County Fair Feature: Styvar strives for exhibiting excellence

Brylee Styvar of Gillette has made a name for herself and learned a lot throughout the past 10 years exhibiting livestock through Boots and Buckles 4-H Club and Campbell County FFA.

The 18-year-old recent graduate of Campbell County High School will split her summer between getting livestock ready for fair and preparing to serve as president of the 2026-27 Wyoming FFA State Officer Team.

Early love

Brylee got her start showing when she was young, with the help of her parents Casey and Stephanie Styvar and the surrounding community.

“My dad is an ag teacher at Campbell County High School, so I got into showing sheep with the help of some of his FFA students by going out on project visits and helping them work with their animals,” Brylee explains.

She has shown sheep, cattle and hogs at both the Campbell County Fair and Wyoming State Fair (WSF) but says sheep are undoubtedly her favorite. In fact, her earliest showing memories are of exhibiting sheep in Pee Wee Showmanship classes at the county fair.

“I did Pee Wee Showmanship at the county fair when I was super young and just kind of fell in love with sheep personalities,” Brylee says. “Sheep are really fun to show and to hang out with, and they all have a ton of personality.”

Over the years, Brylee has worked hard to build up her showing skills and her sheep herd. Three years into showing as a 4-H member, she started a club lamb operation called Styvar Livestock, and today, she has seven ewes in addition to her market lambs.

Family affair

Showing livestock has long been a family event for the Styvars. Brylee’s younger brother Korbin also shows animals, and this year, the siblings have all four species in the barn between the two of them.

Brylee plans to exhibit five market lambs and two hogs this year and notes traveling to county fair, WSF and different jackpots serves as quality family time.

“Instead of going on vacation, spending time in the barn and working animals is our family time,” Brylee says. “It’s really enjoyable and a lot of fun.”

Brylee enjoys looking back at memories and photos from past fairs, observing changes in both livestock quality as the program grows and industry standards throughout the years.

She describes last show season as “an awesome year,” having earned honors in several categories at the 2025 WSF, including exhibiting the Reserve Champion Lamb in the Champion of Champions Showcase and being named Grand Champion FFA Showman. 

Although she enjoys seeing her hard work pay off, Brylee says supporting others is most important to her. Her favorite part about county fair is helping younger members learn about showing and seeing them find their own success and enjoyment in the show ring.

“My favorite thing is watching others succeed and achieve their goals,” Brylee says. “It’s so much more fun to celebrate others’ successes rather than just my own.”

Blazing a trail

Brylee’s dedication to agriculture has led her to many opportunities, including being elected president of the 2026-27 Wyoming FFA State Officer Team.

“FFA has created a ton of friendships and has essentially been a family to me,” Brylee comments. “With my dad being an ag teacher, it’s something I’ve always been a part of. I’ve enjoyed seeing students who join FFA achieve their goals, figure out what they want to achieve in the future and find a way to prosper.”

Brylee plans on keeping agriculture in her life throughout her own future, with plans to attend Casper College and study ag business and animal science while competing on the livestock judging team in the fall. 

She hopes to someday become an ag teacher, a ruminant nutritionist or a livestock geneticist and says she would do all three if she could.

She also expresses gratitude for the many opportunities being involved with showing and agriculture have given her. 

“The thing I love most about being a part of the show industry in Wyoming is being able to make different connections with people from across the state while learning, growing and creating a path for my future,” she says.

Grace Skavdahl is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.