MADISON, Wis. — When the scores were tabulated at the Wisconsin 4-H State Dairy Judging Contest Aug. 18, the top-ranking teams in both the junior and senior divisions hailed from St. Croix County.
In the junior contest, the team consisting of Olivia Dittman, Abby Raymond, Kolton Utecht and Macy Weyer placed first over the team from Rock County. Rounding out the top five junior placings were teams from Shawano, Columbia and Jackson counties.
The junior portion of the contest was won by St. Croix County’s Dittman, followed by Sean Stetzer of Jackson County, Benny Uhe of Rock County, Tyler Quilling of Dunn County, Macy Weyer of St. Croix County, Bryce Bechel of Pierce County, Ivy Hebgen of Columbia County, Natalie Mauk of Sheboygan County, Drew Stetzer of Jackson County, Sierra McCullough of Green County and Lena Swain of Dane County.
In the senior division, earning the right to represent Wisconsin at the National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest Sept. 29 at World Dairy Expo was the team from St. Croix County consisting of Sophia Kamm, Stella Kamm, Lilly Peterson and Makayla Weyer. The team is coached by Ellis Frank and Hayden Hauschildt.
“We have such a tight-knit, consistent group,” Sophie Kamm said. “I think that is a tribute to the way Ellis and Hayden have coached us.”
St. Croix County finished 16 points ahead of the second-place team from neighboring Pierce County, which will represent Wisconsin at the All-American Dairy Show Invitational Youth Dairy Cattle Judging Contest Sept. 15 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The Pierce County team consists of Braeden Bechel, Hannah Fesenmaier, Ava Kolodzienski and Abby Thompson. The team is coached by Bob Traynor and Peter Coyne.
Rounding out the top five placings in the state contest’s senior division were teams from Manitowoc County, Fond du Lac County and Iowa County.
In a tight contest, with the top 10 judges separated by 13 points and the top 15 by 20 points, the overall high-scoring individual in the contest was Hailey Zernicke from Shawano County. Zernicke won a tiebreaker with Pierce County judge Braeden Bechel to take top honors in the contest.
Following Zernicke and Bechel to round out the top 10 senior judges were Logan Harbaugh of Shawano County, Summer Hammann of Barron County, Cameron Ryan of Fond du Lac County, Julia Searls of Iowa County, Lydia Gwidt of Shawano County, Sara Dorshorst of Wood County, Garett Ulness of Manitowoc County, Sophia Kamm of St. Croix County and Dylan Ryan of Fond du Lac County.
Zernicke, Harbaugh, Hammann and Ryan will represent Wisconsin in the contest at the youth contest held with the North American International Livestock Exposition Nov. 9 in Louisville, Kentucky.
“I thought the contest was really placeable, the animals were really high-quality,” Zernicke said.
Zernicke is a freshman at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.
When she steps on the green shavings of Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Zernicke will have competed in all three national 4-H judging contests — judging at Expo in 2023 and Harrisburg in 2021 with her Shawano County team.
“I’ve been judging since I was old enough to join 4-H,” Zernicke said. “For a while, my parents pushed me to do it, but now I really do enjoy it.”
The hardest part of competing for Zernicke is giving reasons — not the actual reasons, but rather the prospect of telling a stranger her thoughts.
“I’m not really much of a talker,” Zernicke said. “I try to listen to as many people give reasons as I can, that helps me a lot. I’ve definitely gained people skills through judging. I’m able to have more of a conversation with a stranger now than I could before giving reasons.”
When their team steps on the colored shavings at World Dairy Expo, St. Croix County coaches Ellis Frank and Hayden Hauschildt feel confident they will perform well.
“These girls have been seeing cows well all year long, and they have really progressed from last year,” Frank said. “For most of them, it’s their third year. Three years ago when one of them gave me her first-ever set of reasons, she started crying — so we’ve come a long way, and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Both Frank and Hauschildt have experience competing in judging contests on the colored shavings, and they say those experiences will help them mentally prepare their team.
“We can tell them what to expect, how long of a day it gets to be,” Frank said. “The five sets of reasons will get a little long, but I have full confidence they’ll hit the ground running — they see cows really well. We just keep telling them to keep level heads and do what they do best.”
The news that his team won the state contest was a shining moment in a weekend of plans gone awry for Hauschildt.
“I had milking help lined up, but that fell through at the last minute, so I was bummed about not being there, doing chores by myself,” Hauschildt said. “When my phone rang, with another coach calling me with such spirit-lifting news, I was overwhelmed. I started crying. It was just too many emotions at once.”
Hauschildt has confidence in his team’s ability to perform at Expo.
“They want to take themselves to the next level,” Hauschildt said. “Sophia and Stella are out there on their farm every day (so) things might come easier for them. But Makayla and Lilly have a passion for it. That is a byproduct of the work Paul and Jenna Grulke put in with the youth of St. Croix County.”
Kamm said she is looking forward to attending the contest with some of her best friends and to see the best cattle.
“It is such an honor to know we’ll be judging such top-level cattle, the best of the best,” Kamm said. “It’s a huge testament, knowing we’ll be down there because we see cattle so well. It’s an opportunity to judge on the colored shavings, (one) that many professional judges don’t get in a lifetime.”
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