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Uniontown 4-Hers place at K-State
Five Uniontown 4-H members recently obtained some valuable experience during the Kansas 4-H Livestock Sweepstakes Weekend hosted by Kansas State University's Department of Animal Sciences and Industry.
The event, which took place Aug. 21-22 in Manhattan, tests participants' knowledge and skills in livestock judging and meats judging, and their overall knowledge of the industry through various individual and team events, the Livestock Skillathon and the Livestock Quiz Bowl. Prizes are awarded to the teams and individuals that earn the highest combined scores following the weekend's activities.
"This busy weekend on campus allows the participants to show off their knowledge and skills of their livestock projects and the ag industry as a whole," Delta George, the local team's coach, said. "The competitions test their abilities on live animal and meat evaluation, industry knowledge, quality assurance, oral communication and teamwork. This is a fun way to wrap up the 4-H year by putting their talent against youth from across the state of Kansas."
Students from Bourbon County who competed at the event include Uniontown High School seniors Reed Gleason and Katelyn Vincent, juniors Cole George and Drew George, and freshman Chase Gleason.
"Bourbon County was represented very well in all divisions of the sweepstakes event," Delta said. "This is evident by having four members in the top 10 of the sweepstakes competitions."
Those four students are Chase Gleason, who placed first, Vincent, who placed third, Drew George, who placed seventh, and Reed Gleason, who placed 10th. The group also placed fourth as a team in the overall sweepstakes competition, which includes all contests.
"All five of these members are great kids; they've put in lots of time and effort to get to where they are," Delta said. "It's exciting to see them do so well at events of this caliber. The four competitions by themselves are considered the state contests, but the sweepstakes idea brings all the results together to get the cream of the crop."
Team selection is based on local 4-H contest results and the livestock contest at the Bourbon County Fair, she added.
Reed Gleason said the event is beneficial for high school students who are studying agriculture and plan to pursue careers in the ag industry.
"It's setting the foundation for what we need in the ag industry," he said.
Other benefits of the event include increasing participants' knowledge of the industry and teaching them to work as a team. The event also allows team members to "have fun with friends," Reed said.
Chase said the event also taught him more information about public speaking that he can use for a future career in the industry.
Vincent said the event has helped her learn more about basic aspects of the livestock industry, including the various cuts of meat, and has also helped "with her overall knowledge of the farm." She was also able to meet other young 4-H members and learn new ideas at the event. Vincent said she plans to become an ag teacher after college.
Cole and Drew said the event has helped them obtain a broader knowledge of all aspects of the industry.
"It opens up your perspective on everything," Cole said.
"It has given me a lot of information I wouldn't have known under normal circumstances," Drew said.
4-H members who want to learn new skills or polish skills they already have break into groups to judge and place about eight classes of livestock. Participants also learn how to identify retail cuts of meat and place classes of meat products, as well as classes of carcasses or cuts.
In the Livestock Skillathon, participants will rotate individually through stations that address areas of animal science knowledge, including feedstuffs, breed identification, equipment identification and other areas. The Livestock Quiz Bowl starts with a qualifying exam and the eight teams with the highest average scores will compete against each other.
Participants also get to have fun during the event at an ice cream social and dance that took place after the contests. Animal science workshops and tours were also offered during the weekend.