The National Dairy Judging Competition was held in Indianapolis, Indiana during the National FFA Convention October 21st through the 24th. After their victory at the state level, the four members of the Fort Atkinson FFA Chapter dairy judging team, Seth Elsner, Tanner Bradley, Jacob Agnew and Nolan Wilharm were given the chance to compete at the national level.

The four boys competed against 176 FFA members from across the country and, as a team, placed 7th out of 44 teams.

Individually, the boys also did well. Wilharm received 20th place, Bradley 34th and Agnew 64th.  Elsner almost made it into the top ten in the country, individually earning 12th place overall and winning the Jersey Cattle class.

When the team won the state competition in April of this year, three of the members were high school seniors. This meant that the members of the team were able to practice and gain experience together as a team over the years.

“This particular group of students has been very successful over the past four years and it was a pretty big thrill to win state and go on to Nationals,” Agriculture teacher and FFA advisor Jeff Agnew said.

Because one of the members that competed at state, Kelly Lee, was unable to travel to Indianapolis for the national competition due to previous engagements, Junior Nolan Wilharm

was recruted to the team with only a few weeks notice. Being a top scoring member of the Livestock Judging team (a team that judges animals such as sheep, pigs, and beef cattle), Wilharm was fairly familiar with the cattle judging process.

“I was a little nervous but I wanted to do my best to help out the team,” Wilharm said.

Dairy cattle judging consists of evaluating cattle based on their appearance. When judging dairy cattle, a member evaluates how much dairy character the cow has (ability to milk) and how valuable the cow would be for breeding. Some of the things a judge looks for are wide rib spacing, large udders and milk veins, prominent withers (highest point of back), and good breed character.

During national dairy judging the competitors’ scores were based on how well they placed the cattle and how well they explained their reasons for the placings. The members also had to take a test to gauge their knowledge of dairy cattle and the dairy industry.

During practices, the team went to various farms around Fort Atkinson to practice judging dairy cattle based on the specific criteria they would need to follow during competition. They practiced linear evaluation (the ability to evaluate a cow based on specific traits), oral reasoning (the ability to explain why one chose a certain placing for the cattle), and pedigree class (determining how valuable an animal will be for breeding by evaluating their trait history.) In competition, all of these aspects are accounted for when scoring.

Although there was live dairy cattle judging, the national competition was more test-oriented than at the state level. To prepare for this, the team looked over study guides to review their knowledge of the dairy industry.

“We had to judge six classes, take a test, take a team test, then we had to give three reasons, and then we had to do a pedigree class,” Elsner said.

Just as any other life skill, the team members will be able to use and put into practice the knowledge they have gained from being on the team in the future. Skills such as identifying good characteristics in cattle could potentially help the members if they choose to go into a career in the dairy industry or nearly any profession involving livestock.

“I plan on owning a dairy farm and the things I’ve learned from dairy judging will help me to evaluate different cattle and use that to build my herd so I have very correct, functional cows.” Elsner said.

The success of the Fort Atkinson FFA Dairy Judging team is a big acheivement for the school and the FFA Chapter that will have great ramifications for the members involved.