Today, we hosted 54 (I counted them) college students at the farm for a livestock judging team workout. This is a yearly activity. We put our new 2013 calves in groups of 4 (Alan puts them in groups to make a best, second best, third best and worst) for the teams to evaluate them. They walk around and study each calf phenotypically (meaning how they look), and pick the best, 2, 3, 4 etc. for each one. Then they have to back up what they say with oral "reasons", or a small speech about why they did what they did.
Alan was a member of a county livestock judging team, a state 4-H livestock judging team, and the University of Illinois livestock judging team. He coached the state 4-H team after college, which won a national championship. He really understands how important it is for these teams to have a great set of calves to evaluate. The teams every weekend and two-three times a week go to a farm like ours and evaluate different types of animals, all to get ready for a series of competitions that they participate in during a one-year period. It's highly competitive, excellent for public speaking and analytic skills, and, in Alan's case, made him into someone who professionally evaluates cattle regularly.
I liken judging to any type of team activity -- it's individual for some portion in terms of doing your best, but they work together as a team to improve. It's awesome, and I think one of the best extracurricular activities for a kid from a livestock farm to truly understand what makes their animals the best they can be.
From our side, I enjoy having all these kids running around our farm. They are some of the best livestock kids in the country and they are looking at our calves! That's great promotion for our program at PVF!
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