FFA Week: Livestock judging teams find competition success

To The Press

“Judge Livestock Not People” – That’s the motto for a group of Charles City FFA members who enjoy spending their time traveling around Iowa and neighboring states to evaluate livestock at various judging contests.

Some of these students have spent their entire lives raising and showing animals at the county and state fairs, and some of them are brand new to the world of livestock.

Being a good livestock judge takes a lot of work, practice, and dedication. Judges not only need to know what makes a good animal, but they also need to be able to defend their opinions.

Livestock judging is a subjective sport with objective criteria.

Most contests consist of classes of market and breeding beef cattle, swine, sheep, and goats, so the FFA members must know the characteristics of each species.

Most classes have four animals in them and the members must rank them from best to worst. At some competitions, the students must present oral reasons to a judge to explain why they ranked the class as they did.

So far this school year, the Charles City members have competed at the Iowa FFA State Livestock Judging Contest held every August in Ames, at the National Barrow Show in Austin, Minnesota, at the Iowa Pork Producers Evaluation Contest in Des Moines, and recently at the Iowa Beef Expo in Des Moines.

This summer the students will be out competing almost every week in June through August to prepare for the state event in August.

Senior FFA member Delaney Ruzicka said, “I like learning how to compare different animals in fine detail, whether based on the standards or on your opinion. It also helps with decision making and when giving reasons I have to think on my toes to defend my answer. I also have a lot of fun doing it.”

The judging team is composed of freshmen through seniors, some with years of experience and some who are trying something new for the first time.

Members who have competed in at least one competition this year are senior Delaney Ruzicka; juniors Taylor Quade, Jada Litterer and Mallory Koebrick; sophomores Jackson Ruzicka, Dillan Dight, Everett Schmitt, Nick Williams, Kylie Blunt, Anya Ruzicka, Isabelle Vance and Corbin Harris; and freshmen Morgan McMurchy, Kaitlyn Parson, Rylan Peters and Nolan Prusiner.

Highlights of their year include:

• 2nd place overall team at the Hardin County Livestock Judging Competition.

• 7th place overall team in Swine Evaluation at the Iowa State FFA Competition.

• 8th place overall team at the National Barrow Show Competition.

• 11th place overall team out of 162 teams at the Iowa Pork Producers Evaluation Competition.

• 11th place overall team out of 32 teams at the Iowa Beef Expo.