Bio: Sandelier, Livia – 2nd in World Dairy Expo Contest (2022)

Transcriber: Stan

Surnames: Sandelier, Ribes

----Source: TRG (Abbotsford, Clark Co., Wis.) 26 Oct 2022

In dairy showmanship, a contestant has to impress a judge with their handling of an animal, walking it around the show ring in a pattern that shows control and a certain level of grace. To prepare for such a contest, an individual can spend months working with their animal, training them to obey their commands and get used to being led around on a halter.

But what happens if you aren’t given that time to prepare?

Chances are, you won’t end up like Livia Sandelier, a 12-year old from Loyal who placed second in the Junior Division of the World Dairy Expo Youth Showmanship Contest on Oct. 2. Described by her mother, Stacy, as a natural in the world of showmanship, Livia competed in a field of 156 contestants from all over the country, claiming the number two spot despite entering the contest at the last minute.

“I’m very proud,” said Stacy about her daughter. “We didn’t decide to do this (participate in World Dairy Expo) until basically the week of ... This was a last minute kind of thing, and I never thought she would do that good. She is a natural, but I never expected this.”

This was the first time that Livia has competed at the World Dairy Expo. Coming from a long line of dairy showmen, Livia has gone with her family to compete at county fairs and other contests across the state for years, usually using animals from their own family farm in the contests. For this show however, Stacy said they were allowed to borrow an animal from a family friend, leading to the unique situation of Livia meeting her show animal for the first time on the day of competition.

“My family has a long history of showing dairy cattle,” said Stacy. “This is something that we have done for years. Every year, we will do a few shows with animals from our family farm, we will show throughout the year. We weren’t planning to go to the World Dairy Expo, but I felt that this would be a good experience with her and she ended up enjoying it. This year our friends the Ribes had their animals down there and they allowed Livia to use one of them in showmanship.”

“This was my first time at the World Dairy Expo,” added Livia on her experience. “I showed a Jersey summer yearling. It behaved really well. I only got to be with it for a few hours before the show, but I walked with it a little bit and got it used to me.” After working with the calf for those precious few hours, Livia set about getting it ready before entering the show. Making sure the animal looked nice even before setting foot in the ring is an important part of showmanship, Livia said, and once you’re in the ring, that same animal must handle itself well while your attention is split between it and the judge.

“I have to train the animal that I want to show in showmanship,” Livia explained. “You get it ready, wash it and work on leading it. Clipping it to make sure it looks nice. (In the ring), you have to focus on the judge and the animal at the same time. Pay attention to how the animal looks and moves, they can’t be swinging their body while you are also focusing on the judge. You are trying to make the animal look as best as you can.” During competition, Stacy said the kids in the Junior Division, all between the ages of nine to 13, were divided into groups of about 25 for several heats of competition. After the first round, a winner was selected from each heat for a final round which had about 30 participants. It was in the final round that Livia placed second overall. “There were over 150 kids in her division,” she said. “They started out with seven heats and each heat had 20 to 25 kids. The judge placed them first to last and the judge decides who moves on. She placed first in her heat and moved on to finals. There were 30 kids in the finals and that is where she placed second. She had to do it twice.” While the prospect of showing an animal she just met that day twice in a row at such a large-scale event would be daunting for most anyone else, for Livia, it wasn’t so scary. That’s because she had her older brother, Deagan, there to guide her and help her overcome her fears. “I wasn’t really nervous,” said Livia. “My older brother gave me a pep talk.” Now that she has the World Dairy Expo behind her, Livia said she still intends on continuing to show animals and may return to the Expo next year to see if she can top the first-time successes of this year. It’s a special opportunity to compete in events like this, she said, and recommends that others give it a chance as well.

“It is a big opportunity for me to be showing at the World Dairy Expo and competing against people from all over,” she said. “So if you have a chance to do something big, go for it.”

Livia Sandelier of Loyal placed second in junior youth dairy showmanship at the recent World Dairy Expo in Madison despite working with an unfamiliar animal.