NRHEG livestock judges advance to state contest

The five members of the NRHEG FFA livestock judging team won a place at this coming April’s state competition during an October contest in Arlington, where 25 chapters were represented. Team members learned of their accomplishment after returning home; results of their contest, they explain, are not typically announced at the event.

 

Team members are Gus Bethke, Olivia Johnson, Paige Johnson, Abbie Viktora and Lauren Wakefield.

 

Scoring in their “Career Development” category consists of an averaging of the scores each of the five achieve on a test, and their individual success at evaluating six different classes of livestock. Competitors do not know until the animals appear which “class” of livestock will be brought before them. Among the options are market pigs, breeding heifers, dairy steers, breeding ewes, and “keep/cull,” in which team members are shown eight animals and asked for their recommendations as to which should remain part of the herd and which should be sold.

 

Among 105 competitors, all six team members ranked in the top 30, with respective placings of 1, 6, 9, 12 and 29.

 

During competition, team members are divided, so that no two of them are in the same session at the same time. They are shown live animals, but do not touch them.

 

“I didn’t expect to do as well as we did,” comments Abbie Viktora, who is competing in the category for her second year. “But I thought we’d do okay.” Viktora says she is saving her nervousness about the state competition for a bit later in the school year, since the state convention isn’t until April. “But we’re really excited to be going to state.”

 

Gus Bethke observes that evaluations of animal conformation have to rest on the intended use for the animal, but that certain elements, including skeletal structure, and muscle are the starting point for both. Bethke is in his third year in the category; he says competitions may involve some stress, but he also enjoys their social aspects, including meeting new people and making friends.

 

Paige Johnson, who achieved the first-place ranking, is competing in the category for the third year. She says the practice of averaging scores encourages team members to work together and build their skills as a group. “If someone is having a bad day, that can be moderated by other people’s scores,” she observes. She says the team works well together and supports one another.

 

Lauren Wakefield says she likes the competition category because, “you learn principles you can apply. Wakefield is a 4-H member and takes part in the same category there. She has taken show pigs to fair competitions and also lives on a farm where cattle are raised.