California State University, Chico's Intercollegiate Livestock Judging Team finished fifth at the North American International Livestock Exposition Monday, November 17, in Louisville, Kentucky, the highest national finish for the team in twenty-five years.
"We were competing with schools that have programs ten times our size," said Dave Daley, professor of animal science in the College of Agriculture and adviser to the livestock judging team. "The students worked very hard for this and deserve a lot of credit."
Forty universities competed in the event. Kansas State came in first, followed by Colorado State, Oklahoma State, Illinois, and CSU, Chico in the top five. The other top-ten finishers were Texas A&M, Ohio State, Minnesota, Purdue, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, respectively.
All five students on each judging team evaluated four animals in twelve different classes of livestock. In the morning, students were required to rate and rank beef, sheep, and swine based on criteria specific to their class. Later in the day, students had to orally defend their decisions in front of expert judges.
The CSU, Chico team had won three previous intercollegiate judging competitions this year, including the Senior Grand National in San Francisco earlier this month. In San Francisco, Chico's team received high team honors for the first time since 1978.
The Louisville event, the national finals in intercollegiate livestock judging, completed the season of competition that began in January.
Team members include Scott Bowdridge, from Barstow, who is studying agriculture; Clay Carlson, Clovis, animal science; Jennifer Coloma-Danes, Oakdale, agriculture; Holly Foster, Durham, animal science; Keely Martin, Etna, agribusiness; Kevin O'Brien, Corning, animal science; Megan Pettis, Healdsburg, agriculture; Matt Reynier, Hamilton City, animal science.
JW