BROWNSTOWN — The Downing brothers were supreme sheep showmen at this year’s Jackson County Fair.
During the 4-H sheep show Wednesday at the fairgrounds in Brownstown, Eli Downing, 12, won junior showmanship, and Collin Downing, 15, won master showmanship.
That put Eli in Friday’s Jackson County 4-H Junior Supreme Showmanship contest and Collin in the Jackson County 4-H Supreme Showmanship contest. Those competitions typically are conducted on Friday evening in Show Arena 1, but due to the temperature nearing 100 degrees, they were moved to the morning.
On the big stage, the Vallonia brothers each represented sheep. They and their fellow competitors also showed a pig, a dairy cow, a dairy beef cow, a goat, a beef cow and a dairy goat during the contests.
When the judges’ scores were tallied, the brothers were named the winner of their respective contest.
Since Eli won and had bragging rights first, that put the pressure on Collin. He didn’t let that affect him, and he shined in the show arena.
“I don’t have to listen to Eli bragging,” Collin said, smiling.
While it meant a lot for him to win for the first time in his four times competing in the contests, Collin said it was nice for his brother to win and receive a banner, too.
“I don’t know what else to say about that,” Collin said. “Honestly, this doesn’t really come down to hard work. It comes off a little bit of luck and getting the right people to help you and getting a little more calm and you having the right mindset. It means a lot to me. I finally got my name on the board (in the show arena). I wanted to get my name on the board before I aged out. It was always my goal.”
After the brothers won their sheep show titles Wednesday night, they had a limited amount of time to learn as much about the other species as possible and how to show them.
“We just went around and asked people to show us how to show,” Eli said. “We spent about an hour with each animal and just learned how to show it.”
He also shows goats, so he was familiar with those. The pigs and cows, however, took some work.
“It was kind of scary, the cows were,” Eli said, smiling. “They are a lot bigger.”
When it came to show time, Eli said showing dairy goats was easiest because he just has to stand there with them and then lead them around the show arena. Pigs were the most challenging, he said.
“They are hard to control,” he said.
Once the seven junior contestants were done, they lined up in the show arena and introduced themselves and shared their parents’ names and how many years they’ve been in 4-H.
Emcee Denise Stevens then announced Eli as the winner. The other contestants were Adam Alberring, Monroe Wolka, Camdyn Nierman, Marcus Burton, Callen Stanfield and Annabelle Mathena.
“I was happy. I’m excited,” Eli said of being the fourth winner of the Junior Supreme Showman contest.
Collin then knew he had to step up and perform to the best of his ability to take the title in his contest. In the 16th year of the Supreme Showman contest, he competed against Dalton Lawyer, Mallory Klosterman, Charlie Hackman, Izzy Stanfield and Brocker Bottorff.
One thing that helped was having a good showing in the sheep show.
“I came in, I was calm and collected, animal acted good,” he said. “I had a sheep that was acting perfect, and she braced for me.”
That night and Thursday, he spent time working with the other livestock.
“Wednesday night, I went down to the dairy barn and we got somebody to help us with that, got done about 10 o’clock and went home and called that a day,” he said. “Then I got dairy beef and dairy goats in the morning (Thursday), and then that night, I got swine and beef.”
Another thing that helped was having experience in the showmanship contests. He had been in junior and supreme with boer goats and sheep in recent years.
“I felt more prepared,” Collin said. “I think it gets you more familiar with that. Used to, when I grabbed a new one every time, it felt like it was foreign and awkward, but since I’ve done it a little bit more, each time I grabbed a new species, it kind of felt more natural.”
He felt good in the show arena Friday morning.
“You just can’t get worked up, don’t show your emotion,” he said. “If you get one (animal) that wants to be an idiot, just let them be an idiot. You can’t change it. Just go on with it and keep making eye contact and doing what you’re supposed to do.”
Obviously, sheep was the easiest animal for him to show since he’s used to them, and beef also was good for him.
“The heifer I got was really good, acted really good,” Collin said.
The dairy cows were the most challenging, he said.
“They are big, tall and you don’t get a show stick, so you can’t move around the back feet,” he said. “You’ve got to use your hands, and you’ve got to hold them different with the halter. I thought I was going to let one loose last time.”
The brothers weren’t the only ones excited about their wins. Their parents, Chris and Megan Downing, were proud parents.
“We have a lot of people to thank. There are a lot of kids at other barns that have helped them tremendously,” Megan said.
“They work hard all summer,” Chris said. “(Thursday morning), they were up at 6 a.m. to work for their state fair sheep. Both the boys, they put a lot of work into it all summer long, all winter long, too. It’s not just fair week.”
This is Eli’s fourth year in 4-H and he will be a seventh-grader at Brownstown Central Middle School when the new school year starts Friday, while Collin has been in 4-H for seven years and will be a sophomore at Brownstown Central High School.