Little I switching it up for the 92nd anniversary

By ALISON DURHEIM Reporter

The 92nd Little International was held March 27 and 28 this year with the theme of “Beyond the Barn.”

Little “I” is an agricultural exposition with judging, showmanship and fitting competitions with over 100 committee members. It is a two day event held at South Dakota State University and, according to the SDSU website, is considered the largest two-day agricultural exposition in the country.

 The competition invites high school FFA (Future Farmers of America) and 4-H members from the surrounding states to come and visit the campus to be judged in  multiple types of competitions offered.

The competition also offers opportunities for the members of the college to enter a drawing for the ability to show a species of their choice and compete in the fitting and showmanship competitions. Fitting competitions included goat fitting, novice sheep                   fitting, novice horse fitting, novice dairy fitting, beef fitting, experience sheep fitting, horse fitting and experience dairy fitting. The showmanship competitions were in beef, dairy, goat, sheep, horse and swine.

 College students also compete for High Point Freshman, High Point Upperclassmen and the Round Robin portion of the showmanship competition.

 The High Point competitions test the students’ knowledge in various aspects of the agricultural industry. The Round Robin competition takes the Champion and Reserve Champion showman of each species and shows every species for the judges, compiles the scores for an overall champion.

Andrew Berg received Champion Round Robin and Champion High Point Freshman, Kaitlyn Kline received Reserve Champion Round Robin and Tyler Jensen received Champion High Point Upperclassmen.

 The students get on average two weeks to work with their animal in preparation for show day.

 Little “I” is implemented and run by students of SDSU, this year under the management of John Weber.

“I enjoyed seeing everyone come together and seeing how much they put into it,” Weber said.

This year was a little different under his management as goats were added to the program and there was a concert following the completion of Little “I” on Saturday.

Bridgett Hoffmann, a freshman at SDSU, was an assistant meats products superintendent and had never had previous involvement with the event before this year.

Hoffmann said she felt right at home with how welcoming everyone was and how well everyone worked together.

 The 92nd Little International “Beyond the Barn” has come to a close, but preparations for next year are already underway with Adam Krause as the manager for the 93rd Little International.