For nearly 225 youth, the first stop in their summer cattle show season will be the Minnesota Junior Spring Classic this weekend in Austin.

The sixth annual show will be held April 12-14 at the Mower County Fairgrounds, and this year’s committee is again expecting record numbers of youth to attend this livestock education weekend. In 2012, it again saw an increase in cattle numbers with 353 head shown by nearly 220 exhibitors.

This year, Sullivan Supply’s Stock Show University and Purina Animal Nutrition will host a boot camp; educating juniors about nutrition, livestock care, showing and fitting for their livestock. The organization will hold a clipping demonstration, and Chad Zehnder, feed consultant for Purina Animal Nutrition, will present on livestock nutrition. Participants will get hands-on showmanship advice from past cattle showmen. The show will award two $500 scholarships to graduating high school seniors or college-age exhibitors. Rosen’s Diversified Inc. sponsors the scholarship.

The weekend-long event will begin with registration on Friday afternoon, which will continue until 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The boot camp will be held Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., with lunch for all attendees.

Showmanship will be at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The show will start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

Exhibitors can visit minnesotajsc2013.eventbrite.com or mail paper entries to Tom Pierson, 4365 County Road 10 N, Watertown, MN 55388. Juniors only participating in the boot camp are encouraged to pre-register as well. Visit www.minnesotajsc.com for more information. Mention the Minnesota Junior Spring Classic to get group rates at local hotels.