Congratulations to the Iowa State University Dairy Judging Team that competed in January 2024 at the Southwest Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest held at the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth, TX. Team members consisted of Torri Burch, Frewsburg, NY; Delana Erbsen, Lanark, IL; and Colton Silveira, Hilmar, CA. The trip started out with excellent practice stops, including Ratliff Jerseys in Garnett, KS; followed by a visit to Billings, MO, at Groves-View Dairy, where team members were able to evaluate Brown Swiss and Holsteins and the team also practiced at Sandy Creek Farm (Brown Swiss) in Bridgeport, TX.
On contest day, Colton was 6th, and the team finished 5th in Brown Swiss. In the Holstein breed, Delana was 2nd, Colton was 7th, and the team was 3rd. Moving on to Jerseys, Colton was 1st, Delana was 2nd, and the team was 6th. Delana won reasons, and Colton trailed closely behind in 4th place. At the end of the day, Delana was 5th high individual overall, and Colton won the entire contest, being named High Individual Overall with the team finishing 3rd out of 10 teams. It was a great finish to the judging season, and we are extremely proud of the commitment, dedication, and effort all dairy judging team participants put into the judging season starting back in fall 2023, which allowed them all to be very successful – way to go Cyclones!