FFA STUDENTS JUDGING FROM A VIRTUAL VIEW

Because of ongoing COVID restrictions and guidelines, local FFA students recently competed virtually in General Livestock and Dairy Evaluation as a region qualifier.
Both Minneota teams that entered placed second in the region and qualified for the state competition at the end of April.
"The Minneota FFA General Livestock team judged eight classes last Thursday consisting of beef cattle, sheep, pigs, and market goats," said Garrett Moorse, the FFA co-advisor with Matt Buysse. "They judged from the school and they had to be supervised by an advisor as it was run just like a normal contest in that regard."
That team consisted of Lane Loyson, who placed sixth individually; Landon DeSmet, who placed eighth; Isabelle Kimpe, who placed 13th; Jack Lacek, who placed 18th; and Jodi Buysse, who placed 25th.
The Dairy team judged seven classes, including two heifer classes, three cow classes, a sire selection class and a pedigree class.
Dairy team members included Joe Verschelde, who placed third individually; Brooke Moorse, who placed eighth; Zack Fier, who placed ninth; and Logan Schuelke, who placed 10th.
Similar to live judging, teams are shown various animals online and then must judge each one. The teams are then evaluated for their overall judging skills.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of these FFA judging events last year and state restrictions did not even allow for a virtual competition.They judge the animals on structural confirmation first and foremost, along with length of body, width, depth of body," Moorse explained. "As far as the Market animals, they also really look for muscling, where as the Dairy animals they are looking for more angularity and openness as well as strong and well-attached mammary systems on the cows."
The students are allowed up to 15 minutes to judge each class. Each class has four animals that they have to rank.
"This contest was 100 percent virtual and is considered and counted as our region qualifier for the state contest later this spring, which will also be virtual," said Moorse. "It is a lot different virtually instead of in person, and I’m pretty sure all the kids would rather judge in person too."