Registration

To be eligible for district judging contests, each county must enter its teams by the announced entry deadline to enable proper planning. The Senior Division Contest will start promptly at 9 AM; the Junior Division Contest will start promptly at 1 PM.

Contestants and Eligibility

1. Each contestant must be an enrolled 4-H member during the current year. Youth shall represent the county in which they are enrolled.
2. Each county may bring as many Junior and Senior participants as they choose.
3. Participants are to bring a clipboard, blank paper/steno notebook, and pencils.  No additional county sheets are allowed during judging.  A packet of judging cards and materials will be provided.
4. While the contest is in progress, there will be no discussion between the contestants, except the group leader and station teacher. Failure to comply may result in disqualification of the individual(s) involved.
5. No handling of the animals will be permitted.  There may be opportunities to handle market lambs.
6. The classes are generally the following and are subject to change.  Breeding heifers, Market steers, Breeding sheep (rams or ewes), Market Lambs, Breeding Gilts, Market Hogs.  Some locations might have a meat goat class (either a breeding doe or bucks or market wethers).
7. All seniors are required to give oral reasons. Two minutes are allowed for oral reasons. When grading reasons consider: poise, confidence, delivery, and forcefulness of presentation. Contestants who use their notes during oral reasons will be scored on a basis of 40 points maximum.  Juniors may or may not have a practice session on reasons as well. Grade reasons on accuracy, comparison, terminology, grants, and remarks in accord with the following:

First pair of animals       15 points
Second pair of animals  15 points
Third pair of animals      15 points
Reasons for placing last animal     5 points
Total                         50 points

National Contest Qualifiers

The following rules apply for eligibility at the National Contest in the Senior Division:

1. Contestants must be enrolled 4-H club members approved by Wisconsin 4-H Program, Division Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2. Each contestant must have passed their 14th birthday and not have passed their 19th birthday as of January 1, of the current year.
3. Contestants in National 4-H competitive events must not have participated in official post-secondary (university, college, junior college, or technical school) competitive events of a similar nature and in the same subject matter area. Neither can he or she be a member of a post-secondary team undergoing training in preparation for an event (for example, a contestant who has competed in an official collegiate livestock judging contest either on or off-campus, is ineligible to compete in a similar national 4-H judging contest).Contestants who have participated in the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest are ineligible to compete a second time. They may participate to gain experience but their scores will not count toward the team total.

Questions about team selection or rules? Contact the State 4-H Office at (608)262-1222.

This page is optimized for printing