Livestock judging team to compete in Denver stock show invitational

By Ben Holman

Nevada Daily Mail

Four Vernon County 4-Hers are headed to Denver this week to participate in the National Western Invitational Livestock Contest, that takes place during the stock show in Denver, Colo. Jared Liles, Cody Claflin, Whitney Hinkle and Spencer Thompson will be competing in the 4-H/FFA livestock judging competition.

"I'm excited, but I'm also nervous," said Hinkle, who said that she has been to Denver before but never for a competition.

"I don't understand why she's nervous, I'm just excited," said Claflin, who has never been to Colorado before.

Apart from the honor of competing in the competition, the teens, who will be traveling with their parents, are excited to do some sight-seeing as well.

"We're just going to see what's available to do there, and then we'll decide what we want to go see," said one of the parents.

The four team members were the top four winners in the livestock judging competition at the Vernon County Youth Fair in July. The team then went on to win the honor of competing at the national level by placing second in the Missouri state competition held in Columbia. The first place team was invited to the National Livestock Judging Contest in Louisville, Ky., and third place attended the American Royal competition in Kansas City.

The four have been preparing under the tutelage of their coach Bryan Gast in order to be ready to meet the requirements.

Each team member will compete individually, judging sheep, beef and swine.

The contestants must rank the animals and then give six reasons to explain the placement.

The teammates will be judged based on how well they perform and the top three scores will be combined to make a team score -- the lowest score from each team is thrown out.

While the event is for both 4-H and FFA members, the two organizations compete independently -- 4-H teams will compete against other 4-H teams and FFA teams will compete against FFA teams.

The teammates say that they are prepared for the competition and hope they will do well. Carol Parmenter, 4-H coordinator, said, "We're very proud of this group of kids. They've worked hard to get to this competition and they should do well."