Louisville, Ky., was host to the North American International Livestock Exposition dairy judging contests this past weekend. Cattle judging took place on Saturday, and the awards breakfast was held on Sunday morning. There was some jockeying for position since the last national judging contests were held at World Dairy Expo. Florida 4-H was second, Ohio State ATI was third, and Purdue was fourth in their respective divisions just a month ago before topping the competition in Louisville.
The high individuals in the youth (4-H and FFA combined), two-year college, and university contests were Josh Larson of Florida 4-H, Lauren Homan of Ohio State ATI, and Morgan Stone of Purdue University. Larson, who did not win an individual breed, possessed an overall five-point advantage over Logan Harbaugh of Wisconsin 4-H in the youth division. A 20-point margin was seen by Lauren Homan over Lauryn Young in the two-year college division. This was a switch from World Dairy Expo. Stone distanced herself by 24 points from her nearest competitor in the University division. The top overall individuals receive a special honor – the George Heersche, Jr. Award, named for the long-time dairy extension specialist and contest organizer.
Team recognitions
Florida 4-H topped Wisconsin 4-H by six points, followed by Minnesota 4-H in third, Iowa 4-H in fourth, and Ohio 4-H in fifth. There were 19 4-H and FFA teams.
Ohio State ATI bested Modesto Junior College (California) by 11 points. SUNY-Cobleskill, Michigan State University Ag Tech, and SUNY-Morrisville followed.
Twelve points was the margin of victory for Purdue University as they edged out their neighbor, The Ohio State University. Iowa State University took third, followed by Penn State University in fourth, and Virginia Tech in fifth. Thirteen university teams competed.
Back: Irene Nielsen (7th), Iowa State; Brady McCumons, The Ohio State, Adria Russell, Penn State; and Rhianna Bruursema, Michigan State.
The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, podcasts, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, and recently completed a master’s degree in communication from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Hurtgen was raised on a California dairy and blogs on youth programs and consumer issues.
