the beef barn to meet up with Cameron Eggersman and Payton Farmer.

Both of them have experience working with beef cattle, and Eggersman won supreme showman in 2015.

“They helped me out a lot,” Rieckers said. “We got a heifer out there and started working with it — how you set the feet kind of halfway square, the front feet are square, the back ones are a little bit offset depending on where the judge is and then where to scratch it and walking into your stance, as well. They really helped me with that.”

For goats, he worked with Thad Goecker, an eighth-grader who already is at the master level.

“I trusted him on helping me out,” Rieckers said. “He said to just square everything up, and I just kind of went for it, really.”

Showing goats and sheep was a little bit of a challenge, but Rieckers pulled through.

“I was a little bit nervous coming in here with the goats and especially the sheep because you didn’t have a halter on the sheep, and I’m not comfortable with it necessarily,” he said. “My goat started acting up right away, and then my sheep started acting up right away. I was like, ‘Oh man.’ I had to do something about this. Then when I got to switch sheep, that helped.”

Rieckers was comfortable with cattle because he’s in his fifth year of master in dairy and second year of master in dairy beef.

His sister, Kasandra Rieckers, and cousins, Ryan Benter and Kyle Benter, all had competed in supreme showman in recent years. They were in attendance with other family members Thursday night.

“They hadn’t won it, just participated, so I felt like I had big shoes to fill on being able to get in here and just participate, let alone winning it,” Rieckers said.

Since he was competing for the first time, they gave him some advice.

“They just said, ‘Go out there and be calm and relax,'” he said. “That’s a big thing. If your animal starts acting up, don’t show facial expressions. Just go out there and show like you know how to show. Really, if your animal starts acting up, just act like it’s all right and you’re having fun.”

The family support went a long way, he said.

“I saw all of my family out here, and it was just instant, like, ‘All right, I’ve got to do this for everybody out here,'” he said.

As soon as he was announced the winner and was handed the trophy, Rieckers received a big hug from Ryan, and congratulations from other family members and friends followed.

Winning two master showman titles and then supreme showman was a great way to cap off his 4-H career.

“First off, I never really expected a chance in swine because it’s really competitive, but in dairy, I was always competing against my cousins and my sister. It just never happened,” he said. “Finally, I got the job done. I was very humbled to get this done.”

Now that he’s done with the county fair, Rieckers said he is going to an open dairy show next weekend in Monroe County and later on taking pigs and couple of cows to the Indiana State Fair and competing in showmanship.

“Hopefully, that plays out for me pretty well,” he said.

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Jackson County Fair schedule

Today

Poor Jacks Amusements Kiddie Day with unlimited carnival rides from 1 to 5 p.m. with $14 bracelet, unlimited rides from 6 p.m. to close with $20 bracelet

8 a.m.: All non-auction 4-H livestock animals need to be removed from the fairgrounds

9:30 a.m.: 4-H livestock auction (Sale order: Beef, dairy beef, sheep, boer goat and swine), show arena

9:30 a.m.: Entry for Baby and Little Farmer Contest (33rd year); entry fee $5; not limited to Jackson County, pavilion

10 a.m.: Baby and Little Farmer Contest, pavilion, presented by 4-H Junior Leaders

10 a.m.: Release date for sow and largest litter exhibit and largest male swine exhibit

7 p.m.: Country Kickers, pavilion

Grandstand

7 p.m.: Jackson County Grand Champion Fair fifth annual Paul Crockett Memorial, super late models, super stocks, modifieds, pure stocks; $15 for adults, pit pass for $30, $2 for children 6 to 12, under 6 free; sponsored by the Jackson County Fair

10 p.m.: FFA projects released

Sunday

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Release time for antique and homestead display entries, antique building and grounds

3 to 5 p.m.: Family arts, horticulture, Farm Bureau and 4-H exhibits must be removed from the fairgrounds; premiums will be paid for family arts and horticulture

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2017 Jackson County Fair master showman winners

Dairy cattle: Derek Rieckers

Dairy beef cattle: Derek Rieckers

Swine: Taylor Schuerman

Sheep: Taylor Schuerman

Beef cattle: Austin Branaman

Boer goats: Clint Main

They all earned the right to compete in Thursday night’s supreme showman contest in the show arena. At the end of competition, Rieckers earned the trophy.

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