As teams started to trickle into The Tanbark Sunday night, the air was filled with anticipation and excitement as they awaited the results from the day’s judging contests. Post-secondary teams had the opportunity to put their skills to the test as they judged 12 classes of cattle in the Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Jersey, Holstein, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn, and Red and White breeds. These dairy cattle enthusiasts also competed in an oral reasons contest that tested their speaking skills. By the end of the day, it was clear that one college stood out from the rest as the results were revealed.

Modesto Junior College (MJC) was a name that rang out repeatedly at the awards banquet. MJC managed to cinch the first-place spots as a team in four out of the seven breeds, including Guernsey, Holstein, Ayrshire, and Milking Shorthorn. As the Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) captured first place rankings as a team in the Jersey and Brown Swiss classes, MJC followed closely in second in both categories.

This group of highly skilled individuals consisted of Lauryn Young, Jon Chapman, Logan Silveira, and Teresa Sousa. Young was a key member of the team, placing in the top five in six out of the seven breeds on her way to earning top individual overall and top individual for oral reasons. Silveira held his own, placing first in both the Ayrshire and Guernsey categories. Chapman helped lead the team to victory by placing in the top five in five out of the seven breeds, including scoring the first-place individual spot in the Holstein division.

MJC secured first place spots as a team in reasons and overall. They were coached by Nicole Morris. SUNY-Cobleskill trailed behind in second as a team overall, while Ohio State ATI came in second to MJC in the reasons standings.

Overall, Ohio State ATI was third, Michigan State Ag Tech was fourth, and SUNY-Morrisville was fifth.

It was a close battle between Young and Lauren Homan of Ohio State ATI when it came to individual overall standings, with Homan closely following Young in second. Homan also came in third in reasons. When it came to placings only standings, Luke Enyart of SUNY-Cobleskill snatched first place, while Silveira of MJC captured second place.

Earning fourth place in the individual reasons category was Emma Givens of Ohio State ATI, with Bette Eggink of Michigan State Ag Tech following in fifth. Coming in third for individual overall standings was Elizabeth Scheiferstine of SUNY-Cobleskill, who was second in reasons, followed by Eggink in fourth and Allison Gabel of SUNY-Cobleskill in fifth.

In the practical contest, Ohio State ATI earned the top prize. Iowa State University was second, and Kansas State University was third.

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Jenna Byrne is an associate editor for Hoard’s Dairyman. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2022, majoring in agricultural business with an emphasis in communications and marketing. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Neillsville, Wis.