By Stephen Smoot
Last month, two area 4H teams made their mark on Louisville, Kentucky, a city historically referred to as the Gateway to the South. State champion teams in horse judging and poultry barbecuing took the over seven hour trek to compete against peers from across the nation.
First went the horse judging team. Earlier this year, both the senior and junior 4H teams traveled to the West Virginia University agriculture education complex in Reedsville, Preston County.
As Alexandria Smith, Hardy County’s West Virginia University Extension Agent shared, the students practiced at least once a week between January and April. Smith noted that community support played a vital role, saying “everyone around here welcomed the kids to practice” judging horses.
“These kids have to choose to do judging,” Smith explained, adding that “they are committed to doing this.” Also, similar to sports programs, those involved in one generally compete in most other options.
Judging animals requires a keen eye and a practiced mind to perform a successful evaluation. In these competitions, eight classes of horses are judged with four of them serving as “reasons” classes.
These provide the stiffest challenge to participants, but also provide among the biggest benefits.
Competitors get a set time to evaluate the animal, taking notes as they go. Next, they receive a half an hour to provide “reasons” for their conclusions. This builds a skill set also seen in fields such as history, philosophy, and most important, the law. Participants must use evidence that they gather to present or defend their “case,” which is their set of conclusions, or “reasons” for coming to the conclusions they reached.
Also similar to real life, professional situations, different judges come to different conclusions even while looking at the same evidence. Well explained reasons help them “to defend their placings,” Smith stated.
“They learn a lot about defending their reasons and putting together good quality reasons,” Smith explained.
Competing in this fashion also helps to build public speaking skills and confidence. Smith instructs the competitors to try to not write down a speech to memorize, but to visualize each concept, then speak more freely and flexibly when asked to present.
Last April, Hardy County took state championships in horse judging at both the junior and senior levels. They beat out Jefferson County, for whom equine traditions rate as highly as poultry in Hardy.
The senior team thus earned a trip to nationals in Louisville. Junior teams cannot advance farther than state competitions. Smith said “we’re pretty proud of our juniors as well,” and pointed out that they will soon compete in the higher categories. Members of 4H reach senior status between the ages of 14 and 21.
Moorefield hosted the state 4H barbecue competition as part of the poultry competitions at the middle school. Portable grills were set up on the grounds for students to compete with either two turkey tenders or two chicken halves. The competitors develop rather creative sauces, but must also cook their chicken properly so that it is neither raw nor excessively charred.
The Hardy County team won at Moorefield and then represented the state at nationals last week. In Louisville, the competition went somewhat differently. Participants received two chicken thighs or two turkey patties, which Smith shared was a challenge. On top of displaying creative and capable cooking skills, the barbecuers also had to give a presentation on food safety, then answer questions from judges.
Out of a large group of 4H poultry grill masters from across the United States, Makinley Branson placed fourth in turkey barbecue and Tommy Parisi sixth in chicken.
Bringing home awards and achievements serves as only part of the goal. The population of Louisville approximately equals a third of that of the entire Mountain State. Smith called the city “a great place” and shared that the students took trips to local restaurants, a shopping mall, and other attractions.
Even more important, as Smith said “they get to meet other kids from other states and talk about the differences,” not only in judging, but also how farmers in different states do different things.
She added that from her point of view, the best part lies in “the kids getting together, sending time with each other, watching them experience new things.” Smith added that the barbecue competitors went to Louisville in the same days as the Pendleton County 4H poultry judging team and that each enjoyed seeing the other so far from home.
Most importantly, however “we had a blast. We were the only table laughing as hard as we were at the chicken banquet.”
And some of Hardy County’s finest young people did a fine job representing their industry and their community in the Bluegrass State.
