Emma Barkley
Lantern Staff
The Butler’s Livestock Judging Team has recently been named Team of the Year at Nationals making the team the champions for the 2017-2018 season. The team and Livestock Coach Taylor Frank have been champions back-to-back. Frank won coach of the year for two out of the three years he has coached.They were titled National Champions for the 2017-2018 season.
“I started coaching as the assistant at Butler in the fall of 2015,” Frank said. “This recent fall, 2017, I was appointed as the head coach at Butler.”
Livestock judging is subjective, making it a challenge and fun at the same time. At judging contests, students evaluate 12 different classes of livestock and focus on placing a class of four animals based on best to worse, and then they must defend their placings, which is known as “reasons.” “Reasons” follows a grant criticism format of why they placed the class, which usually lasts up to a minute and a half. The different types of species that are judged at the contests include cattle, hogs, sheep and goats. Each species is different and requires the student to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Students practice throughout the year and will practice twice a week, and also spend their weekends at contests or will spend their time looking at classes of livestock.
“The most challenging part of this process is oral reasons,” sophomore Miles Stagemeyer said. “We are expected to take notes on a class and then prepare a set of reasons in a limited amount of time. Although it is nerve racking at first, “Reasons” become much easier due to the amount of time we spend practicing. The other challenge we face is commitment. Livestock judging has no off season. We travel weeks at a time and our free time is usually spent working up sets and catching up on missed homework.”
This team was fortunate to win a multitude of awards. At every contest they attended, there were several team and individual awards received. The team won several National contests including the National Barrow Show, North American International Livestock Show, National Western Stock Show and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The National Champion team is determined by success at the four biggest and most competitive contests in which they were fortunate to win three of.
“Though it has been a little while since Butler has won the National Championship, this program has a lineage of successful teams,” Frank said. “Some teams are fortunate to win contests in their time here, and others prove their talent from what they’ve learned and taken from Butler. Many of the most premier breeders and evaluators throughout the industry are Butler alumni. I am confident that their time in this program helped shape and mold decisions that have gotten them to where they are today.”
Being named an All-American is significant. Not every student gets the opportunity to qualify for this status. Students not only have to be successful at evaluating but consistently be at the top of their game. With judging contest success, there is an academic component that proves which individuals are functioning as great students while still putting in the countless hours it takes to be a competitive livestock judge. Based on a point system, only the top 15 individuals will be named Academic All-Americans annually. There were three members of Butler’s Livestock Team who were named All-Americans, which include Kenzie Kretzmeier, Tanner Barnes and Cade Bibdon.