- Second place — Gordon County Young Farmers Livestock Judging Contest
- Sixth place — National Barrow Show in Austin, Minnesota
- First place — Area 1 FFA Livestock Judging Contest
A livestock judge must look at how well handlers control the animals as well as the build and health of the livestock.
Animal care, learning where food comes from and becoming familiar with the steps involved with raising animals, is a tradition of hard work.
Ninth-grade student Tim Hubbard and Taylor Langford, 11th graders at Gordon Central High School, are a part of the only livestock judging team in Gordon County through FFA (Future Farmers of America.)
FFA is a federally chartered organization by the U.S. Congress, among 500,000 national members and is an intra-curricular, not extra-curricular activity, said advisor Melissa Hubbard of Gordon Central.
Gordon Central offers two curriculum pathways at Gordon Central: agricultural science and animal science, which introduce students to practical farming skills and root them in FFA.
The club has helped Hubbard and Langford with livestock opportunities, including showing animals and judging them.
“All the competitions students participate in are an extension of the classroom,” Hubbard said. “I tell my students ‘think outside the barn’.”
Many opportunities await FFA students.
“I’ve shown sheep, pigs and goats all over the state of Georgia,” Langford said.
Livestock judging involves a lot of skills and practice.
“You give a set of reasons and prepare an essay and explain the animals,” Hubbard explained. Hubbard has been a judge for five years and this is Langford’s second year of judging.
“It takes a lot of experience and a lot of time,” Hubbard said. “I’ve tried to push myself and I really like it.”
During the shows and competitions, animals and supplies are hauled by the FFA’s own 24-foot trailer, purchased through grants and with the help of the Gordon County Superintendent Bill McCown.
“Livestock judging is almost considered a sport,” Hubbard said. “But normally you want to start out at a junior or community college and gain a presence and then major it in it.”
Both of the young livestock judges are interested in a career with farm animals.
“Most schools are in the Midwest,” Langford explained. “I have three colleges in mind and they aren’t around here.”
The schools include Black Hawk College in Ill., Redlands Community College in Okla. and Northeastern Okla. A & M College in Miami, Okla.
Hubbard said agriculture-related jobs are the No. 1 employer in the U.S.
“These fields are numerous, broad and growing,” Hubbard said. “For example, even in this struggling economy, the people at UGA tell us that there are seven jobs for every poultry science graduate.”
For now, the duo will finish the school year with a livestock judging competition on Feb. 17, in Perry. If the FFA judging team qualifies for nationals, they will travel to Scotland.
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