Trailer, animal grooming station win top prizes at Blinn College's Ag Mechanics Show

Contest draws record number of entries

May 3, 2024

Two Blinn College Ag Mechanics Show appearances, two reserve championships for Krista Sifuentes.

Sifuentes, a senior at the Agriculture Science & Technology Academy in Helotas near San Antonio, has entered twice in the highly competitive Blinn College Agricultural Sciences contest and won reserve champion titles each time.

At this year’s contest, held recently at the W.J. “Bill” Rankin Agricultural Complex on the Brenham Campus, Sifuentes entered a 16-by-9-by-12-foot animal grooming station she named the “Powder Puff Extreme.” The station is loaded with features that include a blow dryer, a table that can be adjusted pneumatically, lights, a scale, and a shower. At the 2022 contest, her rotating welding table was reserve champion.

“It took me more than 1,000 hours to build,” she said of her latest project. “I raise all three species (lambs, goats, and cattle) and I was joking that I needed something to blow dry my cattle. And this just kind of came to life. I thought, ‘Why not incorporate lambs and goats into it?’”

The grand champion at this year’s show was a 40-foot dovetail trailer designed and built by West Hardin High School FFA Ag Mechanics members.

The trailer has hydraulic features, a sliding deck, and a variety of uses, said Luke Williams, one of the students who built it. Williams and fellow students Audie Lange, Colten Brackin, and Kade Schroeder took a combined 2,000 hours to complete the trailer.

“You can haul anything you want to,” Williams said. “This is for the school. Any kind of equipment the school has, they can put on it and it’s also a stage for the (homecoming) bonfire.”

The annual contest has dozens of students in Blinn’s Agricultural Sciences Program and volunteer judges helping.

This year’s show was the largest ever, featuring 502 exhibitors from FFA and 4-H clubs, 101 schools, 203 ag teachers, 75 judges, 45 volunteers, and 256 projects entered.

Class winners were:

• Class 1 - First, West Hardin FFA; second, Snook FFA; third, Rudder FFA.
• Class 3 - First, Palacios FFA; second, Austin County 4-H; third, Agriculture Science & Technology Academy FFA.
• Class 4 - First, V.R. Eaton FFA.
• Class 5 - First, Cedar Park FFA; second, Smithson Valley FFA; third, Agriculture Science & Technology Academy FFA.
• Class 6 - First, Blooming Grove FFA; second, Fairfield FFA; third, Georgetown FFA.
• Class 7 - First, College Station FFA; second, Early FFA; third, Rudder FFA.
• Class 8 - First, Mercedes FFA; second, Klein Collins FFA; third, Salado FFA.
• Class 9 - First, Agriculture Science & Technology Academy FFA; second, Porter FFA; third, Evant FFA.
• Class 10 - First, Palacios FFA; second, A&M Consolidated FFA; third, Cuero FFA.
• Class 11 - First, Georgetown FFA; second, Goliad FFA; third, Three Rivers FFA.
• Class 12 - First, Bay City FFA; second, Schulenburg FFA; third, A&M Consolidated FFA.
• Class 13 - First, West Hardin FFA; second, Schulenburg FFA; third, Agriculture Science & Technology Academy FFA.
• Class 14 - First, Athens FFA; second, A&M Consolidated FFA; third, Crockett FFA.
• Class 15 - First, Cuero FFA; second, Blooming Grove FFA; third, Rudder FFA.
• Class 16 - First, Gholson FFA; second, Georgetown FFA; third, Georgetown FFA.
• Class 17 - First, Mercedes FFA; second, Malakoff FFA; third, Milam County 4-H
• Class 18 - First, Forney FFA; second, La Vernia FFA; third, Savoy FFA.
• Class 19 - First, Aubrey FFA; second, La Vernia FFA; third, Navasota FFA.
• Class 20 - First, McLennan County 4-H; second, Lometa FFA; third, Bay City FFA.
• Class 21 - First, Goliad FFA; second, Tomball FFA; third, Georgetown FFA.
• Class 22 - First, Tomball FFA; second, Trinity FFA; third, Snook FFA.
• Class 26 - First, Floresville FFA; second, Cuero FFA; third, Harris County FFA.
• Class 27 - First, Wimberly FFA.

Division winners were:

Division 1
First, Cedar Park FFA; second, V.R. Eaton FFA.

Division 2
First, Agriculture Science & Technology Academy FFA; second, College Station FFA.

Division 3
First, Bay City FFA; second, Georgetown FFA.

Division 4
First, West Hardin FFA; second, Schulenburg FFA.

Division 5
First, Mercedes FFA; second, Goliad FFA.

Division 6
First, Floresville FFA; second, Cuero FFA.

Winner of the welding contest was Wiliam Timmerman, Rudder FFA. The cutting contest winner was Wyatt Ware, Navarro County 4-H.

Blinn’s Agricultural Sciences Program is approximately four times the size of any other two-year agricultural program in the state and is based at the W.J. “Bill” Rankin Agricultural Complex on the Blinn-Brenham Campus. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu/agricultural-sciences.