Morton County teams took first place in the senior and junior divisions of the North Dakota 4-H Dairy Judging Contest, which was held this week.

In the contest, participants competed as a team and individually to judge groups of dairy cattle classes with four cattle in each class. Each contestant judged six classes.

Two of the six classes were selected for participants to provide oral reasons for how they judged. The participants met one-on-one with an official, who listened to the reasons for the 4-H’ers’ placing for the particular class.

Oral reasons are evaluated on content, accuracy, emphasis, completeness, terminology and presentation. Dairy judging participants gain skill in decision-making, critical thinking, oral communication and confidence, in addition to advancing their knowledge of the dairy cattle industry.

Senior Division

The top teams were:

• First - Morton County, with team members Fayth Hoger, Justin Johnson and Samantha Johnson (coach Marissa Leier)
• Second - Oliver County, with team members Olivia Klein, Kaitlyn Peterson and Rebecca Schmidt (coach Rick Schmidt)
• Third - McHenry County, with team members Mason Jones, Ryder Thompson and Jared Lovro (coach Jason Mongeon)

Individual winners:

• First - Samantha Johnson
• Second - Klein
• Third - Peterson
• Fourth - Justin Johnson
• Fifth - Hoger

Junior Division

The top teams were:

• First - Morton County, with team members Jada Bonogofsky, Medora Ellingson and Cassidy Strommen (coach Marissa Leier)
• Second - Foster/Stutsman counties, with team members Tris Lesmann, Molly Hanson and Brekka Kuss (coach Joel Lemer)
• Third - Oliver County, with team members Rylee Hintz, Cameron Albers and Breanna Vosberg (coach Rick Schmidt)

Individual winners:

• First - Bonogofsky
• Tie for second - Albers and Hintz
• Fourth - Ellingson
• Fifth - Lesmann

“This was an impressive group of 4-H dairy judgers with bright futures ahead of them,” says Leigh Ann Skurupey, animal and equine science specialist in North Dakota State University Extension’s Center for 4-H Youth Development and the contest’s organizer. 4-H is an NDSU Extension program.

Results are posted on the 4-H Dairy Judging site (https://tinyurl.com/NDSU-DairyJudgingResults).

NDSU Agriculture Communication - June 8, 2018