Submitted by: Carla Nemecek, Southwind Extension District Director
4-H members from the Southwind Extension District excelled at the annual Kansas 4-H Livestock Sweepstakes event August 1-20 in Kansas State University’s Weber Hall.
Participants from the Southwind Extension District were John Emmerson, Danielle Nading, Ryann Allison, Jillian Keller, Clay Brillhart, Haydon Schaaf, Brody Nemecek, Kolby Seested and Gavin Fry representing 4-H Clubs from Allen and Bourbon Counties.
4-H members gained new knowledge and worked on livestock skills in order to be competitive in the Sweepstakes event which consisted of four contests. Southwind Extension District completed the weekend by being named the 2017 Reserve Champion Kansas State 4-H Sweepstakes Team. Top ten individual Sweepstakes winners for Southwind were John Emmerson, 7th; Haydon Schaaf, 5th; and Gavin Fry 4th.
The Livestock Quiz Bowl started with a qualifying exam. The eight teams with the highest average scores advanced to the quiz bowl competition. Southwind #1 (Seested, Fry, Schaaf, Nemecek) was seeded first after the test and was later named the Champion Quiz Bowl team after the head-to-head matches. Southwind #2 (Nading, Keller, Brillhart, Allison) also scored well on the quiz and advanced to the competition, but lost to the Sunflower District in the first round.
The Livestock Judging contest consisted of nine judging classes and four sets of reasons. Southwind #1 (Emmerson, Nading, Fry, Seested) was 4th in Sheep/Goats; 2nd in Swine; 5th in Cattle and 2nd in Reasons and named Reserve High Team Overall. Southwind #2 (Brillhart, Schaaf, Keller, Nemecek) was 1st in Sheep/Goats; 4th in Swine; 3rd in Reasons and named 3rd Team Overall. Individually, Clay Brillhart was 5th in Sheep/Goats; Gavin Fry was 8th in Reasons; Jillian Keller was 4th in Sheep/Goats; Brody Nemecek was 1st in Sheep/Goats, 3rd in Reasons, and 8th Overall; Danielle Nading was 10th in Swine and 18th Individual Overall; and John Emmerson was 2nd in Sheep/Goats, 1st in Swine, 3rd in Cattle, 4th in Reasons, and High Individual Overall. As the Reserve State Champion Livestock Judging Team, Southwind District will represent Kansas 4-H at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colo. next January.
The Meats Judging contest was based on identification of 30 retail cuts, six placings classes and three sets of reasons. Haydon Schaaf was named 2nd in Retail ID and 5th Individual Overall; Gavin Fry was 7th Individual. Southwind #1 (Schaaf, Fry, Seested, Nemecek) was 2nd in Reasons, 2nd in Retail ID and 3rd Team Overall.
In the Livestock Skillathon, 4-H members rotated individually through stations that addressed six areas of animal science. Those included feedstuffs, breed identification, equipment identification, meat identification and a written test. There was also a team component where members worked together on judging a class of keep/cull meat goat does, reading a medicine label, and determining body condition scoring of breeding gilts. Individually John Emmerson was 9th Overall and Gavin Fry was 6th Overall. As a team, Southwind #2 (Emmerson, Fry, Seested, Nemecek) was 4th in Exam, 3rd in Practicum and 2nd Overall. Southwind #2 (Nading, Schaaf, Keller, Brillhart) was 4th Team Overall.
Having fun while learning was part of the weekend! In addition to the Call Hall ice cream social, team members caught up with old friends and made new ones.
Photo caption: Nine 4-H members had the opportunity to represent the Southwind Extension District at the annual Kansas 4-H Livestock Sweepstakes at Kansas State University. Their skills and knowledge were challenged by participating in Livestock & Meats Judging, Livestock Quiz Bowl and Livestock Skillathon contests. Those attending were (from left to right): Carla Nemecek, Southwind District Director & Coach; Haydon Schaaf, Gavin Fry, Ryann Allison, Clay Brillhart, Brody Nemecek, Jillian Keller, Danielle Nading and John Emmerson.