ET livestock expo kicks off today

The third annual East Texas Junior Invitational Livestock Expo begins today at Kiepersol Estates, with a Family Fun Night scheduled Friday and the sale of champions Saturday.

Integrity, honesty, morality and ethics in educating today's youth is a main priority of this show, according to organizers. All monies raised from this show will go into a general scholarship fund. In the show's first year, four graduating seniors were rewarded with $1,000 scholarships, and one senior student received a $10,000 scholarship.

Organizers have incorporated a commission on the sale animals that will provide for personal scholarships as well as a general scholarship fund to support all qualified senior agriculture students who want to pursue a college education.

In addition to show events, the Family Fun Night begins at 6 p.m. Friday.

The culminating event is the sale of champions, which gets under way 2 p.m. Saturday.

The morning schedule today includes check in and weigh in for various shop, home economics and livestock projects.

The afternoon schedule of judging is roasters at 1 p.m., rabbits at 4 p.m., lambs at 5 p.m. and home ec projects at 5 p.m.

Friday morning's judging begins with market steers at 8 a.m., market hogs at 10 a.m. and commercial heifers at 11 a.m. Shop project judgins begins at 9 a.m.

A home economics silent auction (food division) is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Beef heifer check in is noon to 2 p.m. Friday, with market goat judging at 1 p.m. and beef heifer judging at 3 p.m.

Saturday begins with the check in of breeding rabbits from 7:30-8 a.m. and judging at 8:15 a.m. Livestock judging contest check in is from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

Livestock judging begins at 9:30 a.m.

A silent auction for home economics and shop projects begins at noon and continues until 2 p.m. when the sale of champions gets under way.