Daniel De León: The poultry judging graduate student
When picturing the “cattle barn” at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, it is not a stretch to imagine a barn filled with youth exhibitors, spectators and cattle. While the exhibitors and spectators are a constant throughout the multi-week show, the species found in the barn is not.
On Feb. 8, a winding trail of white feathers littering the artificial turf inside the cattle barn led to poultry judge Daniel De León hard at work selecting the top birds.
De León, a doctoral student in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Poultry Science, awaited the market turkey hen exhibitors at the annual major livestock show.
Although De León, a first-generation college student, will graduate with a doctorate in May, a piece of his heart still lies in judging poultry.
Paving the way
De León grew up in Hondo, a San Antonio-area town of 8,289 people. He did not compete with his first animals until eighth grade when he became involved with FFA.
“One of my ag teachers asked, ‘What do you show?’” De León recalled. “I didn’t know what he was talking about.”
A switch flipped for De León once he was introduced to poultry judging. His skills quickly earned him a $10,000 scholarship from the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. De León was on his way to college – something he never expected to happen.
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