From Calf to Show Ring
Makayla Comer is a junior at Catoctin High School and a member of the Future Farmers of America (FFA). She is serving as the 2025-2026 Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show Ambassador and currently serves as Social Media Coordinator. In this monthly series, Comer will take readers behind the scenes of what it takes to raise both market and breeding cattle, sharing her journey as she prepares to show at the Carroll County Fair and the Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show in 2026. Comer and her family own and operate a cattle farm in Rocky Ridge, Maryland. Readers are invited to follow along as she shares the dedication, responsibility, and hard work involved in raising cattle.
. For my 2026 Market and Breeding projects, all animals were born and bred on my farm. The steer I plan to take to the Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show in September is a Maintainer named Fort Worth. Fort Worth was born on March 25, 2025, and was the last calf born on my farm in 2025. I also plan to bring two heifers to the community show. My Maintainer heifer, Montana, and my Shorthorn Plus heifer, Daytona.
Carroll County Fair was not that long ago, and this year, I had a great turnout from the fair. On Monday, August 3, I had the heifer show, where Daytona came out to be Champion Shorthorn Plus Heifer and Champion Bred and Owned Shorthorn Plus Heifer. Montana was Champion Bred and Owned A.O.B. Heifer, and Fort Worth was Champion Bred and Owned Maintainer Steer. Overall, I had a great turnout at the Carroll County Fair. At the end of August, I will be at the Maryland State Fair exhibiting those three again, along with my bull Sasquatch. Once the State Fair is over, I will be at the Community Show, taking Fort Worth for his last go-around in the show arena. I hope to see you all there! The Community Show is September 11 through September 13. On Friday night, I will be at the Cake Auction, handing off my Ambassador title to the new 2026 Community Show Ambassador.
If you have been reading along since I started writing and talking about the process of raising a show cow, then you have probably seen the changes in the cows themselves. One way you have noticed the changes is by the way they look, which is achieved by feeding. As my county fair is Carroll County, the minimum weight for the market animal is 1,200 pounds and the maximum is 1,500. My goal is mainly to make them eligible for the Carroll County Fair. If they are not eligible for the Carroll County Fair, they will then be shown and sold at the Community Show.
When you first get your calf, you want to start feeding out slowly. You want them to gain weight, but not too much weight. After we weigh them in for the fair, we then start to put more feed onto them. A way to put more feed on them is by having a higher percentage feed or feeding more. We feed 12 percent protein sweet feed. We get all of our feed and supplements from Farmers Cooperative. One thing I see the most when going to shows is people who have steers that meet the minimum weight in April. That can be good and bad. It shows that your animal is eating enough, but you could also go over weight and be too heavy for your fair. One time, we had a steer at a show that was at the maximum weight in May and then was grass-fed for a few months to lose weight. Doing that will make your steer lose its shape. To prevent this from happening, you should watch what you feed and how much you feed.
Next stop is the state fair and the community show! I hope to see everyone at the Thurmont & Emmitsburg Community Show in September!
Pictured from left: Judge, Danette Comer, Daytona, Makayla Comer (Showman).
Makayla Comer and Fort Worth in Showmanship.
