March may only be half over, but for members of Marietta FFA’s Ag Mechanics class, it’s already been a good month.
Oklahoma Youth Expo
The Oklahoma Youth Expo, better known as OYE, and one of the largest collections of FFA chapters’ animals and projects in the state, is held annually at the Oklahoma City Fairground Complex. There, for FFA Advisor Josh Bazor’s ag mechanics bunch, who’ve already won titles at the Oklahoma and Tulsa State Fairs this year, OYE was just another chance to shine.
“OYE was a great show for us,” said Bazor. “We took ten projects and all but one placed. If the projects are top five in their division, they make a nation-wide online sale, and we had three projects make that sale.”
OYE runs from March 7 through 18, with the ag mechanics contest held on March 9 and 10.
According to Bazor, compared to the state fair shows, at OYE, the projects are grander and the competition tougher.
“For our kids, this is as big a deal as winning at the fairs because there’s more money in the prizes,” stated Bazor. “Our kids brought home several dollars’ worth of prizes at OYE.”
Placings at OYE include:
- Cade Scarbrough, 1st in feeders class and reserve champion in livestock division
- Kaden Dudley, 2nd in trailer smoker class and 4th in cooker division
- Brody Bazor, 2nd in truck accessory class and 5th in ag equipment division
- Wyatt Vinson, 1st in shop equipment class
- Kyler Williams, 2nd in tractor implement class
- Kadence Bazor, 2nd in class outdoor furniture
- Alan Rodriguez and Daniel Buenrostro, 2nd in single-axle trailer class
- Wyatt Gwin, 2nd in shop table class.
- Abigail Venegas and Adrian Aldaba, 5th in fire pit class
Projects from Scarbrough, Brody Bazor, and Dudley will sell in the nation-wide auction in April.
Arguably, Scarbrough’ project is a bit of genius.
It’s a trailer onto which five round bales of hay can be loaded and then pulled into a pasture where it can be left to be fed. At 20 feet long by 80 inches wide, the hay manger on wheels is built to hold bales with stanchions for sides that are designed to prevent hay loss with a total of 92 45-degree bends, which are difficult to execute.
“Cade saw a feeder that was something like this in a manufacture’s catalogue,” explained Bazor, “but then he reconfigured and improved it by adding rear gates and a folding cradle to help with cleaning. It’s a great project for a high school kid to have conceived of and constructed.”
Love County Livestock Show
At the Love County Livestock Show, held March 4 and 5 at the Love County Fairgrounds, Marietta’s ag mechanics class entered 32 of the 43 total projects in the show. Of the four divisions at the county show, Marietta won all four.
“The county show is structured a little different than the fairs,” Bazor said. “The top five projects are recognized, and we had four of the top five at the livestock show.”
Scarbrough’s hay feeder was chosen grand champion at the show, with Buenrostro and Rodriguez’s single-axle trailer in reserve grand. Dudley’s trailer smoker and Gwin’s shop table were Marietta’s other entries recognized in the top five.
“Our kids won some great prizes at county,” stated Bazor. “That creates a lot of incentive for kids to develop some creative projects. Johnny Harper with AFR, Flanagan Construction, JC Auto Parts, Aubrey Pugh Roofing, Leebo Hallum, and Mike Cohoon sponsored those prizes, and we really appreciate them.”