Livestock Club competes at judging contests

RBC | Madi and Maclaine Shults represented Rio Blanco County and White River Livestock Club at a couple of judging contests held recently.
On March 26, they hitched a ride with Bonnie Long’s club from Rangely to compete at the Casper College FFA/4-H Spring Contest in Wyoming. They judged 11 livestock classes, two “keep/cull” classes and gave four sets of reasons.
The two 4-H teams from RBC competed against 22 Wyoming FFA teams. The girls did not have quite the day they would have liked, but they evaluated good livestock, and got a chance to compete before the Colorado judging season kickoff at Adams County.
Both “judgers” had an excellent day in the Reasons Division as Maclaine scored a 47 on her performance gilt reasons and Madison earned a 47 on her replacement heifer reasons. Maclaine placed 14th overall in reasons and Madi was 15th in reasons out of 84 contestants. Maclaine placed 20th overall in the contest.
On April 2, Maclaine and Madi made it to Brighton and entered the ADCO Judging Extravaganza. They were the only two team members healthy enough to represent RBC and had to compete as individuals.
Maclaine hung in there at her first contest as a senior 4-H judge and finished the day with 600 total points and tied for 12th overall. Maclaine was simply “pair switched” all day, which is an easy fix with more practice. Hopefully her teammates will get healed up and she won’t have to go it alone down the road. Maclaine is working toward earning a team spot on both the state FFA team and the state 4-H team that will both compete later this spring.
Madison Ann had an excellent day at ADCO. She finished as the third high overall individual in the junior division. Madi was second in beef, eighth in reasons, third in placings and ninth in the hog division.
The judging team will competed at the La Plata County contest April 15 and the Lincoln County contest in Hugo April 17.
Anyone interested in learning how to judge livestock can join the team. Call Dessa Watson, 4-H/Extension agent, at 878-9490 and she will let you know the club options available.