LaCrosse FFA earns eighth place in nationwide contest

RITZVILLE – The LaCrosse Junior FFA program joined the Lind-Ritzville FFA team in the NILE Virtual Livestock Judging Contest in Billings, Mont., Oct. 8.

LaCrosse took 8th place as a team. Ellie Pearson placed 8th as an individual, with a score of 392 out of 500.

Lind-Ritzville FFA team members Taylor Galbreath, Reagan Snider, Jay Harder, Lane Tellefson and Alyssa Williams took second place.

Williams took 1st High Individual Overall, earning 439 points out of a possible 500. Williams is an eighth-grader attending Lind-Ritzville Middle School.

The students judged/placed seven classes of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats from live-streamed videos; and delivered three sets of oral reasons via Zoom breakout rooms.

“The contest had teams competing from across the nation; from Washington to Virginia and from Montana to Texas,” Andy Williams, Lind-Ritzville FFA Advisor said.

Galbreath came in 6th, Snider finished 26th, and Harder placed 28th; out of 105 individuals. Galbreath and Snider are sophomores, and Harder is a senior this year.

“The team was extremely excited to be able to participate in the event, and is excited to continue their growth in this CDE (Career Development Event) as they work towards the state contest later this spring,” Andy Williams said.

This is Williams 16th year serving as Lind-Ritzville FFA Advisor. He said the team did not compete last year due to COVID-19 shutting down schools in March.

“They competed two years ago as a very young team, so this was a very good stepping stone,” Williams said.

Williams said in a typical year, they would not have been able to travel to Montana to compete in the event, but with school activities being virtual this year, they were able to sign up for the online event.

“It was really nice to get the students together for this event,” Williams said, adding it was only because of the school board’s recent decision to allow kids back on campus they were able to do so.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to compete in more events as the year progresses,” Williams said.

Williams said while this was not the National FFA event that one team from each state earns the privilege to compete in, but a contest anyone could compete in, it was still a “very big” livestock show and exhibition that took place over four days in Montana.

Any student who is an FFA member can participate in livestock judging events, regardless of whether or not they have experience showing livestock themselves.

Williams said while he did not expect too many of the students to make a living with livestock, the skills learned could benefit any future career.

“For me, livestock judging is about learning how to make a decision,” Williams said. “They have to learn a set of priorities, they have to be able to look at something and apply their priorities to make a decision, and then be confident enough in that decision to defend it; using their oral reasons to say how and why they did what they did. We’re using livestock evaluation as a tool for some solid life skills.”

Williams said he particularly pleased with how his students did in the oral reasoning portion of this event.

“The oral reasons are something the kids don’t love. They struggle with it, and they have to work to get better, but I was really pleased with how the kids did with this. Especially because it was via Zoom.”