A team of 4-H dairy cattle judges from Columbia County took first place at the 84th Annual National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest, held Oct. 3 at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis. The Wisconsin team placed high team overall out of 29 state 4-H teams. This marks the fifth year out of the last six that a Wisconsin county team has won the contest.

The Wisconsin 4-H Team Placed:
? High Team Overall (2066 points; 8 points ahead of 2nd place Iowa)
? 1st in Ayrshires
? 3rd in Oral Reasons
? 3rd in Guernseys
? 3rd in Jerseys
? 4th in Brown Swiss

Individual Awards and Team Members:

Wade Kessenich – DeForest, Wis.
? 6th High Individual Overall and All-American (693 points)
? 2nd in Jerseys
? 9th in Brown Swiss
? 10th in Ayrshires

Daniel Walker – Portage, Wis.
? 7th High Individual Overall and All-American (692 points)
? 1st in Oral Reasons
? 1st in Ayrshires
? 2nd in Guernseys

Natalie Kessenich – DeForest, Wis.
? 2nd in Brown Swiss

Stephanie Davis – Wisconsin Dells, Wis.

Craig Carncross of Lodi, Wis. and Mark Heinze of Portage, Wis. coached the team. Columbia County won the State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest July 29, earning them the opportunity to represent Wisconsin at the National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest.

“Talk about going against the odds to win a national contest!” commented Ted Halbach, UW-Madison extension dairy youth specialist. “Columbia County”s team was so young and inexperienced that going in a top five finish would have been a realistic goal. You have to give their kids and coaches all the credit in the world for setting their goals high and working hard to achieve them.

“Five national champion 4-H teams in the last six years, all won by county teams, is a record of success that every volunteer dairy coach and judging participant in the state should feel ownership of,” said Halbach. Wisconsin”s 4-H dairy cattle judging program is based on efforts at the grass-roots level and the coaches and herds in each county continue to step up to provide these kids with a valuable and fun dairy judging experience. These are experiences that most of these kids will remember for a lifetime.”

Wisconsin teams that compete at 4-H national compeditive events are sponsored by the Wisconsin 4-H Dairy Endowment Fund.