HAYS COUNTY STOCK SHOW
In a place most known for the river, mermaids and Texas State University, agriculture and San Marcos are not two words many people associate with one another.
But San Marcos High School students Penelope Soto and Nicandro Quintanilla are trying to flip the narrative, proving that “city kids” can succeed in agriculture.
“When people think of San Marcos, they obviously go straight to Texas State and being a citytype of thing, being so close to San Antonio,” Soto said. “That ‘city’ word is really likely to be thrown around up there. But if you are in San Marcos, you can still have a connection to agriculture. I think it’s important as we have the river down in San Marcos, that is a part of agriculture as well. Just taking care of that and seeing light in the community in other ways.”
Quintanilla agrees, adding how agriculture has a connection with the community.
“San Marcos is a growing city right now but it’s close to the countryside as well,” Quintanilla said. “So having those small little farms on the outskirts of San Marcos help to fortify the agriculture connection here in the city.”
Soto, the 2025-2026 Hays County Livestock Show Queen and Quintanilla, Senior Ambassador, are representing San Marcos at the 2026 Hays County Livestock Show this week.
Representing San Marcos at the Hays County Livestock Show is a big honor for Quintanilla.
“This is actually my first year being in the Hays County Ambassador Program, and that really means a lot, especially for someone coming from a city like San Marcos,” Quintanilla said. “It’s just a really big opportunity to be able to represent my peers and just show them that you can do more for the community than you think.”
For Soto, representing San Marcos at the Hays County Livestock Show not only means honoring her hometown but also honoring her agriculture background.
“It’s just broadcasting our culture on a bigger scale,” Soto said. “When people think of agriculture, they think of the classic animals like cows, horses, sheep and goats, and all of that, but it is much broader than what people think. Being a representative at such a young age in the community is bringing light back to this world and just showing that our culture is sustained and is the base to truly everything in this life.
“If you wake up and eat, you are eating our culture. If you go to the store, you see agriculture all around you. So I think it’s just really heartwarming to show that at such a young age, you can be a role model in this community and stand up for what you believe in.”
Both Soto and Quintanilla will be showing their projects at the stock show this year and will show other major stock shows in Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston.
Quintanilla will be showing rabbits at this year’s show and talked about the unique challenges of raising a rabbit good enough to show.
“It’s learning the conflicts with raising animals,” Quintanilla said. “Rabbits are a very sensitive animal and they rely a lot on their digestive and their nasal use. For me, I had a lot of casualties at the very beginning of starting it. So just asking people around that are very knowledgeable in the rabbit industry can really help you to kind of develop your own project. For me, I find it very interesting because I didn’t grow up doing this kind of stuff, and being able to be around people that do this stuff got me into it.”
A challenge Quintanilla faced was keeping his rabbits at the perfect weight to show.
“One of the main things was figuring out how to, not get them too fat, but keep them at a good weight,” Quintanilla said. “So for me, I don’t like to give them too much feed but enough to where probably about [where they are eating] eight ounces of feed a day. So that kind of gives them that balance of the protein that they need in order to stay consistent but not get too fat.”
Soto enters this year’s stock show showing Angus Cattle.
Being a daughter of a San Marcos cattle rancher, Soto is proud to represent her heritage.
“I’m a second generation Angus rancher, and I truly have a passion for our culture,” Soto said. “Not just our culture but the Black Angus cattle industry. It’s truly where my heart is at. So being able to raise cows, work with animals, being connected to agriculture every day not only just gives me sight of all of the things that I love to do but also getting back to my roots, where I come from and how our culture is just so deeply invested into life.
“It’s really just an experience that every kid should learn. Every kid I think should be in an ag class. I think it’s so important to personal development, as well as both the Earth’s development and the world’s development today. Just bringing light on things that aren’t often brought light to, will just really make the world a better place.”
Show Cattle are one of the most challenging projects to show at the livestock show, let alone showing Angus Cattle, which are known to be difficult to handle.
But having the right frame of mind is the key to success for Soto which in turn can be very rewarding once you enter the show ring.
“Just maintaining the mindset that they are animals,” Soto said. “Cows are not pets. They’re not dogs and they’re not cats. Just maintaining a calm mindset and trying to connect with them, not just on a human-to-animal level, but kind of like a soul time level as well. Whenever you’re showing, you can really just tell if a kid truly has a connection with their cow, if they’re working with them every day and if they are truly the ones that are putting in that work, you can really see it.
“Whenever you get into the ring as a show kid, you just step in the ring and your work is paid off. The judge can really see that you did that work and stuff. So I think just being able to connect with them on a deeper level calms them down and just making that connection really just bonding with them and stuff like that.”
The Hays County Livestock Show is set to start Monday and will last till Saturday concluding with the Auction.
