Vernon County Intercollegiate Judging Contest Celebrating 28 Years

Preparations are underway for the 28^th annual Vernon County Intercollegiate Judging Contest to be held Sunday, September 18 during the Vernon County Fair. This event will feature some of the best dairy cattle student judges representing four- and two-year colleges and post-secondary schools from across the United States. Last year’s event following pandemic postponement highlighted fourteen teams from five states.

Competitive dairy cattle judging is more than winning awards. It teaches students life and career skills such as public speaking, cattle confirmation evaluation, cattle terms, reasoning, teamwork, sportsmanship, confidence and discipline. Many of these students plan to purse a career path in the dairy industry.

New awards will be added to this year’s contest. The “Vernon County Intercollegiate Judging Contest Overall Team” award is replacing the previous “Jane of Vernon” designation. A new Overall Individual award will be named the “Larry Tande Memorial Top Individual”. Named to remember one of the original contest founders, Larry was a Minnesota native and had a deep legacy of supporting dairy youth through mentoring them in learning to judge. Overall Reasons top five winners will be awarded cash awards of $300, $250, $200, $150 and $100 courtesy of the James Crowley Sr. Dairy Management and Extension Fund. This memorial fund was organized in honor of Dr. Crowley, a longtime Dairy Specialist and strong supporter of dairy youth project work. He coached the UW-Madison Dairy Cattle Judging Team and was a frequent judge at shows and fairs around Wisconsin

State and local 4-H, FFA and youth breed organization dairy cattle judging teams are encouraged to use the contest for practice from the sidelines. Five professional official judges will decide the placings for ten classes including Jersey, Holstein, Guernsey, Milking Shorthorn and Brown Swiss cattle. Coaches of interested 4-H, FFA and youth breed organizations are asked to reach out to the host committee prior to the contest.

Vernon County Fair youth exhibitors are serving as leadspersons to present the cattle classes to contestants. This year, the committee is reinstating the Youth Showmanship contest for these young exhibitors 12 years and older. Top three youth in Junior and Senior age groups will receive recognition and awards. The Overall Showmanship Winner will be honored with the Dave Larson Memorial Award. Dave, a Vernon County native, was a long-time Vernon County volunteer for the dairy cattle department as well as longtime employee of Accelerated Genetics Cooperative, the original host organization.

The Vernon County Intercollegiate Judging Contest will start at 8:45 a.m. on Sunday, September 18 in the Hanson Arena at the Vernon County Fairgrounds, Viroqua, Wisconsin. This event could not be possible without the Vernon County Dairy Exhibitors, Fair Board, contest sponsors and all-volunteer group that generously donate the cattle, venue and hosting responsibilities.