Minard livestock show captures students’ imagination

Without a doubt, one of the most popular events at the Minard Livestock Show and Beef Festival over the years has been the goat and calf scrambles, which sees students compete to catch an animal to keep.

At the event's staging last Thursday, jostle to catch the seven goats that were released in a pen. Among the students involved in the scramble was 16-year-old Annakay Campbell, a sixth-former at Brown's Town High School.

"It was very difficult because I fell so many times," she told THE STAR, adding that her decision to persevere paid off. The children were required to make a noose on a rope and throw it around the necks of the fleeing goats.

CAPTURED PRIZE

Campbell captured her prize after one of the participants' rope slipped of the ruminant's head. Luck was on her side as the noose sliced through the air and fell perfectly around the neck of a goat.

"When I ketch it, I was like 'Thank you, Jesus, mi ketch the goat!"

The goat, however, wasn't thrilled about being captured.

Annakay plans to give the goat to her mother, who is involved with farming, to raise. The small animal, at one point, even refused to walk from the venue and had to be lifted by Annakay and her friend Samantha Cammock.

The Minard Livestock Show and Beef Festival was held under the theme, 'Smart Livestock Production: Safer, Cleaner, Better'.The event, held for the first time since 2019, featured thousands of students from basic, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions across Jamaica's 14 parishes.

In addition to the goat and calf scrambles, students participated in livestock judging and rabbit display. Patrons had the opportunity to purchase from among the various breeds of animals that were on show. Benjamin Richards, a grade-nine student at Troy High School, was among those who bought animals. He purchased a buck rabbit, which he plans to put with the four females he has at home.

He said his aim was to breed rabbits for consumption and perhaps for sale.

"I eat rabbit a lot of times; it tastes nice, nicer than chicken," he told THE STAR.

Also making the trek to Minard was a bus load of students, grades four to six, from Stewart Town Primary in Trelawny. They were accompanied by teachers, Xavier Collins and Jessica Jones.

"It's a wonderful experience," said Collins, who disclosed that one of the students bought a rabbit.

"We're saying that's a very good investment, so I really commend him on spending his money wisely in buying a rabbit," the teacher said.