Tigers on the East Coast

This past week the University of Missouri Livestock Judging Team traveled across the country to compete in a collegiate livestock judging contest at the Keystone International Livestock Exposition.  As part of the livestock judging team, I can say it was quite the experience!  Being a part of a livestock judging team consists of various tasks.  Simply put, collegiate livestock judging teams travel all over to partake in judging 12 classes of livestock and giving oral reasons on why you made those decisions.  Being a successful livestock judger requires a lot of time, practice, dedication and most of all hard work. 

I believe that being a livestock judger for the University of Missouri entails even more.  I could go on and on about traveling around the country in a 15-passenger van with the same eight people. Or I  could talk about how well I have gotten to know my teammates, our hectic schedules, our coach who metabolizes coffee and enjoys hearing reasons in the wee hours of the morning.  I could even tell you stories about vans that wouldn’t start, sleep that wasn’t had, or things about my teammates I don’t feel comfortable repeating, but for now I am going to tell you about my recent experience traveling back to the east coast for a livestock judging contest.



"The Tigers"



It was no surprise that we began our trip east bright and early Thursday morning.  After traveling through the hurricane weather we landed in Baltimore, Maryland.  We then traveled to the Calvert County Fair where we judged several classes in preparation for the contest ahead.  Upon evaluating some classes we enjoyed some Maryland Blue Crabs.  We then headed to Pennsylvania so we could begin our last practice before the contest early in the morning.  It was not a shock that sleep was limited.  A long day of practice did nothing but assure us that we were ready for what the contest would bring. 



The team at the airport



Nick and Wes napping on the way to the airport

            In the morning we judged 4 hog classes, 5 cattle classes and 3 sheep classes.  Breeding classes as well as market classes were judged.  Breeding animals are judged on how well they would perform in the herd for reproducing purposes.  These females, or intact males, in short, are judged on structure, capacity and muscle.  Market classes are judged on their body types in relation to harvesting.  They are judged on muscle, conditioning, and structure.  

After a long day of making rigorous decisions and giving reasons on those decisions, we waited anxiously for the results banquet to be held the next morning.  Upon having various team members in the top ten of each species we were declared 1^st place in beef, 1^st place in swine, 3^rd place in sheep, 1^st place team in reasons and… 1^st place overall team!  Our hard work had paid off!  Five team members placed in the top ten overall and I was awarded high individual overall.  It was a true honor and the feeling had will be hard to top!

Tigers and their awards

Congratulations to my teammates- Katie Maupin, Megan Westerhold, Wes Moore, Jenna Robertson, Drew Montague and Nick Mertz!!! You guys are awesome!     

Congratulations and thank you to our coach, Chip Kemp (far left)!  He works just as hard as we do and continues to make judging livestock around the country more than you could imagine!