4-H News
4-H Junior Dairy Judging Team wins state
By Anna Burgess County Extension Agent

It was another great weekend for Jenkins County 4-H. Our Dairy Judging team traveled to Athens to compete in the state competition first thing Saturday morning. The students had to judge five classes of dairy cows ranging from Fall Yearlings to 5 year olds.

After placing all five classes, they then have to write up a set of reasons explaining why they placed them the way they did. The juniors (6th-8th grade) have to present their reasons for one class and the seniors (9th- 12th grade) have to present their reasons for three classes. They give their set of reasons to dairy industry professionals. These professionals score them on the accuracy of their notes and the professionalism of their presentation. The reasons score is then combined with their placing scores (how well they placed each set of animals) to create the final score. I say all of this to let you know there is more to it than just critiquing an animal.

To get the final team score, they take the top three individuals score and add them together. Our senior team consists of Krysten Fail, Kyle Gearheart, Walter Ivy, and Becca Rich. Our junior team members were Lani Arthur, Macy Clarke, Callie Dailey, Tyler Gearheart, Kayla Hendley, Kristin McLamb, and Molly Williams.

In the 2008 State 4-H Dairy Judging Competition, Jenkins County's junior team took home top honors, winning 1st place!! Our seniors also did an excellent job, winning 3rd place!!

Tyler Gearheart, 7th grade 4- H'er, was recognized as 1st place junior individual in the state!

This isn't our only good news. The Project S.A.F.E team shot last weekend for county awards. The results are as follows: 6th grade champion, Casey Meyers; 2nd Place, D Brown; 3rd Place, Britt Todd. In the Junior Division: Champion, Blais Chance; 2nd place, Levi Proctor; 3rd place, Jake Knight. In the Senior Division: Champion, Derek McLoud; 2nd place, Taylor Brinson; 3rd place, Cody Johnson. Check back next week for a picture of these talented individuals!

Forty Jenkins County 6th thru 12th graders will compete this coming weekend at the District Shotgun match held at Hanging Rocks.

If you see any of these students, please congratulate them. They practiced hard for several weeks. And it finally paid off!! The 4-H Dairy Team, right,

received top honors at the

state competition last

weekend, and Tyler

Gearheart, below was named first place junior

individual.