Cat Gonzales
Photography & Social Media Editor
After competing in the different categories, the Livestock Judging team returns home after placing third in the National Barrow Show in Austin, Minnesota. Taylor Frank, the Livestock Judging Team coach and an instructor at Butler Community College, led the team to back-to-back national championships. The program allows students to study and learn the different types of livestock and how to judge the quality of each.
“The livestock program is teaching kids how to evaluate multiple species of livestock.” Frank said. “We travel all over the country and we look at cattle, hogs, sheep and goats. The kids come from different backgrounds and different levels of experience backgrounds as well. My goal is to try to help kids zone in on their skill set and learn a little more about livestock and production goals and the quality.”
As for the judges, they come from backgrounds that prepare them for this program. The students come from different parts of the United States to participate and compete in judging livestock. Some have more experience with judging than others.
“A lot of kids will come from 4-H or FFA background,” Frank said. “Certain states have a stronger FFA side of things and certain states have a stronger 4-H of things and there are kids on the team who are from California to Virginia.”
The judges prepare by going to different places to look at different spices of livestock before the competitions. They look at cattle, hogs, sheep and goats. Goats are one of the relevantly new categories coming to the competitions. They conduct speeches in front of their peers so they are comfortable about talking in front of their judges. They will travel all over the states and judge livestock in many different competition.
“We will travel to a bunch of different competitions,” Frank said. “The National Barrow Show is the first one in the fall at Austin, Minnesota. We just got back from Grand Island in Nebraska. We are leaving to the Flint Hill Classic in Hutchinson and after that there is a competition in Tulsa, Oklahoma…”
The program was instituted in 1993 and has even existed before that. The students were instrumental in making this program. Recent success from the program has seen is the back-to-back champions and then the recent third place.
“The feeling is pretty incredible,” Frank said. “Because judging isn’t something that’s always objective, very subjective and opinion based and so, it could be challenging and frustrating from that stand point. Whereas a basketball team you know how many points you could score, the ball went through the hoop or didn’t go through the hoop. Whereas here, you’re basically formulating an opinion on everything that you are doing and hoping that they match up with whoever the officials are chosen to be at the contest. So it is very cool, and it gives you a feeling that when you are there and, in the moment, just like anything else would.”