The Kentucky 4-H Dairy Judging team participated in the All-American Dairy Judging Contest in Pennsylvania  and the National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest held in conjunction with the World Dairy Expo this fall.

"The team competed against 12 other teams from across the United States and had an excellent day at the Pennsylvania All-American Contest," said Larissa Tucker, senior extension associate for dairy youth programs for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture. "They were the second place team overall in the 4-H contest. They placed in the top five in three of the five breeds. They won the Holstein breed team competition. In oral reasons, the team placed third overall."

Team members are Alex Poole, Madison Shanks and Kevin Herndon from Spencer County and Dylan Barber of Taylor County. Team members earned several individual awards. Herndon placed third in Guernseys, Shanks placed fourth in Holsteins and Poole placed third in Holsteins, Jerseys and the oral reasons competition. Poole was also third-high individual overall in the contest.

At the National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest, the team placed ninth overall. They won the Jersey breed team award and were the seventh place team overall in oral reasons. On an individual basis, two team members joined the All-American club - Poole was the 22nd overall high individual and Shanks placed 18th overall. Shanks also placed eighth in the Jersey individual awards. Herndon placed fourth individually in Jerseys. Barber placed 21st in the Brown Swiss breed.

Team members credit several people for their success including the following breeders who served as hosts for the workouts: Rocky Run Farm, Alpine Hill Swiss and the University of Kentucky Dairy. Tucker said the team was also thankful to their sponsors including Kentucky Nutrition Services, Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, Oliver and  Virginia Payne, Dairy Farmers of America, KABA/Select Sires, Kentucky Jersey Cattle Club, Church & Dwight, Neo-Gen, Kentucky Department of Agriculture and the Kentucky State Fair.