Miles Community College has teamed up with the Custer County 4-H to host the first ever Pioneer Livestock Judging camp. The camp will utilize the new Ag Advancement Center at the West Campus of MCC in Miles City on December 28 and 29.
The camp follows a 2-day format that will provide participants information on how to evaluate each of the four species (sheep, goats, hogs and beef) normally found at a livestock judging competition. The camp will incorporate classroom sessions with hands on evaluation training with live animals in the heated arena at the Ag Advancement Center.
The second day of the camp will allow the students the opportunity to utilize the knowledge and skills that they learned on day one during an actual livestock judging contest setting. Instructors for the camp feature Marc King, Sweetgrass County Extension agent and retired MSU Livestock Judging Coach. He will be supported by a corps of area experts that work with the youth livestock judging programs around the region.
Livestock judging provides the opportunity to develop a number of life skills for our young members. These include critical thinking, decision making and public speaking.
The camp has generated interest from across the state with registrations coming in from as far away as Plains, Helena, Bozeman and Sidney. Over 60 youth are expected to participate in the camp this year.
The Custer County 4-H Livestock judging program is active and growing. Coaches Ryan and Ty Jones have nearly 30 youth attending practice each week. They have been quite successful this past year with excellent performance at a number of contests with the highlight of the year being the 2nd place finish of the junior team and the 3rd place finish of the senior team at the NILE contest in Billings.
This camp will help prepare the youth to succeed at the upcoming all-beef judging contest held in conjunction with the Annual Cowtown Beef Breeders Show in Miles City on February 2, 2018. Other competitions they will be competing in include the Black Hills Stock show in Rapid City, Roughrider Judging contest in Dickinson and Bowman Livestock Judging contest.
