The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac were selected for particular reasons. Some animals are a bit hard to respect, but the ox is not one of them. The Chinese character for 'ox' could actually rather non-specific. It could refer any species of domesticated bovine, male or female, young or old. Though the zodiac animal is usually depicted as an ox because oxen are so important when it comes to farming. Without them, ancient Chinese farmers couldn't have provided nearly enough food to feed large families. Even today, oxen are important in fields where machines aren't used. As such, it is little wonder that oxen have been depicted several times in Chinese mythology, even if it's only with beings who bear a resemblance to an ox.
As such, the Mister Year of the Ox competition was mostly focused on proving the respected qualities of oxen. Fortunately, the term was not being taken literally as no Animalian would want to be castrated. And as bulls are respected around the world for their great strength, that was the core challenge. And there was little doubt that bull Animalians were built for strength. A lot of it was due to how the cow breed originally present during the Outbreak was the Belgian Blue, resulting in large, muscular bull Animalians. But there were other breeds of bovine participating in the contest.
As could easily be guessed, the bulls were challenged with feats of strength. Most of it was pretty standard heavy lifting, occasionally try to break something with brute force. But the biggest challenge was pulling the plow. It wasn't too large a plow, it was the kind that usually required only one ox to pull. The contestants would wear a harness designed to fit their anthro bodies and pull the plow across a long field. An official would be walking behind the plow to hold it steady as well as keep track of the contestants' progress. The goal was to till a furrow across the field within a certain time limit. Once time was up or the bull was too tired to keep going, the challenge would be finished and the furrow would be measured for length. This was an elimination round, so the ones who made it closer to the end would move on to the final round.
The plow challenge was more difficult as it wasn't just a matter of strength, but endurance. The cold weather would keep the bulls from overheating, but it also made the ground harder. Pulling a heavy plow through frozen soil was not easy, even for a bull Animalian. Quite a few bulls weren't able to get far enough to keep from being eliminated. Even Ulysses Bowman didn't make it to the finals, but he at least prided himself in making a longer furrow than some of the other bulls. He may only be a dairy farmer, but he knew more about farming than they did.
Of the bulls who did manage to make it to the final, the most prominent two were Brawn, who was generally considered the most likely to win, and Nate Bowman, the fan favorite of many. Brawn certainly had more time to train and bulk up than Nate, but Nate hadn't been idle since his conversion. Shuixing had been training him in preparation for the competition and he took the time to exercise when he could. That hard work was enough to make it through to the finals, but it was yet to be seen who'd be Mr. Zodiac this year.