Contact: Elizabeth DeBoer
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Cal Poly’s Western Bonanza Junior Livestock Show Takes to the Web
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly’s Western Bonanza Junior Livestock Show became the first junior livestock show in the nation to stream the entire event live on the Internet.
More than 460 student exhibitors and their families attended the show, held President’s Day weekend at the Paso Robles Event Center. The new, live Webcast provided individuals unable to attend an opportunity to watch the show remotely. Viewer and exhibitor feedback was positive.
Western Bonanza Corporate Manager Kirk Kimmelshue said that his group attempts to incorporate new and innovative technology every year. “I’m proud to say that we were the first group to stream a live junior livestock show,” Kimmelshue said. “That’s a huge accomplishment.”
Western Bonanza, managed entirely by Cal Poly students, began as a senior project 26 years ago.
The show started Friday, Feb. 12, with the Fit and Show in which beef exhibitors sped through mock preparation to get their cattle ready for a show.
Then on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 13 and 14, students from across California competed in the event, showing 230 steers, 182 heifers, 227 hogs, 199 lambs and 91 goats. Added to the swine show this year was a barrow derby in which exhibitors could show only their male pigs. Fifty-seven barrows were shown.
“It gave the exhibitors another chance to work with their hogs and have the animals seen by the judge,” said Cal Poly Swine Chairwoman Tabatha Mills.
Cal Poly’s Western Bonanza continues to be on the forefront of junior livestock show history and will remain there because of the great amount of hard work and dedication given each year by Cal Poly students.
For more information, visit www.westernbonanza.calpoly.edu.
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