04/27/2026
Claiborne County 4-H Beef Show
By: Jennifer Venable Gilbert
The Claiborne County 4-H Beef Show took place Friday, April 24th, at 6 pm at the Claiborne County Fairgrounds Livestock Barn. The evening started with the Heifer show. Registered Chi-Influenced: We had one entry by Ellie Beck with her Early Senior Yearling heifer (Sept. 1 – Oct. 31, 2024), so she placed 1st in class and was Grand Champion Chi-Influenced Heifer. Registered Shorthorn: We had one entry by Gabe Evans with his Early Senior Yearling heifer, so he placed 1st in class and was Grand Champion Shorthorn Heifer. Registered Shorthorn Plus: We had two entries. The first class was Levi Jessie with his Early Senior Heifer Calf (Sept. 1 – Oct. 31, 2025), winning 1st in class. The second class was Jamison Johnston with his Early Senior Yearling heifer, winning 1st in class. Jamison won Grand Champion Shorthorn Plus Heifer and Levi won Reserve Champion Shorthorn Plus Heifer. Registered Simmental: We had one entry by Ellie Beck with her Late Senior Yearling heifer (Nov.1 – Dec. 31, 2024), so she placed 1st in class and was Grand Champion Simmental Heifer. Commercial Heifer: We had one entry by Jamison Johnston therefore, he won 1st in class and Grand Champion Commercial Heifer. Ellie Beck won Supreme Champion Heifer with her Chi-Influenced, Ellie won Reserve Supreme Champion Heifer with her Simmental, Jamison Johnston won 3rd overall with his Commercial Heifer, Jamison won 4th overall with his Shorthorn Plus Heifer, and Levi Jessie won 5th overall with his Shorthorn Plus Heifer.
Next was our Showmanship classes. Senior High (9th – 12th grade) winner was Gabe Evans. Junior High (7th – 8th grade) winner was Ellie Beck and Brantley Johnston placed 2nd. Explorer (4th grade) winner was Brendlee Johnston and Levi Jessie placed 2nd. We had 6 Little Britches participants ranging from 7 months to 8 years old. Each of our Little Britches participants received a 1st place ribbon and $5 (donated) for participating in Showmanship.
Then we started our Steer Show. We had two classes of prospect steers (900lbs. or less) and three classes of market steers (900lbs or better). Brantley Johnston and Gabe Evans each had class winners in the prospect steer show. Brantley won Grand Champion Prospect Steer and Gabe Evans won Reserve Champion Prospect Steer. Brantley won 1st in class 3, Brendlee won 1st in class 4, and Brantley won 1st in class 5, with Brendlee winning 2nd in class 5 with their market steers. Brantley won Grand Champion Market Steer (1235 lbs), Brendlee won Reserve Champion Market Steer (1195 lbs), Brendlee won 3rd overall market steer (1265 lbs), Brantley won 4th overall market steer (1140 lbs), and Brantley won 5th overall market steer with his Prospect Steer.
To end the show, we gave out Specialty Awards: Farm Bred & Fed Heifer went to Levi Jessie, Farm Bred & Fed Steer went to Brantley Johnston, Herdsman Award went to Levi Jessie, New Exhibitor Awards went to Levi and Brendlee, and The Dan Campbell Memorial Plaque went to Brantley Johnston for his Grand Champion Steer. We want to congratulate all of our exhibitors on a great show! We are blessed with a great group of 4-H participants, families, and volunteers. We would like to thank Mayor Joe Brooks for coming out to join us and present our Top 5 Heifer and Steer winners with County Certificates! We also want to thank Susan Campbell Harvey and Franklin Harvey for coming to present the Dan Campbell Memorial Plaque! We also had a wonderful crowd attend this year, and we appreciate all of the support we receive within our community for out 4-H programs and members. We want to say “Thank You” to Chris Mackey for coming out to judge our county show this year! We also want to thank our sponsors who donate to our program to help pay for awards and premiums that are presented to our exhibitors each year, so “Thank You,” Claiborne Farm Bureau and Claiborne Livestock Association! We also want to thank Claiborne Livestock Association for donating to pay our judge for traveling from Unicoi County to Claiborne for our show! These exhibitors will travel to Gray, Tennessee, this weekend to participate in The Bristol Steer and Heifer Show, and The Knoxville Spring Junior Cattle Expo at the Appalachian Fairgrounds! We also look forward to seeing these 4-H members show at this Summer (Eastern Region Expo – June 11th, State Expo – July 9th – 11th, and various Fairs)!
