UW-Madison”s Team White placed second overall among the 13 national and regional dairy judging teams that competed in the annual Accelerated Genetics Dairy Cattle Judging Contest held Sunday, September 20 in Viroqua, Wis. The team earned 2,111 points, just two points shy of the winning team from the Ohio State University. Team White also placed first in Milking Shorthorns, second in Brown Swiss and Holsteins, third in Ayrshires, and fourth in Jerseys, and took home second place in oral reasons.

Carissa Levash of Brillion had the high individual score of 715 points. Levash placed second in oral reasons, Ayrshires, and Milking Shorthorns. Danielle Brown of Dodgeville placed fourth overall, just nine points behind Levash with 706 points, and fifth in oral reasons.

UW-Madison”s Team Cardinal placed 10th overall with 1,966 points and placed fifth in Ayrshires.

Ted Halbach, dairy cattle evaluation instructor, and Dave Dickson, emeritus professor of Dairy Science, coached the teams.

“We send our first-year team members to the Accelerated Contest and our results there were very satisfying,” said Halbach. “Our students had varying levels of judging experience but all of them embraced the idea that individual improvement leads to collective team success. This group was extremely coachable and to see their skill development in just three short weeks of practice was simply amazing”

Team awards, UW-Madison Team White:

2nd Team Overall (2111 points)
1st in Milking Shorthorns
2nd in Oral Reasons
2nd in Brown Swiss
2nd in Holsteins
3rd in Ayrshires
4th in Jerseys

Individual Awards & Members, UW-Madison Team White::

Carissa Levash, Brillion, Dairy Science, Sophomore