By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Twelve-year-old Bristol McDowell has been showing animals since she was three years old, competing in national, regional and state show rings, and locally at the Wood County Fair, the last four years as a 4-H member.
She’s shown cattle, pigs, and her latest favorite—goats. It’s what she knows as the youngest in a family deeply rooted in farm life and livestock.
Her mother, Amanda, admits Bristol caught the livestock bug early, watching her older brothers and sister show animals.
Bristol’s intense dedication to her cattle, pigs and goats and her love of agriculture led her to be one of 15 youth named as junior ambassadors for the national nonprofit Today’s Youth in Agriculture.
The fairly new organization, founded by Sara Bailey of Ohio, is an offshoot of Ag Media. The organization focuses on youth playing a role in promoting agriculture. They identified 13- to 18-year-olds at first to be national and state ambassadors. The junior ambassadors program for 9-to 12-year-olds was started this year.
Bristol is an Otsego 7th grader who loves everything about agriculture.
She saw the first-time call online for Today’s Youth in Agriculture’s junior ambassadors and thought she would like to try it. When she learned she was chosen, she was thrilled. Her main “job” is to represent agriculture as a whole by attending at least two agricultural events at the national, regional or local level.
“I really love agriculture, and I love showing animals,” she said about the group’s goal of teaching younger kids about agriculture. “We are asked to post about our experiences and how we’re related to agriculture, make videos and articles to help younger youth understand why we’re into agriculture and how it’s fun.”
The focus is to encourage younger children to consider getting involved in agriculture, primarily through the livestock shows they attend each year. She just finished American Royal in Kansas City, where she placed fourth in her goat class.
Also on the horizon are wrapping up competing in this season’s Showbox Society, where she is currently ranked seventh in points, the North American International Livestock Expo in Louisville next month and Ohio BEST cattle shows throughout the winter, with pig and goat shows next spring and summer.
She has shown pigs since she was three years old, because there wasn’t an age limit like there is for other livestock.
“I like pigs because of their personalities. They are funny and nice. They are just never down; they’re always up and moving,“ she said. But this year she discovered a newfound love for showing goats.
“I liked showing cattle and pigs, but I think I just wanted to try something new,” she said. She showed dairy goats but added market goats to her repertoire this year for 4-H, and she really liked it.
The competition is what fuels her work in and out of the show ring, Bristol admitted.
When asked what she has learned from agriculture and caring for animals, Bristol confidently said, “It has taught me how to take responsibility for another living thing that isn’t me. Even though it is hard work, I really like it.”
The work included feeding, watering and cleaning up after her animals. She is also committed to practicing with the animals, getting them comfortable walking with her in preparation for going into a show ring.
“I walk them both every day, at least 15 minutes,” she said. And in the summer, she rinses and washes them daily to get them used to showring preparations.
“The end point is if you care for them and do the right things, you can be really successful,” she said.
“She has one brother that no matter how many belt buckles she wins, she will not be on his level until she wins Showmanship Sweepstakes at the Wood County Fair,” her mother said. “He won that when he was 14, in his first year in senior showmanship. We think he is one of the youngest ever to win it.”
She has her sights set on winning that contest, which is something that all Wood County Fair livestock showmen want to win.
To date, she’s most proud of winning reserve grand champion showman at North American and winning reserve champion showman at State Fair. At the Wood County Fair, she won grand champion pig last year.
Bristol also hopes to convince other kids of the value of being involved in agriculture and showing animals. “I think I want to get some more kids into livestock, because there are not a lot of people in livestock because they don’t really understand what it takes,” she said.
“I have friends that show cattle and one that shows pigs here. I have friends that are out showing because they understand what I like and I understand what they like. Whenever we go to a show, maybe we will see each other, and sometimes I get to hang out with them outside of showing.”
Her long-term goal is to become a large animal chiropractor and vet, which requires becoming a vet before additional schooling to become a chiropractor. She’s seen firsthand the benefit of an animal chiropractor who works on their animals. She had noticed a clicking sound when walking one of her pigs. The chiropractor adjusted an out-of-place hip, and the pig ended up winning grand champion, she said.
“I can’t imagine not being involved in agriculture and showing animals,” she said. “I think agriculture will always be part of my life.”
