On Saturday, July 24, three members from the Greenbrier East FFA Chapter traveled to Morgantown to compete in the State 4-H and FFA Livestock Evaluation Career Development event.
Students were tasked with working within their teams in order to rank different classes of breeding and market animals. Students then give oral reasons to a judge to back up their rankings. Students participating this event are challenged to make accurate and logical observations of each species. Understanding what makes a good market or breeding animal is a valuable trait to have in the livestock industry.
The three members, coached by Emily Dunkle, included Elizabeth Kesterson, Keilei Christian, and Baylee Burns.
Students competing at the WVU EROC Livestock Farm were challenged with judging nine classes of livestock.
Two of those classes were giving oral reasons to a judge, two were question classes, and one was a sheep selection class. These students have worked very hard since January for this competition.
Baylee Burns placed first as the highest individual at the state livestock contest. Her hard work and dedication to her chapter and livestock judging paid off. Burns feels that this experience has helped become more knowledgeable about livestock in general. This experience has helped her improve her own goat herd and made her into a better spokesperson for livestock. Burns hopes that through this knowledge and experience, it will help her pursue her future career as an agriculture teacher or extension agent.
Congratulations to Greenbrier East and Burns on their success.
