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KY 4-H Skillathon Team Named Reserve National Champions

KY 4-H Skillathon Team Named Reserve National Champions

KY 4-H Skillathon Team Named Reserve National Champions

“The pace really picked up after we won the state finals at the Kentucky State Fair.” Wanda Dodson, co-coach and Warren County volunteer leader

Published on Dec. 24, 2003

More than six months of hard work and dedication paid off for four Warren County 4-H’ers when they were named as Reserve National 4-H Animal Science Skillathon Champions on November 19 in Louisville during the North American International Livestock Exposition.

“In the five-year history of the contest, this is the fourth time Kentucky has finished in the top three,” said co-coach Monty Chappell, a 4-H livestock specialist in the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.  “We have placed individual members in the top ten every year.”

The team, composed Ben Brown, Whit Potter, Jenna Brown and Monica Smith, placed second overall in a 20-state field.  They also placed second in team identification and quality assurance.  Potter was fourth individual overall and Ben Brown was eighth.  Brown was third in quality assurance and fourth in identification.

“We started work several months before the regional qualifying contest in July, but the pace really picked up after we won the state finals at the Kentucky State Fair,” said co-coach Wanda Dodson, a long-term Warren County volunteer leader.  “We worked twice during the week and nearly every weekend.”

The team and their coaches traveled to Lexington and Columbus, Ohio to work on various aspects of the contest.  They participated in the Eastern U.S. contest in Blacksburg, VA placing second in an 11-team contest.  Ben Brown earned high individual and Whit Potter placed second.

“This is one of the most comprehensive contests for 4-H members with livestock interest,” said Chappell.  “The young participants need to know how to evaluate meats, wool and hay, how to properly utilize livestock pharmaceuticals and present a two-minute discussion on how they culled a class of replacement heifers during the 12-station contest.”

Contact Information

Scovell Hall Lexington, KY 40546-0064

cafenews@uky.edu