FFA Students Take on the 2024 Tulare County Fair

FFA members shares their thoughts on their upcoming showing at the 2024 Tulare County Fair.

By: Jazrine Nieto

September is a busy month for student groups. With the 2024 Tulare County Fair coming up from September 11th to September 15th, the RHS FFA (Future Farmers of America) have been preparing for months.

Emerson Louquet, ‘26, and Kacee Crass, ‘26, are involved in FFA.

Louquet says, “I raised the market lamb. I’ve raised one for the past two years and it’s really fun.”

Crass says, “I show a market steer and this is my first year, but I’ve done two lambs in the past so this is my third year in show animals.”

Take a look at what goes into the process of preparing and what happens at competitions.
Louquet says, “Oh it’s really fun, we are kind of team-ish, it’s a lot of teamwork, and we all like supporting each other whenever we are showing in the competitions.” Crass says, “We all go at different times so we all just cheer each other on.”

Louquet says “With the lambs, it’s based on their weights, looks, and sizes.”

With such a process and time over summer to prepare the livestock, Louquet says, “Yeah, for lambs it’s like 3-4 months.” Crass says, “Steers I’ve had it…I think I had him for…September it’s going to be like 9 months.”

A harsh summer with weather above 110 degrees affects the livestock. Louquet shares how the lambs are affected, “They’re not so great, this summer was kinda bad because some of our lambs aren’t making weight so we are kinda worried about it.”

“We have fans and all that stuff, and we don’t work them whenever it’s super hot,” says Crass.

Waking up for school at 7 am is enough for most students but the stock crew makes it work. Louquet says, “I wake up at 5-5:30 am.”

Crass says, “On school days they get out there at 5:30-5 o’clock, and 6:30 or 7 on weekends.”

FFA have some busy schedules to be able to balance school and waking up early to make sure their animals are prepared for the fair and show.

On doing FFA, Louquet says, “It’s really great, if you guys ever get an opportunity to do it, you really should.” Crass says, “Yeah, I encourage signing up as well. It’s like a time commitment.”

Louquet explains the process and work of being in FFA.

“So we practice all summer 3-4 months of just like straight work, and it’s really hard stuff. We do showmanship every Saturday and that really just helps us get prepared for everything we need to know because it’s like vicious when you’re competing,” says Louquet.

With the fair coming up soon she shares her thoughts on if they are prepared. “Yeah, I think we all are because we spend so much [time preparing], we are all ready to get out there.”

With good performances and results from last year, Louquet shares what she thinks about the upcoming results. “Hopefully first place, because last year we got first place so we kinda have high hopes, we have been trying really hard.”

Talking to Crass on how they prepare for competitions, she says, “We prepare by working our animals every day and making sure they are show-ready and stuff like that.”

With Crass also competing in the fair she shares, “Yeah I am looking super forward to it because it’s a lot of fun, because we all get to go out and compete and do the best we can. And it really pays off because … I’ve been working with mine for like nine months and then the lambs do like 2-4 months.”

Crass shares her thoughts on hopeful fair results. “I think we are going to do pretty good. We’ve been working really hard, and whatever we get it’s all fun, says Crass.”

After getting the FFA students perspectives on the fair, let’s hear from our FFA advisor.

“Hi, my name is Mr. Coon I am the Ag mechanic’s teacher at Redwood High School. I’ve been a teacher twenty-seven years, twenty-five of which have been here at a Redwood, being a Redwood Ranger.”

Mr. Coon shares his outlook on the fair, “I always look forward to the fair, it’s a lot of hard work but it’s a giant combination of all the student’s efforts and all the hard they put in during the summer, and so when we go to the fair it’s kinda like regular season and the fair is the Super Bowl.”

On his thoughts on the summer heat, Mr. Coon says, “Oh my gosh. This was the harshest summer I can remember. I asked an old timer around town if they ever saw this many days in a row above 110 in their life and they said they hadn’t.”

“It was very harsh and so whenever we are raising livestock we are always trying to have them on a growth curve where they’re gaining weight all the time.”

“And when we hit those hard patches above 110 for [many] days in a row, our growth, weight gain, and performance of our animals really flatlined, so it’s been a real challenge. We even have one lamb that is on the verge of not making weight for the fair despite our best effort.”

“So the summer has been brutal, our kids have been super tough about it and they just really stayed with it, but it’s been a true test,” says Mr. Coon.

Mr. Coon shares his thought on how the fair results are going to go, “Oh gosh. I never know the results of the fair because really no matter what you do with your hard work during the summer, you’re really at the mercy of the judge, and when you are in the show ring with an animal it’s really one person’s opinion on that given day.”

“And I never argue with the judges, if they put us at the top of the class, fine, if we’re a little bit lower I guess I understand. It’s their opinion that day. As much as we say we do it to win the big ribbons we are really doing it for the experience of really good animal husbandry practices, says Mr. Coon.

Mr. Coon shares what he thinks the bigger picture is in FFA, “Learning about the growth curve and livestock. Ultimately our job in agriculture is to put out the best product we can for the consumer, and I think our students get that. If we get a blue ribbon at a fair that’s icing on the cake.”

Tags: 2024, Classof26, fair, ffa, livestock, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, rhs, tulare county fair, visalia ca