(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic FFA Reporter Lily Johnson says on October 5, 2023, 15 Atlantic FFA members attended the fall contest held at Northwest Missouri State University located in Maryville, Missouri. The members got the opportunity to compete in several different contests.

Livestock Judging
Left to Right: (1st row) Kaydence Sturm, Aly Dreager, Maddy Anderson, Addalyn Sonntag, Mckenna Sonntag, Jailynne Castillo, Jacquie Freund. (2nd row) Frank Freund, Keston Schmit, Addie Freund, Hayden Kleen, Lauren Comes, Dylan Dreager, Mia Kloewer, and Miraylie Stuart.

This year, the chapter had eleven members compete in the Livestock Evaluation contest, placing 9th out of 31 teams. The top 4 scores for Atlantic FFA came from McKenna Sonntag, Addie Freund, Lauren Comes and Hayden Kleen. 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.

In the Dairy Cattle Evaluation contest, Colton Rudy competed and individually placed 6th. 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.

The last contest that FFA members competed in, was the Dairy Foods contest. The team was comprised of Lola Comes, Lily Johnson, and Natalie Smith. The trio got to try different types of cheese, find the defects in milk, look at milking equipment, and take a written exam. Together they placed as the top Iowa team.

Dairy Foods team
Lola Comes, Lily Johnson, Natalie smith