Blake Proffitt has always liked animals. Now, at 17, he’s building a résumé in the show ring that looks less like a hobby and more like a career path.
Proffitt, a Clarendon County 4-H member and student at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Agriculture at John de la Howe, was named the Overall Grand Champion Senior Poultry Showman at the 2025 South Carolina State Fair. He also earned top placements in rabbit and meat goat competition at fairs around the state this fall, while helping younger showmen – and quietly planning for what he hopes will be a future in agriculture.
At the State Fair in Columbia, Proffitt’s chicken, a hen named Pine Cone, helped carry him to the overall poultry title. He also placed second in the senior division for rabbits with Luna, and showed both dairy goats and meat goats in multiple classes. In the meat goat open doe class, where judges evaluate the animal’s body rather than the exhibitor’s handling, he finished fifth.
That “open doe” placing meant a lot to him because meat goats are new.
“I actually started doing meat goats this year,” he said. “The school has a meat goat show team. They travel around the state in the fall, and I wanted to try it. It was something different that I wanted to kind of do.”
“It was a lot more to learn than I thought it would be, but I had a good time,” Proffitt said.
Until this year, Proffitt had only shown dairy goats. Meat goats are a different type of animal, judged in a different way. Especially in showmanship, where exhibitors are scored on their ability to present the animal in the ring.
For goats, “showmanship” doesn’t mean showmanship the way most people think of it. It’s not smiling at the judge and walking in a straight line. It’s muscle. Literally.
In meat goat showmanship, handlers are expected to “brace” the goat – putting the animal in a strong, squared stance so the judge can evaluate bone and muscle.
“In a meat goat, when you put that goat at a pose position in the ring, their back hind legs have to go in a certain A-framed shape,” Proffitt said. “Their whole body has to sit just right so the judge can see their muscle structure and bone structure. You’re holding their head up. You’re holding their body up. You’re fighting them until they learn to stand that way.”
He laughed and called it “a very physical thing.”
Still, he’s already placing. At the Saluda show, his first time ever showing meat goats, Proffitt finished third in one class and placed fifth in showmanship. He also showed at the Orangeburg County Fair and the South Greenville Fair, entering poultry, rabbits and goats.
Orangeburg was especially meaningful.
The Orangeburg County Fair awards scholarships to senior-level youth exhibitors, funded through the Orangeburg County Farm Bureau and supported by the fair board. Proffitt received $1,100 this year for his work with his dairy goat, rabbit and chicken – money he’s already put aside for future expenses.
“They call it a scholarship, but it’s basically a check they cut to you,” he said. “I put it in a savings account, into all these expenses that I have from all these projects, and then also to help out with college.”
Proffitt said he wants people to know what that support means in real terms.
“It is so, so expensive to do all this stuff, especially for people that do beef and meat goats,” he said. “Orangeburg County has really stepped up. The opportunities that they give, not a lot of fairs are doing.”
His mother, Tina Proffitt, agreed.
“He’s done more fairs this year, and those opportunities have been mainly through the Governor’s School,” she said. “Otherwise he probably wouldn’t have pursued that.”
The Governor’s School, a public, residential agricultural high school in McCormick, near the Georgia line, makes it possible for students to manage animals on campus. Proffitt keeps his goats in the school’s goat barn, his rabbit in the rabbit barn and his poultry in a pen that staff set up specifically for him.
“I’m actually one of the only kids that does poultry there,” he said.
That setup matters because it lets him keep working his animals daily, even though he’s hours from home.
“It’s getting up and feeding them in the morning, and then going after school in the evening to work with them,” he said. “Usually in the evening, everybody goes to the barns. We get our animals out and practice with them. Pins cleaned out. All of that.”
His mother said the work shows in the results.
“He gets better every year,” she said. “If he doesn’t practice, you know, he’s not gonna get better. But when he stays at it, you can see it.”
Proffitt didn’t grow up on a farm. His parents were both involved in youth agriculture programs, 4-H and FFA, growing up in rural Ohio, but as adults they work in tourism and health care, not production agriculture. They don’t keep cattle. They don’t have a big operation. What they had was a kid who wouldn’t let it go.
“We actually got involved in 4-H kind of word of mouth,” Tina Proffitt said. “Somebody told me they were leading a club in Manning. At that time, Mary Margaret McCaskill was the [Clemson] Extension agent, and she was very instrumental in keeping Blake interested in it. And then he’s just continued to pursue the different opportunities.”
Now he’s not just showing, he’s organizing.
For the last two years, Proffitt has helped run a poultry and rabbit show in Clarendon County, hosted at a local farm near Manning. He calls it a “showmanship clinic in a real show setting.” Younger kids get to handle their animals in front of a judge, learn expectations and get comfortable before they ever walk into a fairgrounds arena.
“When you show up at a fair for your very first time with any kind of animal, it’s intimidating,” he said. “The goal is to help them go ahead and know what to expect.”
Around 30 to 40 kids came to the most recent clinic in September, along with their parents. The club held a bake sale. The host farm cooked hot dogs and hamburgers and donated the proceeds back into Clarendon County 4-H. Older 4-Hers helped run parking and manage the ring.
“It’s a leadership thing as well,” Proffitt said. “Everybody benefits. The club, the kids, the county.”
He said he’d love to grow that local show into a fully sanctioned event with sponsors.
“Just having the community step up for the next generation,” he said. “We have another generation of kids that are coming up in our club. Keeping the community aware of what’s going on, and anything they can offer, is always appreciated.”
As for what’s next: more barns, more travel, and maybe, eventually, a career with his name on the gate.
Proffitt will be a senior next year. He’s weighing college options that include Clemson, Oklahoma State, and ABAC — Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Georgia, which is known for its ag programs. He’s leaning toward agribusiness.
“I love to be with animals,” he said. “But I also like to advocate for the ag world and for the 4-H programs.”
He’s even open to becoming an Extension agent one day.
“I could do that,” he said. “People keep telling me I’m a salesman, too — maybe ag sales. Seeds, fertilizer, livestock. There’s lots of things I could see myself doing.”
For now, there’s school. There’s the next show. There’s another early morning in the barn. And there’s his goat, Reba, who is already teaching him patience.
“Maybe next year we’ll see about a cow,” he said.
His mom didn’t miss a beat.
“No,” she said, laughing from off to the side. “He does not need a cow.
