Grabbing the gold medal

BALDWIN, Wis. — Donning the bright pink blazers that have become the trademark of their county’s dairy judging program, four FFA members from Baldwin-Woodville High School joined forces to come out as champions of the Wisconsin FFA Dairy Cattle Evaluation Career Development event last month.

Senior Stella Kamm, juniors Lilly Peterson and Makayla Weyer, and freshman Macy Weyer, under FFA advisor Michelle Kamm, topped the contest — two points ahead of the second-place team from Cambridge. Stella placed fourth overall as an individual.

For their efforts, the team earned a berth to compete in the national contest at the National FFA Convention in October in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“We are all excited to travel to the convention, to meet new people, see new cows and judge in a different environment,” Lilly  said. “It will be the first time any of us has gotten to go to the convention.”

The teammates are relatively new to the CDE contest. This year marked the second year Stella and Lilly competed, and the first time for Makayla and Macy. As a group, they are seasoned competitors in dairy judging, though. They have all been involved in the county’s successful 4-H dairy judging program, dating back to their early grade school years.

“The judging portion of the CDE contest was almost easy for us,” Makayla said. “The state contest was only four classes, with two sets of reasons — that’s like a normal practice for us.”

Macy is just beginning her transition into the senior division of the 4-H contest, beginning the process of learning to give oral reasons competitively.

“This is my first year giving reasons, so that is more challenging for me,” Macy said. “I’m working to become more confident and more descriptive. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.”

The other three girls have experienced success in high levels of 4-H competition, along with Stella’s sister, Phia Kamm. They were the state 4-H champions in 2024, earning them a spot to compete at the National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest held last fall at World Dairy Expo. There, they placed third as a team, which presented them with the opportunity to travel to Scotland in June to compete at the International Dairy Judging Contest at the Royal Highland Show.

While placing classes, type analysis questions and presenting oral reasons have become established skills for the girls. The CDE contest offered some new challenges, including two classes placed on pedigree, evaluation of a Dairy Herd Improvement Association herd report and a 50-question written exam on general dairy knowledge.

“We’ve all been judging a long time in 4-H, and our ag instructor asked us if we would be interested in contributing to the FFA team,” Stella said. “The written parts of the contest were a new area we needed to prepare for, familiarizing ourselves with where information is located on DHIA reports and things like that.”

Lilly, Makayla and Macy all compete on the county junior Holstein club’s dairy bowl team, where they say they were familiar with many of the things that appeared on the written exam.

The four agree that the time they put into practicing judging is the secret to their success.

“The more exposure you have to seeing good cows, good herds, the better you start to see them,” Stella said. “You get a feel for what the typical cookie-cutter cow would be and how different cows fit into that mold.”

The team agreed the more cows they see of a breed builds their confidence.

“Each breed has its own characteristics,” Makayla said. “The breeds we aren’t as familiar with can be challenging. We don’t see a lot of Ayrshires or Milking Shorthorns, typically.”

Following the same process for evaluating each class helps keep nerves at bay, Macy said.

“I do a first glance, it’s more of a gut feeling, what I think just looking at them,” Macy said. “Then I break each one down, evaluating and comparing udders, frames, dairy character, feet and legs.”

Dairy judging is an activity that continues to draw the attention of the quartet.

“Judging is a social event for us,” Stella said. “We have all built friendships and bonds that will last a lifetime.”

The nature of the competition pushes each of them to perform at a high level.

“Judging is both an individual and a team sport,” Lilly said. “We practice so much as a team, we’re all very much on the same page; we see cows in a similar way. But at the contest, you’re out there as an individual, your performance is all on you. You have the ability to control it, to see the cows and give the best reasons you can. Then they tabulate the scores.”

Dairy judging is more than just evaluating animals, Makayla said.

“Judging makes you think, you learn how to make decisions,” she said. “Then you learn to explain your thinking, defend your placings in your reasons. No matter what the official placing was, you can justify why you made the choices you did.”

An element of superstition does enter into the equation, in the form of the team’s signature pink blazers.

“We wanted to look professional for the contest and ended up with the pink blazers,” Macy said. “Now they’re our good luck charm.”

The four all credit the strength of their county’s dairy program for creating the solid foundation on which their judging expertise has been built, with mentorship from many dairy enthusiasts, including current coaches Hayden Hauschildt and Ellis Frank; former coaches Bob Zwald and Chuck Kruschke; dairy committee president Lance Kamm and junior Holstein leader Paul Grulke.

“We have a great dairy family here in St. Croix County,” Lilly said. “We have been blessed with some terrific mentors who have taught us so much, not just about judging and the dairy industry, but about being strong leaders and communicators, and making our own positive impacts on those around us.”