A team of Berks County 4-H members earned top honors during the annual Pennsylvania 4-H Animal Judging Contests Day, held recently at Penn State’s University Park campus.
The Berks County senior dairy judging team of Wyatt Lehner, Alexis Servin and Connor Servin captured first place in the statewide competition, which brought together youth ages 10 to 18 from across Pennsylvania to demonstrate their knowledge of evaluating livestock and other animals.
The annual event featured judging contests in dairy cattle, horses, poultry and livestock, including swine, sheep and beef cattle. Participants evaluated animals based on desirable traits, ranked them accordingly and, in many contests, explained their decisions through presentations known as oral reasons.
According to Kirsten Dubbs, Penn State Extension 4-H animal science program specialist, preparing and delivering oral reasons helps participants strengthen their public speaking skills while developing critical thinking under pressure.
Junior competitors ranged in age from 10 to 13, while senior participants were between 14 and 18 years old.
In the dairy judging competition, Berks County’s senior team finished first overall. Georgia Sellers of Lebanon County earned first place in the senior individual division. The junior team from Lebanon County, consisting of Peter Eberly, Hank Sellers, Seth Peiffer and Evelyn Maulfair, also claimed first place, with Eberly taking top honors individually.
Horse judging championships went to Snyder County in the senior division and Bedford County in the junior division, while Centre County won the senior livestock judging team title and Huntingdon County captured the junior livestock championship. Dauphin County earned first place in the senior poultry judging team competition.
Many of the senior contests serve as qualifying events for national 4-H competitions.
Administered in Pennsylvania by Penn State Extension, 4-H is a youth development program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides educational opportunities designed to help young people build leadership, communication and decision-making skills through hands-on learning experiences.
