(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – On Thursday October 7, 2021, Atlantic FFA members attended numerous fall contests at Northwest Missouri State University. This year, the chapter had seven members compete in the Livestock Evaluation contest, placing 9th out of 31 teams. In this contest, members had the opportunity to display their agricultural knowledge of various livestock breeds. Those who competed had to place breeding and market classes of beef, swine, and sheep, while also doing three classes of oral reasons.

(Left to right) Livestock Judging
Andrew Derby, Cooper Jipsen, Dylan Comes, Logan Eilts, McKenna Sonntag, Malena Woodward, Maddie Richter

(Left to right) FFA Knowledge
Haley Hansen, Sofia Mendez, Kate Ottechen, Keith Archibald

Individually, Dylan Comes placed 30th, Malena Woodward placed 32nd, Cooper Jipsen 34th, McKenna Sonntag 40th, Logan Eilts 52nd, Maddie Richter 137th and Andrew Derby 138th out of 175 contestants from Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Cooper Jipsen said, “It was a very fun experience and it was a lot different than every other livestock judging I have participated in. All in all a great learning experience”.

(Left to right) Dairy
Charles Klemmensen, Charli Goff, Daniel Freund, Colton Rudy, Brett Dreager, DJ Shepperd

In the Horse Evaluation contest, Atlantic FFA members did not get a chance to complete the event but still placed 14th out of 34 teams. The event gave students the opportunity to learn agricultural knowledge and skills in the area of equine science. Competing FFA members evaluated halter and performance equine classes. Aspen Niklasen placed 40th, Lola Comes placed 57th, Callee Pellett placed 58th and Colton Becker 80th placed out of 120 contestants. FFA Advisor Eric Miller said, “Its a shame these kids did not get a chance to compete oral reasons. They got docked up to 100 points each because we needed to leave to come back for after school events. I would like to see what this team could have scored if we had more time.”

(Left to right) Agronomy
Torrie Steinhoff and Kaitlin Jensen

In the Dairy Cattle Evaluation contest, the chapter placed 11th out of 26 teams overall. The purpose of the District Dairy Cattle CDE is to enable students to develop skills in dairy animal selection and dairy herd management. They evaluated and ranked dairy animals based on visual factors of selection. Daniel Freund placed 52nd, Charles Klemmensen placed 68th, Colton Rudy 72nd, Brett Dreager 76th, Charli Goff 78th and DJ Shepperd 80th out of 121 individuals. Daniel Fruend said, “it was a fun experience and I had the opportunity to meet lots of new people. The contest was also more challenging this year, so that was fun. ”

At the Farm Business contest the Atlantic team of Bryan York and Wyatt Redinbaugh competed individually. Bryan was 3rd and Wyatt placed 11th. This contest is designed to stimulate instruction of economic and agricultural business management principles in the secondary agriculture curriculum. These principles include the following: the ability to apply the economic principles and concepts listed in analyzing the farm business and making farm business management decisions, the ability to analyze and select the most appropriate type of farm business organization for a given farm situation, the ability to develop the ability to use records and manage resources for optimum returns to resources.

In the Advanced FFA Knowledge test, Atlantic FFA finished 3rd overall out of 16 teams. Haley Hansen placed 8th, Keith Archibald placed 11th, Sofia Mendez placed 16th and Kate Ottechen placed 20th out of 48 individuals. The contest consisted of a 100 question written examination covering general FFA knowledge. Keith Archibald said, “I really enjoyed being on campus. I had a fun time seeing people I already know and meeting new people. We all did pretty good on our test and I hope Atlantic FFA can continue their success at the fall contest. ”.

Finally in the Agronomy contest individuals Torrie Steinhoff placed 53rd and Kaitlin Jensen placed 58th out of 68 individuals. The Agronomy CDE is designed to motivate students to learn about crop production and factors that influence the quality of seed and forage crops. Students participating in the Agronomy CDE should develop the following skills and abilities: To identify weeds and crops by the seed or plant parts. To evaluate the quality of crop seed and hay samples for feeding, planting, or processing for food. To identify weeds as prohibited, noxious, or common, and length of life cycle. Finally be able to develop an understanding of the biological principles underlying production practices of major crops and of their handling for further marketing.

(All photos submitted by Atlantic FFA Advisor Eric Miller)