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4-H Livestock Judging: Activity 6, Judging a Class

Chad Carr, Justin Crosswhite, and Amanda Johnson

Credits and Acknowledgments

4-H LIVESTOCK JUDGING was developed through a team effort with the Florida 4-H Youth Development Program, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and the Department of Animal Science, The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida.

This edition of the Livestock Judging curriculum package was created by Chad Carr, Assistant Professor, Justin Crosswhite, Graduate Assistant; and Amanda Johnson, Undergraduate Assistant, Department of Animal Sciences. Authors of previous editions include: Julie Sexton and Karen Strickland, former Project Assistants; Allen Stateler, former Graduate Assistant; Saundra TenBroeck, Associate Professor and Youth Livestock Extension Specialist, Department of Animal Sciences; Tim Marshall, Associate Professor, Department of Animal Sciences; and Deborah J. Glauer, Extension Youth Development Specialist and Animal Science Design Team Leader, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences.

Technical review and assistance for this edition was provided by members of the 4-H Life Skills Animal Science Action Team—Amanda Thein, Nassau County 4-H Agent; Chris DeCubelis, Gilchrist County 4-H Agent, and Joy C. Jordan, Associate Professor, 4-H Youth Development Curriculum Specialist, Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Activity 6

 

Table 1. 

OBJECTIVES:

 

For youth to:

Identify priorities for evaluating items.

 

Develop comparative skills.

LIFE SKILLS:

Acquiring, analyzing, and using information.

 

Decision making skills.

MATERIALS:

Hats (4 different types)

 

Paper (to number hats and one per youth)

 

Footwear (4 different types)

 

Knives (4 different types)

 

Pictures of trucks (4 different types)

 

Pencils

 

Markers or chalk

 

Flipchart and easel or chalkboard

TIME:

1 1/2 Hours

SETTING:

Comfortable room

 

Introduction

Evaluating an entire class of animals is much easier when you have a plan. Knowing your system of individual animal priorities will help you immensely in judging a class. Livestock judging requires complete concentration, careful observation, and logical reasoning skills. Let's see how you do.

DO

READY, SET, JUDGE!!

  • Set up a class of 4 hats and label them 1, 2, 3 and 4.

  • Have the group develop a list of priorities for the hats. Examples are size of brim, mesh or solid, cowboy, cap or beach hat, writing and print on it, UV protection, clean condition with no holes, visibility....

  • List them on the flipchart or chalkboard.

  • Have each youth judge the class based on the priorities.

  • Have each youth discuss their placing and why they placed it the way they did, based on the priorities list.

  • Set up additional classes using footwear, knives, and trucks.

Reflect

List some priorities the group identified.

  • Did you negotiate any priorities because of their importance?

  • List some priorities that were the same for all items.

  • What similarities were there between priorities for different items?

  • Did you have at least one easy pair placing? (i.e. bad vs. nice hat)

  • Was it challenging to judge items other than livestock?

  • Will you look at these items differently in the future?

  • Why is it important to know this information?

  • What did you learn from this activity?

Apply

  • Developing priorities for livestock selection.

  • Judge a class of livestock; either live or from slides or video.

  • Start with a live class of 2, then 3, 4, 6, or 8 animals.

  • Can you think of other ways you can use this same system in your daily decision-making?