The Grant County Senior Livestock Judging Team won first place at the State 4-H Livestock Judging Contest, held at the Arlington Research Station. The venue allowed for county 4-H livestock judging teams the opportunity to apply their skills in evaluating beef, sheep, swine, and goat classes in hopes of qualifying for a national livestock judging event this fall.
The contest consisted of evaluating eight classes of market and breeding in the animal species of beef cattle, swine, sheep and goats. Junior youth answered three sets of questions and had one set of reasons while seniors delivered three sets of reasons and had one set of questions. These additional pieces further develop observation and decision making skills along with oral communication and logic with their placings.
The winning senior team from Grant County included Cameron Patterson, Madelyn Thornton, Jessica Patterson, and Brendan Jenz and was coached by Dennis Patterson. Grant finished a commanding 56 points in front of their nearest competitor.
Second in the senior contest was Pierce County, with a 29-point advantage over third place Iowa County. Pierce’s runner-up finish earns them a trip to the Western National RoundUp in Denver, CO. Team members Cora Capatske, Jordan Lab, Cadie Asher, and Zach Peterson were coached by Caleb Dressen and Megan Geraets.
The top ten in the senior division were Tyler Schwartz of Juneau County, Cora Capatske, Pierce County, Cameron Patterson of Grant County, Madelyn Thornton of Grant County, Jordan Lamb of Pierce County, Jessica Patterson of Grant County, Grace Kling of Jackson County, Brendan Jentz of Grant County, Ethan Lulich of Juneau County and Hannah Brattlie of Jefferson County.
The junior team from Jefferson County took first, four points ahead of second place Jackson County. Members of the Jefferson team included Gabe Mindemann, Keliah Reu, Gracelynn Dolph and Gavin Boettcher. They were coached by Ed Bielinski. Team members Mindemann took third overall high scoring individual, and Reu took fourth overall high scoring individual.
Jackson County placed second and included team members Alyssa Lindow, Julia Brown, Justin Kling and Brenna Thornson. Jessie Oberlin coached the team. Team members Lindow took fifth overall high scoring individual, Brown took sixth overall high scoring individual, and Kling took seventh overall high scoring individual.
Pierce County took third overall in the contest, with team members Milo Shafer, Tyler Neidermyer, Toby Shafer and Tessa Asher. Team member Shafer took overall high scoring individual.
The top ten juniors overall in the contest were Milo Shafer of Pierce County, Ty Vondra of Iowa County, Gabe Mindemann of Jefferson County, Keliah Reu of Jefferson County, Alyssa Lindow of Jackson County, Julia Brown of Jackson County, Justin Kling of Jackson County, Bella Giza of Chippewa County, Rachel Patterson of Grant County and Johnny Robinson of Iowa County.
Senior teams that placed first and second will go on to represent Wisconsin at national contests including the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, KY, Aksarben Stock Show Contest in Nebraska, and the American Royal contest located in Kansas City.
Sponsors for the State 4-H Livestock contest include: Wisconsin 4-H Foundation, Andis Foundation, Buell Gunderson Memorial, Equity Livestock Coop, UW-Extension, and UW Animal & Dairy Science Departments.
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