On Monday, October 1, the 97th National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest was held during the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., hosted by the contest committee.
Florida 4-H was represented by a team of four youth, selected through participation in state-level dairy activities and competitions, that included Ainsley Peterson from Suwannee County 4-H, Gracie Lee from Hillsborough County 4-H, Jozef Heijkoop from Sumter County 4-H and Karen Kotlarczyk from Manatee County 4-H, along with coach Chris Holcomb, UF/IFAS Extension Specialist.
Together, as a team, they placed first overall for oral reasons, second in the Brown Swiss division, third in the Holstein division and as the sixth high team overall.
Individually, Peterson placed first overall for oral reasons, and first in Brown Swiss, first in the Guernsey division, fourth in the Holstein division and as the fifth high individual overall. In addition, Lee placed nineteenth overall individually, Kotlarczyk placed first individually in the Holstein division and Heijkoop placed fifth overall in the Jersey division and ninth overall in oral reasons.
For their win in the reasons division, the team were named as national champions for oral reasons and received a traveling award. 24 teams and 91 individuals competed in this year’s contest.
This team has been working for several years to pursue their goal of an outstanding showing on the national level, and congratulations to each member on all of their accomplishments.
Dairy contests are designed to promote the learning of information and skills related to live dairy cattle and dairy products and to provide recognition opportunities for youth. Dairy judging requires youth to place classes of live dairy cattle and to give oral reasons defending their placings. For more information, visit www.worlddairyexpo.com/pages/4-HContests.php.
(Photo from Hoard’s Dairyman)
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