Quincy student takes first place at JWCC Ag Alumni Association’s 21st annual livestock judging contest

BAYLIS, Ill. — High school students from more than 30 Illinois and Missouri schools honed their agriculture skills at John Wood Community College’s Ag Alumni Association’s 21st annual Livestock Judging Invitational on Sept. 20, at the college’s Agricultural Education Center near Baylis, a facility shared with the University of Illinois.

The event was sponsored by ADM Alliance Nutrition and Moorman’s ShowTec and hosted by John Wood Agriculture Alumni Association and Livestock Evaluation Club. Students judged seven classes of animals during the event.

Livestock judging competitions help students to make decisions, strengthen and improve their power of observation and apply scientific principles of animal growth and development. Evaluation was of various species, including cattle, swine, sheep and goats. Contestants as individuals and teams ranked animals based on specific criteria and compared them to those considered ideal as determined by animal industry experts serving as official judges.

Students were judged on their ability to accurately evaluate one class of each species by answering 10 questions about the differences observed in the class.

Lance Venvertloh of Quincy 1 Varsity was the overall winner in the varsity individual category, which had 218 students competing. The Quincy 1 Varsity team finished in 10th place in the varsity team category. A total of 70 teams competed in the varsity team competition.

In the individual JV category, Elaina Weiman of Adams County 4-H finished in first place, Ella Behymer of Brown County 1 in second place and Nicholas Beeler of Nauvoo-Colusa finished in third place. This category had 201 students competing. With a field of 70 teams in the JV team competition, Illini West finished in second place and Brown County 1 in third place.