To practice their skills and prepare for more contests later in the year, the livestock judging team traveled to Amarillo last Friday to compete at the Tri-State Fair. Participants included freshman Reiner Goe, sophomore Braileigh Goe, and juniors Lynnsey Mahler and Slade Beerwinkle.  

They all showed critical thinking. They kept an “ideal” animal in their mind for good judging, kept patience, and held a strong confidence in themselves. They always have room for improvement and want to be better.  

“I think that I did decent for the first meet. There is a lot of things I can improve on, but overall, I will accept how I did for now,” Beerwinkle said. “As a team, there is a need for improvement, but for our first time, I am proud of what our team did.” 

Wanting to improve what they did at their first meet is normal. Having the ability to stand in silence as they judge the animals is something they work on a lot. After they are done judging, they have to stand and try not to second guess themselves. That is where self-confidence comes in because it is hard for them to not look at the animals and change their judging order.  

“It can give me some confidence because I can think like a judge. If I know how the judge thinks, then it is easier to show my animals,’ B. Goe said.  

This contest is not an easy thing to do on a whim; it takes time and practice. It is important for the students as they can get scholarships to college if they do well in the contest.  

“Well, it is very important to me because I am decent at it. I am not bad at it. My dad did it in high school, and it helped me make him proud,” Beerwinkle said.  

It takes time to do this contest. There are multiple classes of different animals, most of which take ten to twelve minutes. Sometimes they are not allowed to touch the animals, so they must just look at the animals.  

“Livestock judging gives us the opportunity to practice long-lost skills such as critical thinking and practice having self-confidence,” Lynnsey Mahler said.