Locals Shine in Wisconsin State Dairy Judging

Grace Harrigan earns spot in National Contest in Wisconsin

“I placed this class of Holstein cows….” This is the start of every set of dairy cattle judging oral reasons that seven 4-H Dairy youth have come to be familiar with this summer.

Dairy cattle judging is a contest where you judge the appearance of four different animals that are the same age against one another. As the judge you look for the qualities that a dairy cow should have, like dairyness, udder quality, correctness, and size and scale for her age.

It is a practiced skill to recognize these qualities and even more so to explain why you placed those four individuals the way you did to a complete stranger.

Grace Harrigan, Caroline Harrigan, Elizabeth Nichols, Alex Gokey, Patrick Bosley, Adyson Miller and Casie Harrigan represented Franklin County at the state competition in Syracuse at the end of August.

All seven competed well and Grace, Elizabeth, Patrick and Adyson all scored well enough in the first round to earn spots in the second round of judging.

Grace Harrigan took it all the way and earned first place in New York state, a first for this county in at least 20 years.

She will be representing New York state at the National Dairy Judging Contest at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., this fall.