Three North Dakota 4-H teams placed in the 4-H/FFAWestern National Roundup in Colorado earlier this month.

The Oliver County livestock judging team placed fifth overall in the livestock judging competition held in Fort Collins. The team, consisting of Ashley Giedd, Kristen Liffrig, John Klein and Peter Liffrig, with Courtney Tweeten as the alternative, excelled in the reasons portion of the competition, ranking fourth in swine reasons, seventh place in sheep reasons and eighth place in beef reasons.

Teams were required to evaluate a class or group of animal and rank the animals from most to least desirable based on a set of industry or product standards, then prepare and deliver oral reasons for their ranking.

Oliver County’s team also earned the following species placings: third in goats, sixth in swine, seventh in beef and 10th in sheep.

Giedd placed fifth in sheep and eighth individually and Klein placed fifth in goats and 18th individually, while Kristen Liffrig was in 41st place and Peter Liffrig was in 69th place. They were among 96 contestants.

Mercer County’s hippology team finished fourth overall, with 642 of 800 possible points. The team finished third in the stations phase of the hippology competition held in Denver, fourth in the exam phase and seventh in the judging phase. Hippology is a contest of equine knowledge.

The team members are Kelsey Klein, Shiloh Klein, Kimberly Klein and Mariah Lancaster.

Individually, Lancaster placed seventh overall, with 427 of 500 possible points. She placed sixth in the exam phase and seventh in the stations phase. Kimberly Klein placed 10th in the stations phase.

The Morton County consumer choices team, consisting of Dominick Goettle, Rachel Goettle, Tyrza Hoines and Renae Tokach, was third place overall in the consumer decision-making competition held in Denver, with a second place in reasons and fifth places in the placings and group process portions of the event.

In this competition, participants studied 12 consumer items or foods, then evaluated and ranked four of one item from best to worst and presented their reasons for their rankings. Team members also judged six classes of items and presented two sets of reasons to the judges. Following that, teams were presented with a group situation in which they were required to discuss options, make a decision and inform the judges why they selected that option.

Individually, Rachel Goettle finished second overall, with a second in placings and fourth in reasons. Dominick Goettle placed fourth overall and fourth in placings.

A combined Stark/Billings and Sargent counties horse judging team participated in the horse judging competition at the national event. Team members are Megan Dukart and Brooklyn Kadrmas from Stark/Billings and Alicia Widhalm and Hannah Brummond from Sargent.

NDSU Agriculture Communication - Jan. 25, 2012