Livestock Judging

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johndeereman

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Feb 14, 2008
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hello  i am pretty intrested in judging livestock in college and was wondering wat all it takes to make it on a team  also is it better to start out at a junior college then go to a university???  wat r some of the better skools to attend also    Thank you for your help in advance
 

dori36

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johndeereman said:
hello  i am pretty intrested in judging livestock in college and was wondering wat all it takes to make it on a team  also is it better to start out at a junior college then go to a university???  wat r some of the better skools to attend also    Thank you for your help in advance

Where do you live?  Does it matter to you what part of the country you do your college schooling in?  If you don't want to start out at the university level, give serious thought to Casper College in Casper, Wyoming.  For years, their livestock judging teams have rocked the nation under the coaching of Kelly Burch.  Now, his son (can't remember his name) has taken over the coaching duties and the beat goes on.  Since you're here, on the Plalnet, I'm assumng you have some cattle experience.  When you get to school, show up or sign up for whatever class leads to trying for the team.  It's usually the basic, general livestock intro classes.  Good luck and go for it!
 

jimmyski

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Colby, KS
johndeereman said:
hello  i am pretty intrested in judging livestock in college and was wondering wat all it takes to make it on a team  also is it better to start out at a junior college then go to a university???  wat r some of the better skools to attend also    Thank you for your help in advance

Johndeereman,

First off, glad to hear that you are interested in livestock judging. What began for me as something that I just enjoyed has now became my passion and full time job as livestock judging coach. It can be a truely wonderful and amazing experience if done right.

Now back to the question at hand. There are many things that go into becoming a member of a livestock judging team. Most coaches will want to know your experience and background in livestock judging and production.  Secondly, it would be beneficial for you to get into contact with the coaches at the schools you are looking at. Let them know you are interested. It's sometimes hard to find kids that are really interested in judging and are not just doing it to please their parents or just to pay for school (although that can be a plus as well if you are truely interested in it).

The next thing to make sure of is that you are ready for the time commitment that it takes to be successful in this game. We are on the road a lot of the time and if we aren't then we are still practicing and giving reasons at least 3 to 5 days a week. You must be able to balance the workload between school and judging. As of right now I require my students to maintain a 2.5 GPA in order to travel but that will prolly move to a 2.7 or 2.8 within the next year or so. Education for me is a must.

Next, make sure you look at a lot of schools. Find the one that is the best fit for you and will provide you the type of education and experience that you need to go on. I recommend going the JuCo route, part of that is biased as a JuCo coach, but part of it is also from personal experience in attending a JuCo for two years. It provided me time to mature and grow as an individual in a much smaller setting than what you would find at four year university.

Like BCCC said, I am the coach at Colby Community College in Colby, KS. However, there are many other quality programs out there. Take a good look around and be sure to ask any questions you have. Hope this has been of some help to you. Let me know if I can answer anything else for you.

Jim Latoski
Livestock Judging Coach/Animal Science Instructo
Colby Community College
Colby, KS
 

kanshow

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Jimmy - Is the eligilbility still the same - ie you'll get in to judge one more year if you go to juco?   
 

johndeereman

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Feb 14, 2008
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thank-you for your replies  i have been doing livestock judging since i started 4-h and have really tookin off on it now that i am in ffa.  dont mean to brag but i placed 3rd this year here in Ohio in the ffa state livestock judging contest as a sophmore.  i would really like to go to a school in the midwest and would appreciate advice on some of the schools as it is hard to get out there and look at the schools first hand.  thank-you for your guys help
 

justme

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Your in Ohio....have you checked out OSU/ATI?  I was on the judging team there.  It's a good starter point.
 

GRsimm

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Jun 13, 2008
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I would strongly recommend a JUCO, I judged for Univerity of Missouri in 06 but did go the JUCO route mainly because while in High school our Ag adviser did not know how to get in touch with the coaches because it was few and far between livestock judgers. Collegiate Judging is the greatest experience I have ever had from travels in the van to the contacts that I made. Hope you find the right fit and have a great judging experience.  (clapping)
 

Walker

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Being on a Collegiate Judging team is one of the best experiences that any young person interested in the livestock industry could ever have.  You will make contacts with people across the country, see operations of all scopes and sizes, and have a heck of a good time along the way.  You can choose to go to a JUCO if you want to judge right away.  If you go to a 4 year college, it will probably be alot harder to get your opportunity to judge as an incoming freshman.
 

jimmyski

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Colby, KS
johndeereman said:
thank-you for your replies  i have been doing livestock judging since i started 4-h and have really tookin off on it now that i am in ffa.  dont mean to brag but i placed 3rd this year here in Ohio in the ffa state livestock judging contest as a sophmore.  i would really like to go to a school in the midwest and would appreciate advice on some of the schools as it is hard to get out there and look at the schools first hand.  thank-you for your guys help

As far as schools go the JUCO programs closest to you would be Joliet Junior College, Lakeland Community College, and Black Hawk - East Community College. Kansas has many strong programs including Butler, Hutchison, Coffeyville, Colby, and Allen County. Wyoming has Casper, Northwest (Powell), Eastern Wyoming, and Laramie County. Colorado has Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO.  There also quite a few throughout Oklahoma and Texas.

Eligibility in Junior College is a little different. You are able to judge at a lot of small contests and "mock" contests as a freshman and then as a sophomore you usually judge at all the same ones you did as a freshman plus the national contests in KC, Louisville, Denver, Ft. Worth, San Antonion, and Houston.
 

shortyjock89

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jimmyski- is Joliet any good? I have a couple friends on the Lakeland and I know some people that were on the Blackhawk team..but I don't know of anyone on the JJC team, and I have some friends up there too. 
 

Jill

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I had to think a while about my answer because Livestock Judging in my opinion is not a one size fits all type of deal.
If you are going to judge the way to go is JUCO first, most coming out of high school aren't polished enough and it gives you 2 more years of judging eligibility. 
Most JUCO programs have judging scholarships and that is a bonus, it is my understanding that Sr. programs don't have judging monies, you would have to qualify for another type of scholarship.
There are down sides to judging, it takes up an enormous amount of time, some take an extra semester to finish school and many times grades aren't as good as they would have been otherwise.  In my opinion what you are majoring in should factor into whether or not you are judging material, if you are going into an extremely competitive field like say vet school, judging probably wouldn't be a good choice (although there are some that can pull it off). 
Judging is one of the funnest times of your life, you make lifelong friendships traveling the country in a crowded van with a group of kids that share many of your same interest.  Just make sure you go into it with a realist view of the commitment it requires and plan your school work accordingly.
 

jimmyski

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Colby, KS
Jill said:
I had to think a while about my answer because Livestock Judging in my opinion is not a one size fits all type of deal.
If you are going to judge the way to go is JUCO first, most coming out of high school aren't polished enough and it gives you 2 more years of judging eligibility. 
Most JUCO programs have judging scholarships and that is a bonus, it is my understanding that Sr. programs don't have judging monies, you would have to qualify for another type of scholarship.
There are down sides to judging, it takes up an enormous amount of time, some take an extra semester to finish school and many times grades aren't as good as they would have been otherwise.  In my opinion what you are majoring in should factor into whether or not you are judging material, if you are going into an extremely competitive field like say vet school, judging probably wouldn't be a good choice (although there are some that can pull it off). 
Judging is one of the funnest times of your life, you make lifelong friendships traveling the country in a crowded van with a group of kids that share many of your same interest.  Just make sure you go into it with a realist view of the commitment it requires and plan your school work accordingly.

Jill,
I couldn't have said it better myself. Excellent response and she is correct about everything she said. I will also say that it did take me an extra semester of school to graduate, but i had planned it that way when I decided to transferr. I guess I can't stress enough that education comes first and you must take care of that first. If a person is unable to balance the requirements of school and a livestock judging team, they need to pick school first.

Again it's great to read that so many people on here have had some of the best experiences of their life on judging teams because that is truely what it should be and lucky enough for me, I get to remember the old ones and have some new ones every year.
 
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