NDSU Dairy Judging Team Nabs Honors in Fort Worth

The North Dakota State University Dairy Judging Team recently took third place at the Fort Worth Livestock Exposition Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest.

The team competed with 10 other teams from across the nation at the contest on Jan. 18. NDSU team member Karin Nordling took first overall in individual competition. She is a sophomore from Randolf, Minn.

In the contest, teams must rank two to three classes of cows in four different breeds. Team members must support their rankings in a presentation called “oral reasons” to judges. Nordling also took second in individual reasons.

Other members of the team include Kim Schaff, a sophomore from Mandan who took third in reasons; Patty Rusch a sophomore from Hutchinson, Minn.; Kim Lohse, a sophomore from Lakefield, Minn.; and Jake Oyster, a sophomore from Bertha, Minn. Oyster is an alternate on the team.

In team rankings, the NDSU group took second in oral reasons, second in Holstein judging, second in Jersey judging and third in Brown Swiss judging. In the overall contest, dairy judging team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison took first place and the team from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls took second.

“These students are all very enjoyable to work with,” says coach Dan Schimek. “The experience of putting themselves in front of recognized experts and presenting their ideas and supporting them with background will be a very, very important tool for these students as they move forward in their careers.”

Ken Odde, head of the NDSU Department of Animal and Range Sciences, says, “Judging programs are an important part of the undergraduate experience. These experiences not only increase students knowledge of animals, but develop communication and reasoning skills, and provide opportunities to travel, meet producers and leaders in the industry”.

Earlier this year, the students participated in a national contest in Louisville, Ken. Next year, the team will compete at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., and at the Accelerated Genetics’ Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Viroqua, Wis.

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Contact: Dan Schimek, (701) 231-7955, dan.schimek@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu