Spotlight: Banquet
The Dairy Judging CDE team have begun practicing for their first competition on March the 23rd. The dairy judging competition has four parts. The first part is the judging of the dairy cattle. The contestants judge the dairy cattle bodies and look for desirable and undesirable traits to create the best offspring or the most amount of milk. The second part of the contest is the test. The contestants use what they know about the history and production of dairy cattle to get the best grade they can on the test. The third part of the contest is the pedigree judging. This is where the contestants judge the mother and father of a cow to guess the qualities of the calf. The final part of the contest is where you find a mate for a cow. The contestants read data on the possible mates and chose the best option.
Along with the dairy judging CDE; the livestock and equine judging CDE’s have started to practice for their first competitions. The livestock judging competition is on April 26 and the equine judging competition is on April 26. Livestock judging is a competition where the contestants take a test and judge different livestock for their meat and birthing qualities. In the equine judging competition, the contestants judge horses for their riding and birthing qualities. Good luck to all animal judging teams!
Currently, the FFA chapter is harvesting maple syrup from the middle school land lab. It is taking many long, cold nights but it will be worth it for the syrup. The first part of the collecting process is letting buckets fill with pure sap directly from the trees. The next part is bringing the sap to the shelter house so it can be boiled. From there the sap turns to syrup and is ready to eat.
The Ag-Power CDE recently had their first competition. The team earned a 2nd place at the competition. The team consisted of Michael Hiles and Brandt Coffman Ag-Power is a CDE where they are tested on their knowledge about engines, mechanical theories. They are given a piece of equipment that has two different mechanical faults. Within a 20 minute time period they are required to find, fix and explain the faults to the judge.
An upcoming CDE is the Mechanics Skills CDE. This CDE will have its first competition on March the 14th. This CDE tests the contestant's skills in the shop. The contestants will be judged on how well they understand mechanical skills found throughout the shop. Some of these skills include welding, fastener identification, understanding of different metals through Id, hydraulic theory, electrical theory, along with tool identification. Good luck to the Mechanics Skills CDE team!
The officer books were sent to compete at the state level due to their gold ratings at the district competition. The Treasurer's book earned Gold Rating, the Reporters book earned Gold Rating, the Secretaries book earned Gold Rating.
The public speaking team has had a lot of success recently. Both Hailey Courts and Mya Gorsuch competed in the state Public Speaking CDE competition which took place March the 2nd. Mya Gorsuch earned the second place trophy and will be moving on to the next level competition in the Big E! Good luck to Mya!
The freshman recently took the Greenhand test. The greenhand test is a test on the history of the national and Ohio FFA. Questions like “When were women first allowed to join the FFA?” are asked on the test. The Liberty Union freshman FFA members really know their FFA facts because they earned 2nd in the state beating out over 200 teams. There were over 2200 students that took the test and Liberty Union had students that placed in the top 10 to get the final team score that they did. ! Good job to the freshman!
The officer team ended FFA week by attending a service at Christ United Methodist Church, getting group pictures, and having a group breakfast at Maw Maw's Diner. It was a great bonding experience for the team! The team is now preparing for the banquet which will be March 21st at 6 pm. If you would like to help and support the chapter to get ready for the banquet with a monetary donation of any amount please contact Mr. Turner at [email protected].
There are seven students who have earned fourth place or higher through their proficiency awards at the state level. A proficiency award is an award that represents the students individual Supervised Agriculture Experience project that is worked on outside of school hours. The students and their respective categories are:
Derek Burns- Dairy Placement where he works at a Maradore Dairy Farm.
Derek Burns- Sheep Production where he owns and raises his sheep flock.
Brandt Coffman- Agriculture Mechanics Repair where he is restoring his tractor.
Brandt Coffman- Turf Management where he works throughout the year for a landscaping company.
Ethan Kaper- Agriculture Mechanics Repair where he is restoring his tractor.
Mya Gorsuch- Vet Medicine where she works for a vet clinic.
Kortnie Coffman- Floriculture where she works for a flower shop after school making floral arrangements.
Good luck to all of them as they prepare for their interview at the State FFA convention to see where they finish in the State.
Also the following placed in the District level and we are excited for what they have done.
Jake Walter finished 1st in the District with his project of Diversified Agriculture.
Brooke Blansette finished 3rd in the District with her project of Equine Management.
This weeks Ag class spotlight is on the Ag Food and Natural Resources class. The class has been preparing to take the Greenhand quiz. They have done this by playing games and going around the room answering questions. As we can see this has paid off.
The State and American degrees applications have been evaluated and we now know who will be receiving the degrees. These Liberty Union FFA members have earned their state degrees: Derek Burns, Wyatt Sims, Mackenzie Barber, Alyse Looney, Jacob Walter, Michael Hiles, Skylar Bader, Kelton French, and Cy Putnam. These students have earned their American degrees: Ali Ety, Cole Peardon, Bre Blansette, Brooke Price, Kaylee Savage, and Chaise Whorer.
The Liberty Union FFA Banquet is coming up this month. It is mandatory for all students to attend in their official dress. At the banquet, the students will be awarded for all the achievements they have completed this year. Also, the new officers will be inducted into office. The FFA officer training will be on March the 6th.
Upcoming Events:
March 6th- District FFA Officer Training
March 21st- LU FFA Annual Banquet