Winter Park FFA wildcat

Shows & Fairs

Raising and showing an animal.

This is the part of agricultural education people picture first, and it is the part families have the most questions about. Here is what it actually involves — the requirements, the real differences between project types, what each species asks of you, and the deadlines it runs on.

Time-sensitive: Central Florida Fair registration for commercial laying hens closes August 14, 2026 — the earliest deadline of the year. Market steer and market goat close September 1. Market swine and lamb close October 2. Register at cffliv.fairwire.com. If any of that interests you, fill out the form below now — not at the first meeting.

Student showing an animal in the ring

Photo credit: TK Photos

Every exhibitor is certified in ethics. Statewide, no exceptions.

Before any student steps into a show ring, they complete the Youth Livestock Show Ethics & Animal Care Workshop. This is not a chapter rule and it is not a Central Florida Fair rule — it is run by the Florida State Fair and required across Florida. Without a certification number, a student cannot exhibit.

The workshop covers the purpose of a youth livestock project, ethics in youth programs, proper handling and management, the difference between animal welfare and animal rights, and how to represent animal agriculture well.

Students register themselves and attend themselves. I will remind you and I will help you pick a date, but the registration is the exhibitor's responsibility, not mine and not your parent's.

Certification lasts three fair seasons, not three calendar years. For 2026–2027, numbers beginning 25, 26, or 27 are current. Already certified? Send a screenshot of your registration receipt to Ms. Paterson, or just tell her your number directly — either way, let her know you're planning to show this year so she can track it. Haven't registered yet? Say so on the form below and she'll help you pick a date.

Your animal needs a health certificate.

Ethics certifies you. A health certificate certifies your animal, and shows require both. It is an official document from a licensed veterinarian — a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection — confirming the animal was examined and is free of disease before it travels to a show.

Every show sets its own requirements, and they differ by species and sometimes by year. Some also require specific tests or vaccinations on top of the inspection. Read the rules for the show you are entering, then book the vet with time to spare — certificates expire, so one issued too early is as useless as one not issued at all.

This costs money and it takes an appointment. Budget for it from the start rather than discovering it the week of the show, and talk to me early if finding a large-animal vet is the obstacle.

Two deadlines, and they are different.

Florida State Fair

Certified by January 18, 2027

Every exhibitor at the 2027 Florida State Fair must hold an ethics number by this date. January 18 is also the final workshop of the season for State Fair exhibitors.

Central Florida Fair

Certified by January 31, 2027

The last Orlando workshop is January 23 — eight days before the deadline. If you are showing at both fairs, the January 18 State Fair date governs.

Where and when.

Workshops run all over the state and you may attend any of them. Additional dates get added through the season, so check the registration site. Zoom classes are not offered.

The closest one to us: Orlando, October 14.

Central Florida Fairgrounds, our home fairgrounds — the easiest one to get to, and the first Orlando session of the season. Pre-registration closes October 11 and it fills fast — this is one of the largest sessions in the state at 200 students, but it still goes.

📍

Orlando — October 14

Central Florida Fairgrounds, Main Exhibit Hall. Our home fairgrounds and the easiest one to get to.

Time
4:00–7:00 PM, arrive 3:30–3:45
Pre-registration closes
October 11, 2026
Capacity
200 students
📍

Orlando — January 23

Central Florida Fairgrounds, Main Exhibit Hall. The last Orlando session of the season.

Time
9:00 AM–12:00 PM, arrive 8:30–8:45
Pre-registration closes
January 21, 2027
Capacity
200 students
🚗

Lutz — October 17

Martinez Middle School cafeteria. About ninety minutes away.

Time
10:00 AM–1:00 PM
Capacity
100 students
🚗

Palmetto — October 31

Manatee County Fairgrounds, Veterans Hall.

Time
9:00 AM–12:00 PM, arrive 8:30–8:45
Pre-registration closes
October 28, 2026
Capacity
200 students
🚗

West Palm Beach — November 1

South Florida Fairgrounds. Doors close at 9:00 AM sharp.

Time
9:00 AM–12:00 PM, arrive 8:30–8:45
Pre-registration closes
October 28, 2026
Capacity
120 students
🚗

Tallahassee — September 19

North Florida Fairgrounds. Pre-registration required — no on-site or late registration.

Time
1:00–4:00 PM
Pre-registration closes
September 16, 2026
Capacity
75 students

Read these rules before you go. People lose their certification over them.

Arrive early. Anyone more than ten minutes late is not permitted to sign in and does not receive a number. No appeal.

Sign in and sign out, with times. Miss either signature and you are ineligible, even if you sat through the whole class.

Stay to the end. Leaving early means no sign-out, which means no number.

Register one exhibitor at a time, and only for one workshop — registering for several holds seats other students need. Do not register adults.

Save the email. Your certification number arrives within three to five business days and it will not be resent. Screenshot it, forward it to a parent, and send it to me.

Ages 8–18 as of September 1. Parents are encouraged to stay — trainers teach, they do not supervise.

Register at FloridaStateFairAg.com — that is the official registration site for every workshop in the state, wherever it is held. Program overview: FL Ethics Certification Program →. Questions about the ethics program go to Emily Smith at Ethics@FloridaStateFair.com. To cancel a registration, email that same address.

Florida State Fair

A separate fair, on a separate clock.

Tampa, February 4–15, 2027. The State Fair is not part of the Central Florida Fair and shares none of its deadlines, entries, or paperwork. Students may show at both, but that means running two sets of requirements side by side — which is entirely doable if you plan it in August rather than discovering it in December.

What's different

Its own everything.

  • Separate entry process with its own fall deadlines.
  • Ethics certified by January 18 — earlier than the Central Florida Fair's January 31.
  • Larger classes and deeper competition. This is the state-level show.
  • Achievement points and premiums operate on the State Fair's own system.

Where to look

Official sources.

Entries, rules, premium books, and ethics registration all live on the fair's own sites.

FloridaStateFairAg.com →
Agriculture programs →
Competitions & shows →

Thinking about both fairs? Tell me on the form below and we will map the two calendars together before anything is entered. The overlap is manageable; the surprise is not.

Choose Your Project

Market or breeding — the difference matters.

This is the single decision that confuses new families most, and it shapes the cost, the timeline, and what happens at the end. Read both before deciding.

Market Project

Raised, shown, and sold.

You purchase a young animal, feed and care for it to a target weight over several months, and show it against other market animals. At the end of the fair, market animals are sold at auction and enter the food supply.

  • Judged on: muscling, finish, structure, and how well the animal will perform as a meat product.
  • Ends with: the auction. The animal does not come home. Students should understand this clearly before starting.
  • Timeline: one season, start to finish.
  • Money: higher up-front cost for the animal and feed, with auction proceeds returning at the end. Many students fund the next year's project from it.
  • Best for: a student who wants the full production cycle and a real financial record for their SAE.

Breeding Project

Kept, shown, and built on.

You purchase or lease a breeding-quality female, show her on her structure and genetic merit, and take her home afterward. She can be shown again in future years and can become the foundation of a small herd or flock.

  • Judged on: conformation, soundness, and breeding potential — how good a mother she will be.
  • Ends with: going home with you. No auction.
  • Timeline: multi-year. The same animal can show across several seasons.
  • Money: no auction check, but the animal retains value and can produce offspring. A longer-horizon investment.
  • Best for: a student who wants to build something that lasts past one fair, and who has year-round housing.
Not sure yet? Good. That is the honest answer for most first-year families, and it is exactly what the conversation before sign-up is for. Check "not sure" on the form and we'll work through it together.

Species

What each project asks of you.

Student competing in showmanship

Space, daily time, and cost vary enormously across species. Costs shift year to year with feed and market prices, so the figures below are relative rather than exact — ask me for current numbers before committing to anything.

Be realistic about what you actually have access to. Most families here live somewhere with HOA restrictions, not acreage — and that's completely fine. Chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, and sometimes a turkey are workable in most yards and are exactly where most students should start. Market steer, swine, and lamb & goat require boarding an animal off school property for a season, which only makes sense if your family already has that kind of space lined up — it is the exception here, not the expectation. Showing an animal is one path into this program. It is not the only one, and it is not the point of it.
Do not buy an animal before talking to Dr. Paterson. Before any purchase, you must have a signed barn contract with Dr. Paterson and have discussed the specific animal with her first. Large market animals — steer and swine — must be kept off-site. They cannot be kept on school property, full stop. Finding that off-site housing is the student and family's responsibility, not the chapter's or the advisor's. Do not commit to an animal before you already have somewhere lined up to keep it. For market and breeding steer, swine, and lamb & goat projects, the animal must come from a reputable breeder and be purebred with papers — not every animal at every sale is show quality, and this is how we make sure yours is. This requirement does not apply to poultry, rabbits, or cavies. There will be a mandatory livestock meeting before any purchases happen — watch the calendar for the date.
Any animal kept on campus is for show purposes only, and must be purebred. If it's part of the breeding program, market animals must meet the rules and regulations of whichever program they're entered in — Central Florida Fair or Florida State Fair — since the two aren't identical. Before signing up for any show, students must talk to Ms. Paterson first, and then send her proof of what they registered for. This isn't optional paperwork — it's how she keeps track of who's showing what, where, and when.
Market steer in the show ring
🐄

Market Steer

The largest commitment in every direction, and the most rewarding for a student who is genuinely ready for it. Market classes are judged as a commercial meat animal, not on breed — so unlike a breeding project, the breed itself doesn't matter here. Talk to me about what's realistic for your situation.

Space
Barn or pen with shade, off school property
Daily time
Highest — feeding, working, and washing
Cost
Highest of any species
Starts
Earliest — often a year ahead
Student showing a market hog
🐖

Market Swine

The most common first market project. Shorter feeding period and a manageable jump into the ring.

Space
Pen with shade and shelter, off school property
Daily time
Moderate
Cost
Moderate
Starts
Several months before the show
Young goats

Lamb & Goat

Smaller animals a student can handle independently, with real showmanship demands. Strong first large-animal option.

Space
Small pen with shelter
Daily time
Moderate — includes exercise
Cost
Moderate
Starts
Several months before the show
Backyard chickens with eggs

Poultry

The most accessible entry point. Low cost, short timeline, and a genuine competitive project — not a consolation prize. Unlike the larger species, chickens may stay on campus — no off-site housing required.

Space
Small coop or hutch
Daily time
Low
Cost
Lowest
Starts
Weeks, not months

Register at cffliv.fairwire.com →

Rabbit and guinea pig

Rabbit & Cavy

Small, quiet, and suburban-friendly. Excellent for a student without land who still wants an animal project.

Space
Hutch — workable at most homes
Daily time
Low
Cost
Low
Starts
Weeks, not months
No land? You still have options. Poultry, rabbits, and cavies work at an ordinary house. For the larger species, off-site housing has to already be lined up before you commit to an animal — finding it is the student and family's responsibility, not the chapter's. If housing is what's holding you back, poultry, rabbits, and cavies remain real, competitive projects that don't need any land at all.

Deadlines

Registration closes in the fall. Some of it before school starts.

These are the actual Central Florida Fair dates for 2026–2027. They are set by the fair and they do not move. The single most common way a family loses a year is assuming this gets decided in the winter.

If you want a market steer or market goat, you have until September 1.

Registration for both opened August 1, 2026 — before school started — and closes September 1, 2026, three weeks into the school year. Steer weigh-in and ownership date follow on September 12.

If either is on your mind, contact me now rather than waiting for a meeting.

🐄

Market Steer

Registration opens
August 1, 2026
Registration closes
September 1, 2026
Weigh-in & ownership
September 12, 2026
🐐

Market Goat

Registration opens
August 1, 2026
Registration closes
September 1, 2026
Tag-in & ownership
December 9, 2026
🐖

Market Swine

Registration opens
September 1, 2026
Registration closes
October 2, 2026
Tag-in & ownership
December 12, 2026

Market Lamb

Registration opens
September 1, 2026
Registration closes
October 2, 2026
Tag-in & ownership
December 9, 2026

Commercial Laying Hens

Registration opens
August 1, 2026
Registration closes
August 14, 2026
Drawing & pick-up
August 15 & September 12

Register →

Breeding & Small Stock

Prospect steer, purebred poultry, meat doe, breeding ewe, rabbit, cavy, breeding beef.

Registration opens
November 16, 2026
Registration closes
January 15, 2027

The rest of the year.

  1. October 14 — Ethics workshop in Orlando, 4:00 PM

    Pre-registration closes October 11. Other statewide dates are listed above.

  2. December 9 & 12 — Tag-in

    Lamb and goat on the 9th, 6–7 PM. Swine on the 12th, 8–11 AM. Ownership dates lock here.

  3. January 15 — Breeding and small stock registration closes

    Also the deadline for rabbit and cavy lease submissions and Fair Buddies.

  4. January 23 — Last Orlando ethics workshop, 9:00 AM

    Pre-registration closes January 21. Central Florida Fair certification deadline is January 31; Florida State Fair is January 18.

  5. January 31 — February 3 — Scholarships and paperwork

    CFF and four memorial scholarships close. Report cards, IEP, and academic exception forms due February 3.

  6. February 8 — Record books due

    All record books to the Fair Office. This is not negotiable and it is not late-accepted.

  7. February 27 — Skill-A-Thon

    9 AM to noon, with rabbit, cavy, and poultry cage set-up in the afternoon.

  8. March 2–14 — The fair

    Check-ins, showmanship, shows, and the market auction on March 14 at 2 PM.

  9. April 2 — Thank-you letters due

    Buyer and add-on letters. Every day late costs $20 off the sale check, and a student who never sends one is suspended from showing for a year.

These are Central Florida Fair dates only. The Florida State Fair runs its own separate schedule — see the section above.

Central Florida Fair livestock →  ·  Florida State Fair youth agriculture →

The Show Circuit

Two kinds of competition, and the difference matters.

Not every event a Winter Park student competes in counts the same way, and knowing which is which shapes how you spend a season.

FFA Sanctioned

These earn FFA points.

Events on the official Florida FFA calendar — CDEs, LDEs, conferences, and state events. Results feed degrees, awards, and chapter recognition. On our calendar these appear in dark gold.

The 2026–2027 official FFA calendar publishes shortly; those dates go up as soon as it does.

Show Circuit

These don't — and they still matter.

The fairs and jackpot shows: Central Florida Fair, Florida State Fair, Rock Your Stock, Swine Down in O-Town, and the independent judging contests. No FFA points, real premiums and real experience. On our calendar these appear in green.

We compete in all of them.

Jackpots, State Fair, CFF — the difference at a glance.

All three are Show Circuit events, but they're not interchangeable. Here's what actually separates them.

Jackpot Shows

What it is
A standalone one-day or weekend show. You enter, show, and go home.
Auction
None
Commitment
Single event — no season, no deadline months out
Cost
Just the entry fee
Best for
Practice, a first look at a ring, deciding if showing is for you

Central Florida Fair

What it is
Our home fair — Orlando, a full season-long commitment ending in a live show
Auction
Yes, for market animals
Commitment
A season: tag-in, ownership deadlines, ethics certification, feeding through to fair week
Cost
Animal, feed, entry — auction proceeds return at the end for market projects
Best for
The chapter's main event of the year

Florida State Fair

What it is
Tampa, a separate state-level fair with its own deadlines and paperwork
Auction
Yes, for market animals
Commitment
Runs alongside CFF, not instead of it — earlier ethics deadline (January 18)
Cost
Similar structure to CFF, separate entry fees
Best for
Deeper competition, students who want both fairs on their record

Jackpot shows.

A jackpot show is a standalone competition outside the fair system — you enter, you show, you compete for cash and awards, and you go home. No auction, no ownership deadline, no season-long commitment. For a first-year exhibitor they are the single most useful thing you can do between buying an animal and walking into the fair.

Many of these are a single day or one weekend.

Jackpots come in every size. Some run three days across several species; plenty — the Barnyard Bash among them — are a one-day or one-weekend event you drive to in the morning and are home from by evening.

That makes them the lowest-barrier way into showing there is. You do not have to commit to a full market season to enter one. A student who wants to find out whether any of this is for them can do a single-day jackpot first and decide afterward — which, for a chapter where almost nobody has shown before, is exactly the right order to do it in.

Rock Your Stock Mandatory

January 8–10, 2027 • Central Florida Fairgrounds

Three days, roughly eight weeks before the fair — close enough that what you learn is still fresh. Required for every WPFFA student showing cattle, sheep, or goats.

  • Friday, January 8 — Livestock Judging & Goats
  • Saturday, January 9 — Sheep
  • Sunday, January 10 — Cattle

Event details & entry →

Eastside Barnyard Bash Mandatory

Date & entry details on Showman

A one-day, one-weekend jackpot hosted by Orange County 4-H. Required for every WPFFA livestock team member, all species. Watch the calendar for the confirmed date once it's added.

Event details & entry →

October 30–31, 2026

Swine Down in O-Town

A two-day swine jackpot at the Central Florida Fairgrounds, early in the season — well before December tag-in. Good timing for a first-year hog exhibitor to find out what a ring actually feels like.

Why these two aren't optional. Every other jackpot on this page is exactly that — a jackpot, entirely up to the student and family. Rock Your Stock and Eastside Barnyard Bash are the exceptions: Rock Your Stock is required for cattle, sheep, and goat exhibitors, and Eastside Barnyard Bash is required for the whole WPFFA livestock team, every species. Both are the closest thing we have to a shared pre-fair dress rehearsal.

Why a first-year exhibitor should do one.

Everything that goes wrong in a show ring goes wrong the first time: the animal won't set up, you lose the judge, you don't know where to stand, you brace at the wrong moment. Finding that out at a jackpot in January costs you an entry fee. Finding it out in March costs you the year you spent feeding.

Jackpots are also where you meet the other exhibitors. For a chapter with no upperclassmen to learn from, that matters more here than it would anywhere else.

Friday's livestock judging is its own contest — separate from the FFA Livestock Evaluation CDE, and it does not carry FFA points. It is still excellent practice on the same skill set, so students on the judging team should be there whether or not they own an animal.

More single-day and weekend jackpots run across Central Florida through the season than are listed here, and new ones get announced with only a few weeks' notice. Tell me you're interested and I'll pass them along. Entry fees, class lists, and closing dates are set by each show — and remember these are optional events you enter and travel to on your own.

Registration & Forms

Where the paperwork actually lives.

Registration happens on the Central Florida Fair's own site, not through the school. Everything below comes from the fair — we help you complete it, but the deadlines and the forms are theirs. Start at the page matching your project type.

Market Projects

Youth Market Exhibitors

Steer, swine, lamb, goat, and commercial laying hens. Register, sign up for ethics, and download the forms here.

  • Market Animal Entry Form
  • Ethics class sign-up
  • CFF Bill of Sale
  • Orange County Born Affidavit
  • Chute / Stand Request Form
  • AIN Submission Form
  • 2.0 Academic Exception Form

Forms & info →  ·  Register at cffliv.fairwire.com →

Breeding & Small Stock

Youth Breeding Exhibitors

Breeding beef, breeding sheep and goats, purebred poultry, rabbits, and cavies.

  • Breeding exhibitor registration
  • Ethics class sign-up
  • Rabbit / Cavy Lease form
  • Poultry Breed & Variety List
  • Chute / Stand Request Form
  • Report card, homeschool, IEP, and 2.0 submissions
  • Fair Buddies registration

Forms & info →  ·  Register at cffliv.fairwire.com →

Join the GroupMe for your species. Actually do this.

The fair runs its exhibitor communication through GroupMe — separate groups for market steer, market swine, market lamb and goat, poultry, beef breeding, rabbit and cavy, and breeding sheep and goats. Schedule changes, weigh-in reminders, and last-minute corrections go out there first.

The join links are on the registration pages above. A family that skips this step is the family that finds out about a time change from somebody else's parent in the barn aisle.

Questions the fair has to answer, not us: Jacqueline Stough, Livestock & Education Manager — Jacki@centralfloridafair.com or (407) 735-4914. Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 W Colonial Dr, Orlando.

Anything about our chapter — whether a project is right for you, cost, housing, transport — comes to me first. Talk to me before you register, and send me proof of what you signed up for once you do.

Show Ring Attire

The fair's dress code is not the same as Official Dress.

Central Florida Fair sets its own show ring dress requirements, separate from FFA Official Dress — and they apply to every exhibitor, whether or not they're an FFA member.

  • FFA members wear standard Official Dress, as defined in the Official FFA Manual.
  • Other agricultural youth organization members (4-H, etc.) wear black pants (no blue jeans, no skinny jeans) and a white, long-sleeve, button-up collared shirt, tucked in.
  • Pants go on the outside of the shoe. Belts and bolos/ties are required.
  • Closed-toe brown or black boots above the ankle are required. Athletic shoes, sneakers, and boat shoes (Sperry's) are not acceptable.
  • Exception: poultry exhibitors are permitted to wear solid black athletic shoes with Official Dress.
  • No hats may be worn in the show ring.
Check your shoes and pants length before fair week, not the morning of. These rules get enforced at the gate, and "I didn't know" doesn't get you back in with sneakers on.

Sign Up

Tell me you're interested.

This is not a commitment and nothing is purchased off this form. It tells me who to sit down with, where things stand on housing, and who still needs ethics certification. Answer honestly — "I don't know" is useful information here.

4-H, a middle school program, another county, a breed association — anything counts.
Required before you can show. If you already have it, we'll confirm it's current instead of repeating it.
This has to already be lined up before committing to a large-species animal — finding housing is the student and family's responsibility, not the chapter's. Answering no just tells me a large-species project isn't realistic yet, not that it's off the table forever.
Check as many as you like. Nothing here is binding.
Your animal will need a health certificate from a licensed vet before it can travel to a show. Not having one yet is fine — it just means we start looking earlier.
Cost concerns, transportation, scheduling, an animal you already own — anything.
Cost should never be the reason you don't ask. There are fundraising options, project sponsorships, and species at every price point. Fill this out and email me — that conversation stays between us.