Ohio FFA judging team heads to Scotland

FLORA, Ind. — The Carroll FFA Chapter of Flora, Ind. will head to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Royal Highland Show, an annual dairy judging competition held in June, to possibly be crowned the best in the world.

This news comes after the team was named the state’s top FFA dairy judging team and third team at the National FFA dairy judging contest last fall. The team, consisting of Malena Zook, Chandler Keown, Sarah Griffin and Jill Griffin said it was an honor to win the state competition and an even greater honor placing third at nationals.

During a dairy judging competition, teams evaluate several classes and ages of dairy cattle using linear evaluation, give reasons on each class, place pedigree classes by working with DHIA data and complete an extensive dairy management exam.

“We have been invited to the Royal Highland Show in Glasgow, Scotland,” said team members. “This will also be a very educational trip. While in Europe, we will visit the Eiffel Tower, castles, experience a traditional “high tea,” cruise the Rhine River and work on the farms of our host families.

“As representatives of Indiana and the United States, we hope to develop a better understanding of international agriculture and the role that we can play in the promotion of American agriculture,” they added.

The first-year team is diligently working to raise the necessary funds of $20,000 to attend the competition.

“It is a great obstacle for us, but we are looking to the agriculture community for help in raising the necessary funds,” the team stated in an April news release.

Monetary donations can be made to the Carroll Education Foundation, citing it for the FFA dairy judging team. According to the team, any amount is appreciated.

With four weeks to meet their goal, the team has raised approximately 50 percent of the funds necessary to fly to Scotland. To donate or to contact the chapter, call 574-967-4157 or e-mail chapter Advisor Steve Keown at skeown@carrol.k12.in.us

Ohio FFA group tops livestock, equine judging contest

ALBANY, Ohio — On March 29, the Alexander FFA Chapter traveled to The Ohio State fairgrounds to compete in the livestock and equine judging competitions. Students competing in livestock judging included Brent Kasler, Kara Oberholzer, Zach Crabtree, Kathy Kasler, Ben Smith, Kim Holcomb, Kara Holcomb, Whitney Mullins and Heather Pack. Students competing in horse judging events were Taylor Adelsberger, Kara Endick, Noelle Eveland and Colton Adams.

Michael Reeve also participated in the dairy handlers contest. Overall, Zach Crabtree placed 4th in the district livestock judging contest and Taylor Adelsberger placed 3rd in the district horse judging.

Kentucky 4-H youth bake for fun, family

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — The aroma of freshly baked cookies and muffins permeated the air along with youthful laughter as 4-H members from Fort Campbell learned baking can be fun and worthwhile. Some of the day’s treats are heading for family and friends stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The program, To Bake is Great, taught the youngsters about baking with whole grains, adding them to their diets and how easy it is to make bread, said Toni Riley, Christian County 4-H youth development agent for the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

“Fort Campbell is a big part of our program, and they do a lot of cooking programs. But they don’t get to bake, because they don’t have the facilities,” she said. “This is their spring break, so we offered to have the classes at the extension office, and they jumped at it. After they learned the basics, then we wanted them to be able to make a food product that they could send to a family member stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan and give them a little taste of home.”

“We’re making muffins to help kids find more ways to eat whole grains but in a fun way,” said Hannah, 11. “We made a basic muffin mix and added ingredients and kind of made a theme for it. I made a pumpkin pie muffin.”

Franca Wallace, trainer and program specialist for youth with Child and Youth Services at Fort Campbell, said as many as 90 percent of youth in the teen program may have a deployed parent, and it is very important to keep them connected. Baking cookies is one way to do that.

It took some research to find the best cookies for shipping, but Riley was able to come up with several options with peanut butter and a ranger cookie, which includes fruits and nuts, being the favorites.

There were a few mishaps long the way – a mismeasurement here and a dropped egg there - but the final outcome was great muffins, beautiful cookies and some proud bakers.

“Deployment is so hard on families, and these are family activities we are teaching them,” Riley said. “Making muffins (and cookies) is easy. Hopefully, this will give them something to make and do as a family.”

Deadline approaches for Co-Alliance scholarship

DANVILLE, Ind. — Co-Alliance recently announced new $1,000 Solutions Scholarships for graduating high school seniors. Up to $20,000 will be awarded, but students need to act fast. The deadline is this month.

The Solutions Scholarship is especially for high school seniors who plan to study agriculture at an accredited institution. Applicants should be children or grandchildren of shareholders within the four Co-Alliance partnering members (Midland Co-op, IMPACT Cooperative, LaPorte County Co-op and Frontier Co-op).
Applications are available at www.co-alliance.com or by calling Laurel Mann at (800) 525-0272. Completed applications must be received in the Danville office by April 30, 2008, for evaluation. Awards will be presented to the students in May/June.

Co-Alliance delivers agronomy, seed, animal health, nutrition, grain marketing services, power fuel and home heat energy products to thousands of local farms, businesses and families through branch outlets in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

To submit a “Spotlight on Youth” item for consideration, please e-mail or contact Meggie I. Foster, assistant editor, at mfoster@farmworldonline.com or by mail at 27 N. Jefferson St., Knightstown, IN 46148.