Lake County 4-H team beats Idaho, Nevada competitors
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News from Lake County 4-H
TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The Lake County 4-H livestock judging team of Laurel Rigby, Josey Motichka and Courtnee Clairmont recently bested teams from across Idaho and Nevada to take first place at the Southern Idaho Livestock Judging Camp.
The team traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho where they were coached by Megan Nelson of the College of Southern Idaho. The students received hands-on training for judging classes of beef, sheep, swine, and meat goats. They were also coached in oral presentation. In addition, campers discussed professional and communication skills, including making a first impression.
Livestock judging is an important 4-H and FFA event, according to Ronan High School vocational ag teacher Reese McAlpin. It teaches contestants communication and decision-making skills, as well as important livestock selection and evaluation skills. Competition is based around judging classes of four animals based on physical characteristics important to the livestock industry that include structural correctness, muscle and growth, and fat.
Competitors prepare and deliver an oral presentation to a judge who scores them based on their speaking ability, fluency, as well as how they describe the class. McAlpin said the oral presentation is stressful, but gives students practice thinking on their feet while speaking clearly and eloquently in front of an audience.
Motichka was awarded 9th place in the Total Reasons event. Clairmont won the Most Improved Reasons award and was awarded 8th Place in Individual Judging. Rigby earned 3rd Place in the Total Reasons event, 1st Place in Individual Judging, and 1st Place Overall Livestock Judge.
Rigby’s scores and the team’s final standing were impressive, McAlpin said.
Students can take what they learn from livestock judging and use it to help select potential fair animals, select breeding animals to use in their own herds, earn scholarship money, or use what they learned and enter one of the hundreds of high-paying, available careers in the American agriculture industry.
McAlpin pointed out that American agriculture is more than just farming and ranching. It is filled with sales, science, marketing, and management careers that are essential to running one of the largest agriculture industries on the planet. Agricultural businesses are actively searching for future employees who come from an agricultural background and are involved in organizations like 4-H and FFA because they know these students have the knowledge and experience to excel, McAlpin said.
Businesses find students who participated in the livestock judging event to be more well rounded, because they can think on their feet and adapt, McAlpin said.
“By competing in livestock judging these youth are not just learning to look at cows, they are preparing themselves for a real job in the real world,” McAlpin said.
