Vernon County Dairy Cattle Judging
Sunday, September 15, 2024
9:00 to Noon
Hansen Arena
Free for all Ages
On Sunday of the fair, teams will travel to Viroqua to apply and sharpen their dairy cattle judging skills, as they have for the past fifteen years at the Accelerated Genetics’ Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest.
The Annual Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest. will be held in the Hanson Arena on the Vernon County Fairgrounds. Since 1994, Accelerated Genetics has planned and conducted an Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest. Each year the teams place 10 classes and recite five set of oral reasons. Participants judge at least one class of the six dairy breeds: Ayrshire, Brown Swiss, Guernsey, Holstein, Jersey and Milking Shorthorn.
Twenty universities teams from across the US compete for top dairy judging honors. Five universities have participated in all contests since 1994: Iowa State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
“This contest is a positive overall experience. I look forward to attending this year’s competition”, Ted Halbach said, Extension dairy youth specialist and dairy cattle evaluation instructor at UW-Madison. “The competition just keeps getting bigger and better every year”.
A tremendous amount of “manpower” goes into the making the Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest a success. Accelerated Genetics employees volunteer their time to coordinate and run the contest. Youth from Vernon County 4-H and FFA groups act as leads-people and the competition would be impossible if not for the local dairy producers who supply the cattle to be judged.
An integral part of the Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest is the group of leads-people who participate in the leads-person showmanship and sportsmanship contest. A Memorial Showmanship Award is given in honor of David Larson, a long-time employee of Accelerated Genetics, who worked very closely with the Vernon County youth and was an active member of the judging contest committee.
“A contest like ours encourages youth to build on their abilities and enhances their communication skills as they gain confidence giving oral reasons.” said Kari Stanek, Accelerated Genetics Judging Contest Committee member.
“Come Judge from the Sidelines” while 20 university teams from across the US compete for top dairy judging honors.
Sponsored by the Vernon County Agricultural Society