The 2024 contest landed in a new venue- the OKC Fairgrounds Pavilion Building and took up about 80% of the 70,000 square foot building. For the awards ceremony at one end of the building, It was a full house to honor the best of FFA and 4-H competitors who had worked hours and hours on their projects.
Following the awards ceremony for the 5th Annual Ag Mechanics and Engineering show at the Oklahoma Youth Expo, Farm Director KC Sheperd talked with the Overall Grand Champion of the competition, Colten Jones from Shattuck FFA. Jones built a hydraulic flatbed gooseneck trailer that was entered in the gooseneck lowboys and flatbeds category. 3 The trailer was a 6’ long deck gooseneck with
Tandem duals, 10’ hydraulic beaver tail, hydraulic jacks & hydraulic brakes.
“We needed a big trailer to haul farm equipment around on the farm, so I decided to build one for our family,” Jones said.
Jones said it took him 248 hours to build the trailer, with help from his ag teacher and friends at the shop.
Reserve overall was awarded to Tyce Pruitt of the Madill FFA Chapter, who built a 250-gallon smoker mounted on trailer. Bronze overall was awarded to Jackson Voyles of the Thackerville 4-H, who built a set of cattle scales.
Bronze Champion went to Jackson Voyles of the Thackerville 4-H Club as he built a full set of Cattle Scales. The 10 year old 4-Her built a set of swine scales in 2023 and won the Reserve Grand Overall last year- and graduated up to his cattle scales in 2024. (Note- this young man is serious- the logo on his scales proudly announces Jackson Welding- Established 2023!)
To see the full results from the 2024 Ag Mechanics and Engineering show, CLICK HERE.
During the contest- Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays caught up with Superintendent Jerry Renshaw who says the event has grown steadily since the first contest in 2020, from 63 projects in the first year to 235 projects this year. This year’s numbers are up 35 entries from last year. He sees further growth in future years as this event includes a lot of FFA and 4-H members who do not show livestock- expanding the reach and impact of OYE across the state.
Click here to read more and listen to Ron’s visit with Jerry Renshaw.
Click here for the full schedule for the 2024 OYE. The Oklahoma Farm Report team will be snapping pictures from start to finish- and you can see them as we add them to our Flickr album for 2024- available here. If you want to look back to the 2023 OYE- click here for our pictures from last year’s event.
Our coverage of the 2024 Oklahoma Youth Expo is sponsored by Hilliary Communications. More than 60 years ago, the Hilliary Family acquired a small telephone company in rural southwest Oklahoma. Now in its third generation, the company has grown from a single exchange with just 100 access lines covering 22 square miles to now serving more than 19,000 customers in 22 counties throughout Oklahoma & Texas. The company also offers IP television service and internet speeds up to 1 Gig. Click here to learn more about Hilliary Communications.
