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Washington County 4-H Stockman Team Wins National Contest
Livestock Update, January 2003
Phil Blevins and Crystal Peek coached the team, Washington County
After winning the State Stockman contest at the State Fair in Richmond in October, the Washington County 4-H Stockman Team, composed of members Emily Blevins, Sarah Blevins, Jason Pratt and Sara Pratt, represented Virginia in the National Invitational 4-H Livestock Skillathon on November 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Washington County team placed first in the contest. The contest is hosted annually by the North American International Livestock Exposition. State winning teams from 16 states competed in the contest this year.
The contest challenges the contestant in all areas of livestock production and marketing relating to beef, swine, and sheep. In the individual round, the contestants had to identify 20 breeds made up of the 3 species plus goats (and match the breed with the appropriate description), 10 retail cuts of meat (including specie and wholesale cut), and 20 feed samples (and place the feed in the proper category). In addition, they judged a class of wool and a class of hay and answered questions on each class. They completed a quality assurance problem and took a quiz evaluating their knowledge of all aspects of the livestock industry. As a team, they completed a Feedlot Feeding problem, a Quality Assurance Animal Processing problem, identified 30 pieces of livestock equipment (and identified the proper use), and completed a Livestock Marketing problem.
The Washington County team placed 1st in Identification, 1st in Evaluation, 3rd in Quality Assurance and were 1st Overall in the contest. Individually awards were as follows; Sara Pratt was 9th in Identification, 5th in Evaluation and 11th Overall. Jason Pratt was 6th in Identification, 9th in Evaluation and 5th Overall. Emily Blevins was 5th in Evaluation, 10th in Quality Assurance and 8th Overall. Sarah Blevins was 7th in Evaluation, 6th in Quality Assurance and 4th Overall.