First Time’s a Charm at Farm Show

Chris Torres
Staff Writer

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Ask anyone showing animals and they will tell you, it’s not just about leading a steer or goat into a ring and seeing if a judge thinks it looks good.

There is a lot of work involved.

And competition, particularly at Farm Show, can be tough.

For Ruby Monn, it’s about “having your game on.” She certainly had it on this week at the Farm Show, in her first year of competition.

Monn, 14, received a master showmanship award showing her Shorthorn steer, Kool.

She also walked away with the lightweight purebred Shorthorn award and the reserve championship in the Shorthorn steer competition.

Ruby, of Shippensburg, has been showing animals ever since she was 9 years old, when she started showing goats at local fairs in Cumberland County. She later got into showing steers.

She actually didn’t hear her name being called on the loudspeaker when they announced she had been named master showman. “It was really noisy. It’s kind of foggy, actually,” she said. “But when I found out, I was really excited.”

Ruby has won some big awards at her local county fair and at the county’s roundup. But winning at Farm Show is, by all estimates, her biggest accomplishment.

What has she learned over the years?

“Just setting his feet. Getting them square, looking at the judge. Those are all important things,” she said.

Ruby’s father, Rodney, has worked with her ever since she told him she was interested in showing animals. Her mother, Jennifer, has also been supportive.

Rodney took over the family farm in the mid-1990s after his parents retired from farming. Tired of the struggles he was going through at the time, trying to pay bills and raise a family, he decided to get out of farming and now rents out most of the farmland.

His older son never expressed an interest in showing animals and eventually went into the Air Force.

Ruby, on the other hand, wanted to show goats. So her father made room for some animals.

“I did this kind of thing in high school so I wanted to teach her,” Rodney said.
One of the things he has focused on teaching Ruby is working with the animal.
“She walks them every morning, every evening,” he said. “It definitely does teach her something about responsibility.”

Ruby has 14 animals she works with — six steers, seven goats, and a horse.
She wants to some day be a veterinarian, so working with animals will no doubt help. But her dad hopes it will also help to pay that dreaded tuition bill he knows is coming.

“All the money goes to college one day,” he said.

Kool sold for $1,500 at the youth livestock sale Tuesday. Considering the family paid $800 for the animal, it’s a pretty good start toward saving for that tuition.