HERE COMES THE JUDGE

4-H COMPETITIVE CONTESTS ENABLE YOUNG PEOPLE TO DEVELOP SKILLS FOR ADULTHOOD

Written by: Chris DeCubellis

Just about everyone agrees that society should provide opportunities and experiences for young people to help them mature into thriving adults—who will then contribute back to society. is means they need to be able to have a wide variety of educational activities. As young people mature, these continuing activities, along with tutelage from caring adults, help them gain life skills and develop competencies that will put them on a trajectory to thrive.

One fantastic opportunity for young people in 4-H is the chance to learn about and participate in a competitive judging contest. It might sound like a stretch: How does ranking four dairy cows from highest to lowest quality, or four sows from most desirable to least, or how good four chickens are at laying, help youth develop skills to translate to other areas of their lives? The answers might just surprise you! ey give a brief, o en about 2-minutes-long speech to expert judges on how they placed the class and why they placed the class in a particular way. e young people learn to see di erent points of view: ey grant the good things they see in the specimens they didn’t place first, and back up coherently why they chose to place the class in a certain order.

In a typical judging contest, young people learn a tremendous amount of detail about their topic. For example, 4-H members in poultry judging will learn to evaluate how prolific a layer a hen is based on some easily identifiable factors. ey also learn to grade e s similarly to how a U.S. Department of Agriculture grader would evaluate the e s.

Many young people in Florida 4-H are involved in some aspect of a poultry project. Some of them will go on to pursue a career in agriculture, maybe even in the poultry sector. However, the skills learned go way above and beyond only the subject matter expertise. e ability to quickly and thoroughly assess a situation, take all factors into consideration and then make a correct decision are skills that benefit everyone. During judging contests, young people should not be guessing—they should be evaluating and deciding.

In addition to scrutinizing data, evaluating information and making an informed decision, many judging contests require young people to give oral presentations. is simply means that, a er judging the class of animals or e s or other topic, young judges have to defend their reasoning.

Some contests even provide hypothetical situations, and young judges decide which animal or specimen would be best for that scenario. For example, factors such as environment, inputs and information about a herd of cattle might make one particular bull better suited for a rancher to purchase. Youth in livestock judging contests o en use these situations, along with a visual appraisal of the animals and scientifically determined Expected Progeny Di erences, to determine the answers.

Florida 4-H o ers a wide variety of judging contests to appeal to youth who have all sorts of interests. Contests include dairy cattle, poultry, livestock and meats judging to the forest ecology contest, and horticulture identification and judging. ere are also land judging, horse judging, hippology (equine veterinary and management knowledge contest) and even an “insectathon.”

It is evident that there are competitive events to appeal to just about any young person who would like to dive deep into a topic that could potentially lead to a career. Young people will also gain valuable decision-making expertise, critical-thinking skills and communication abilities that will serve them well the rest of their lives. For more information on 4-H competitive events, email me at cdecube@ufl.edu or visit florida4h.org. FCM