4-H Dairy judging honors return to New York

2011 4-H National Champions: New York
2011 National 4-H Dairy Judging Champions: New York

New York 4-H took its first contest win since 1998 (left to right):
Meghan Vaill, Emma Andrew, coach Douglas Waterman, Cassandra Sapp, and Andrew Reynolds.

After a 13 year hiatus (last contest win in 1998), the New York 4-H Dairy Judging team claimed top honors in the Dairy Cattle Judging Contest. The team, coached by Doug Waterman, placed first out of the 30 teams that competed in the competition. Team members included Andrew Reynolds, Cassandra Sapp, Emma Andrew, and Meghan Vaill.

Rounding out the top five were Michigan (5), Maryland (4), Wisconsin (3), and Pennsylvania (2).

The contests top five individuals were Michael Rush (PA), Nicholas Schuster (WI), Andrew Reynolds (NY), Austen Schmidt (WI), and Andrew Kern of Minnesota with a winning score of 679.

Andrew Kern of Minnesota is congratulated by Seth Johnson,
Executive Secretary of the American Guernsey Cattle Association
New York also took top honors in oral reasons, with Wisconsin close behind.

This year, a new award was introduced in the contest. The placings-only award winners were Andrew Kern, Minnesota, and Victoria Mischler of Virginia scoring 458 points on placings alone.