• By April Bowman
• Posted Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Forsyth 4-H'ers Win State Contest

The Forsyth/Stokes 4-H Livestock Team recently competed in the North Carolina State 4-H Livestock Judging, Skillathon and Quiz Bowl competition. More than thirty teams and over one hundred youth from across the state competed in the three day event held at North Carolina State University. The team is coached by April Bowman, Forsyth County Extension Agent for Livestock Forages and 4-H. On Tuesday the youth participated in the Skillathon competition, where they took a written test on their livestock knowledge, identified cuts of meat, breeds of animals, and livestock equipment, as well as participated in quality assurance and reading medication labels. The results were announced at an awards breakfast on Thursday morning. The top overall junior individual was Hannah King who led the team of Lynae Bowman, Allison Hartman and Amber Shutsky to State Championship as well. Kate Hice competed as an individual in the senior competition and placed tenth overall.

After the Skillathon competition, teams moved immediately to the Quiz Bowl event. Questions were read by a moderator and youth buzzed in to answer the question. The Forsyth Junior Team led by captain Hannah King and included, Lynae Bowman, Allison Hartman, and Amber Shutsky emerged as the champions. Their prize was what else but a steak dinner.

On Wednesday, the youth competed in the livestock judging competition where they judged meat goats, swine, sheep and beef cattle. They also answered questions about the animals colors, markings and competitions and gave oral reasons defending their placings on the animals. The junior judging team placed fifth overall and third in their oral reasons.

Individual awards were as follows:

• Lynae Bowman - 4th Skillathon Quality Assurance, 11th Skillathon Overall, 10th Swine, 5th Cattle, 6th Oral Reasons, 9th Overall Judging
• Hannah King - 1st Skillathon Overall, 1st Skillathon Identification, 1st Skillathon Quality Assurance, 3rd Sheep, 4th Swine, 2nd Oral Reasons
• Allison Hartman - 9th Skillathon Evaluation
• Brandon Hartman - 10th Cattle, 7th Oral Reasons, 10th Overall Judging
• Kate Hice - 10th Skillathon Overall, 10th Skillathon Evaluation, 4th Skillathon Quality Assurance, 2nd Meat Goats, 10th Oral Reasons, 6th Overall Judging

Kate and Brandon both earned the right to train and compete for a spot on the North Carolina 4-H livestock judging team that will compete at the National 4-H Livestock Judging competition held at North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky in November.

All of these youth practiced countless hours in preparation for these three contests in an effort to achieve their goals. They are already preparing for the NC State Fair Livestock contest to be held the end of October. The team would like to thank Stokes and Forsyth County Farm Bureau and Alpha Graphics Winston-Salem for their sponsorship.