By Mike Donahue

Moapa Valley Progress

Adaven Scrounce, 18, of Pahrump, leads her steer to the weigh-in scale Saturday morning at Glen Hardy’s Logandale farm. Photo by Mike Donahue.

Twenty-seven young Southern Nevadans converged on Logandale last Saturday with a herd of 31 yearling steers destined to be next year’s blue ribbon winners at the 2012 Clark County Fair and Rodeo.

The youth and their animals were participating in the annual Clark County Junior Livestock Association (CCJLA) weigh-in, a mandatory step for 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA) members to enter the livestock next April 12-15, according to Glen Hardy, a CCJLA board member and owner of the farm where the weigh-in was held.

“The weigh-in gives us a base weight for the kids’ animals,” Hardy said. “At fair time, we’ll reweigh the animals which will give us accurate rate-of-gain.”

Most of the steers Saturday weighed between 700 and 900 pounds. In the next four months, through proper nutrition management, the kids will fatten their animals until they’re between 1,050 and 1,400 pounds, Hardy said.

“They’ve got to really halter-break these steers, teach them to lead, how to stand and show for the fair,” Hardy said. “It’s a lot of work taking a 1,000-pound plus animal and getting it to stand still and straight so the judge can touch and handle them.”

Youth registering animals are from Clark, Nye and Lincoln counties.

Two 4-H clubs from Mesquite were represented at the weigh-in by six young members. They brought steers to Moapa Valley in two stock trailers and were from the Virgin Valley Junior Livestock club and the Git-R Done club.

“It’s kind of a community effort,” said Ivona Magoon, a 4-H leader and CCJLA public relations representative. “It doesn’t matter that they’re competing, the important thing was to get the steers weighed.”

The purpose of the livestock show every year is to “provide an opportunity for Southern Nevada 4-H and FFA members to exhibit the products of their projects before the public, thus promoting and providing the incentive to achieving excellence in livestock production with skills and practices. Such achievement and participation in shows encourages sportsmanship, leadership, citizenship and responsibility in the members.”