Judging contest brings accolades to Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — As dairy judging results were announced Sept. 26 at World Dairy Expo in Madison, the strength of individuals and teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa was evident. The University of Minnesota and Iowa State University took the top two places in the National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest while a Wisconsin youth won the National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest.

For the Minnesota collegiate team, it was the fourth consecutive win at Expo. Jacob Harbaugh and Evan Hathaway, from Marion and Barneveld, respectively, joined Rachel Visser of Hutchinson, Minnesota, and Tyler Ratka of Cold Spring, Minnesota, to win the contest by 41 points.

The team collected the award for top reasons team as well as the winning spot in Brown Swiss, Jersey and Milking Shorthorn classes.

The team is coached by Dr. Les Hanson, Dr. Isaac Haagen and judging alumni Eric and Gabriella Houdek. 

Iowa State University chased the Minnesota team with the scores of a former Minnesotan, Joseph Achen, now from Mondovi. His fellow team members, Iowans Anders Lovstuen of Waukon, Haley Ronnebaum of Earlville and Jon Chapman of Turlock, California, helped put the ISU team in second place overall and in reasons, with a win in the Guernsey breed as well. 

It was ISU’s highest placing since 1987, when its team was also second place. The team’s coaches are Christen Burgett and Mary Fliehler.

Hathaway noted the four University of Minnesota judges can claim a “Triple Crown” in their collegiate judging careers, having won at Louisville in 2025 and at Harrisburg several weeks ago. 

“We’ve spent numerous hours in the fall and spring semesters on the road, traveling to farms around the Midwest,” he said. “It’s all been really, really special, and we give our coaches accolades as well.”

The Gophers’ Harbaugh was the contest’s high individual in both overall score and reasons, with Iowa State’s Achen in third for both categories. The two students earned the only perfect reasons scores in the contest — a significant achievement at top intercollegiate levels of judging. 

The U of M’s Visser ended up fourth overall behind Harbaugh and Achen, and said the camaraderie of the team has been a judging highlight.

“This team has been so much fun,” she said. “Tyler and I specifically had gone back and forth as 4-Hers when we were younger, so it’s fun to be on the same team now. This team has now gone through three years of judging at the University of Minnesota together … it’s been fun to see us find success and cheer each other on.”

In the 4-H division, Wisconsin’s team from Pierce County edged out all competitors in reasons by 15 points and came out second overall while winning three breeds. The team’s Braeden Bechel of Elmwood led the charge by winning both reasons and overall individual honors. His name came up frequently as rankings in the breed, placings and reasons categories were revealed at the banquet.

“At first, I did not know if I was going to win since I kept getting second in the breeds, but I kept hearing my name, so I knew that was a good thing,” he said.

Bechel’s teammates included his brother, Bryce, Hannah Fesenmaier of Elmwood and Ava Kolodzienski of Beldenville. The Wisconsin team’s 4-H coaches are Peter Coyne, Jayne Esch and Bob Traynor.

For the Minnesota 4-H team from Stearns County, it was Allison Ratka of Cold Spring who made her own mark while her brother basked in the University of Minnesota’s success. She was fifth in reasons and seventh overall and topped the contest in Ayrshire judging. 

Her teammates were Ella and Izzy Lahr of Cold Spring and Monika Frericks of Melrose. Ella Lahr placed in the contest’s top 25, and both she and Frericks were in the top 15 for reasons. 

Collectively, the Minnesota 4-H team placed sixth overall and third in reasons for coaches Kevin Ratka, Sadie Frericks and Tara Meyer. 

Another Minnesotan, Mason Glessing of Howard Lake, took home a fourth-place finish in the post-secondary division of the contest. He represented Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in the competition.