Over the past four years, nine Christian County 4-H members have been working extremely hard practicing their livestock judging skills in preparations for several contests throughout the United States. This past June this team won the title of state champions and earned the opportunity to represent Illinois at the National Contest in Kansas City. Livestock judging contests require students to evaluate cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and then present oral reasons defending their decisions. Christian County 4-H has traveled to the Geneseo FFA Invitational, Black Hawk East Event, Nebraska Cattlemen's Invitational, Joliet Junior College Event, Illinois Central College Event, Lincoln Land College Invitational, the State 4-H contest, and now made their appearance at the American Royal in Kansas City.
Over the past three decades, the Christian County 4-H program has produced dozens of national winners at this event because of the hard work and dedication of several volunteer coaches. In 1990, the Christian County 4-H livestock judging program began with Steve and Holly Austin who helped start a legacy of winning county 4-H judging teams for the area. This outstanding program transitioned to Mark and Julie Knodle, and then to W. Lee Meteer, and several Christian County 4-H Livestock Judging Alumni. Over the past thirty years several state champion 4-H teams not only competed at the American Royal but numerous teams won the American Royal Champion title. For the past four years Sue Schafer, Julie Fugate, and Carla Mickey have been the coaches of this successful team. This team practices once a week, 9 months a year, and relies on local livestock producers and farmers to host practices and workouts to sharpen the skills of the team. “Some wonder why we judge livestock so much since we are not a large livestock producing county, but livestock judging teaches students quick decision making skills, sharpen public speaking abilities, exposes students to make decisions based on specific scenarios, gives kids the opportunity to study agriculture in other parts of the country and even the world. Unfortunately other sectors of agriculture do not use their resources (like the livestock sector) to hold these types of competitive events for 4-H and FFA youth. Over the past thirty plus years, I have seen how this program gives students the opportunity for full ride college scholarships and creates leaders of our community that are not always directly related to livestock production.” says current coach Sue Schafer.
At the 2022 American Royal 4-H National Contest, three Christian County team members placed in the top five overall and were recognized for their efforts. At this national event, every team member was named as a top ten finalist in the oral reasons divisions! A big highlight at the event was when Taylorville High School Junior Waylon Paulek was named Reserve High Individual Overall. He accomplished this feat by placing 1st in cattle, 1st in reasons, and 1st in swine. Senior Cole Paulek placed 3rd overall and accomplished this by placing 3rd beef and swine divisions and 4th in oral reasons. Drew Mickey had a very solid day by placing 5th Overall, 9th in swine, 6th in sheep/goats, and 3rd in oral reasons. Team member Audrey Curtin finished an impressive 8th overall in oral reasons. Other team members were Emma Pistorious, Liam Steward, Ben Wamsley, Jay Bliler, and Chloe Grant. “I am very proud of the team and the time and dedication they put in on this event. The entire team performed exceptionally well. I am very proud of the fact that all nine team members worked hard and pushed each other to become better in every area of livestock evaluation and oral reasons. Our team's public speaking ability is what won us this national title in dominating fashion. This team won the American Royal by 44 points and 39 of those points came from their ability to defend their placings in the oral reasons room. I know that several teams have watched our success this past year, but every contest is a new day and winning is not guaranteed or easy! These kids have put in the hard work and effort even when they have been successful. The fun part for the kids is that colleges have been calling and recruiting. These four are not only talented judges, they are excellent students and community servants in the Christian County area. “ says coach Julie Fugate. Due to this national win the Christian County 4-H Livestock Judging Team was asked once again to represent the USA in World competition in June.
Photo: front row left to right- Liam Steward, Cole Paulek, Drew Mickey, Waylon Paulek, Audrey Curtin, Emma Pistorious, Chloe Grant.
Back Row-Ben Wamsley & Jay Bliler
