One hundred and fifty area students wearing blue corduroy FFA jackets filled the halls of Wadena-Deer Creek High School for the Region II Career Development Event last Thursday.
Tables lined with milking units, plates of cheese and cuts of meat provided students with an opportunity to display their ag industry knowledge in competitions related to dairy foods, meat identification and dairy cattle.
WDC FFA advisor Richard Muckala said there is a high demand for people with a strong dairy background in ag science careers.
The dairy foods competition included evaluating the taste of milk samples, examining milking units for sanitation and damage, testing milk for mastitis and rating artificial versus real dairy products.
For the meat competition, students identified cuts of pork, beef and lamb and ranked cuts of meat.
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The dairy cattle portion of the competition took place at the Wadena County Fairgrounds where students judged holstein cattle and at Jim Kern's farm where they judged guernsey cattle. The students performed a linear evaluation of the animals and gave a point value to traits such as stature and udder quality.
Students also took a written test on milk production and marketing.
Students learn the knowledge required for the competition in ag classes and by practicing after school, Muckala said.
Regional FFA members typically qualify for the competition through a preliminary contest at their school, he said. The top three or four teams will go to the state convention.
Wadena FFA students did not compete at the contest, Muckala said. Instead, they organized registration, performed food sales and tabulated the contest.
"They learned... crowd control [and how to] prepare food for that number of people," he said. "They learned ... to manage a whole event like that, work together."
Muckala said this is the first time Wadena has hosted the event in nearly 20 years. He said FFA advisors from other schools were impressed with the high school and its cleanliness.
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Results:
Meat
competition
1st place: Sebeka
2nd place: Pierz
3rd place: Menahga
4th place: Grand Rapids
Dairy Food
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competition
1st place: Bertha-Hewitt
2nd place: Menahga
3rd place: Browerville
Dairy Cattle
competition
1st place Sebeka
2nd place: Brainerd
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3rd place: Browerville
