WANTED: Tips on judging lifestock.

I am going to be going to a lifestock judging competition soon, and i was wondering if anyone could give me tips on how to judge horses, cattle, swine, pigs, sheep and goats. Please leave as much as information as you can provide to me, i need the help. Thanks.

judging101.com

the truth said:

judging101.com

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Second!


It's livestock BTW

Ask you local ag teacher, they usually are your best resource!

There are plenty of good manuals that can be found from university extensions. Try google'ing "4-H Livestock Judging Manuals".

Will you be giving reasons too? If so, you will need to know the correct format/terminology to give a good set of oral reasons.


Judging101.com is a fairly decent site, however you can find pretty much the exact same information ( example classes, terminology, etc) with a little bit of searching with the advantage being you save $45 a year.

Quick Crash Course of judging:
Cattle:
Steer Priorities:
1. muscle, skeletal width
2. Finish, depth of body
3. Growth
4. Structure
5. Eye appeal

Heifers:
1. Functionality, structure, rib shape, etc.
2. Big bodied (yes i repeated this, very important)
3. Femininity( part of eye appeal)
4. Skeletal width

Swine:
Priorities

Barrows:
1. Muscle
2. Leaness ( correctness of finish, you don't want them too lean, they need some rib shape)
3. Growth
4. Structure ( But, if it is really bad, its not the fourth priority)

Gilts:
1. Structure
2. Rib shape, need to be soft
3. Muscle
4. Growth

Lambs:

1. Skeletal Width
2. correctness of finish, freshness
3. Growth
4. Balance

Horses:
1.Balance ( proportional thirds, tie neck high out of shoulder, short back, long underline, gentle slope to croup(hip))
2. Quality  ( wide from eye to eye, short from eye to muzzle, tight, prominent jawline, etc.)
3. structure
4. muscle, chest Vd up, gaskins expressive

If u need example sets i can pm you some, but they will be at a collegiate level, so the format would be the main focus, the terms would be a bit advanced for you to try and put in a set right off the bat.

Is this a 4H or FFA contest?  Don't take this for how it might sound, but you can't get a crash course on livestock judging from a couple of postings on the internet.  Judging for a team is different than picking out a good steer for the show.  Horse judging is also a different group from the livestock judgers and the dairy judgers.  It's hard to crossover, my kids tried with different degrees of success.