Hayden Schroeder of Early High School first stepped into a livestock show ring at the age of 5.  Fast forward to 2020 and his sophomore year at Early, Hayden has had an amazing couple of months, not only showing Market Goats at major shows, but winning at the shows.

The first win came at the American Royal in Kansas City.

“I won Grand Champion Market Goat at Kansas City.  That was my third time in a row to win that so that was a pretty big deal.  I was super surprised.  We knew we brought a good one and were hoping for the best and the best truly happened,” Hayden said.

Hayden is shown in Louisville, Kentucky

From Kansas City to Louisville, Kentucky for the North American International Livestock Exposition.

“I was Reserve Grand Champion in Market Goats there.  The year before I’d won that one, too.  That was a big deal for us too, coming off back to back big wins like that, because Louisville is every bit as big as Kansas City, if not bigger, so they’re both really, really exciting for our program,” Hayden said.

The program he referred to is Blue Team Wethers in Zephyr, operated by Jamie Smith, in association with Joe Raff of Iowa Park.  Blue Team Wethers has also supplied winning goats for many other students over the years.  Hayden said he has 10 goats and 11 lambs on feed right now that he will take to stock shows in Brown County, Oklahoma, San Angelo, Houston, San Antonio and Austin in the coming months.

Hayden is a member of Brown County 4-H and Early FFA.  His parents are Deana Smith and Jamie Smith.  He plays football and baseball for the Early Longhorns.