Wisconsin 4-H judging takes Harrisburg by storm

HARRISBURG, Penn. — Just a month after placing second in the Wisconsin 4-H State Dairy Judging Contest, four young dairy enthusiasts from Pierce County, Wisconsin, traveled over 1,000 miles to compete in the All-American Dairy Show Invitational Youth Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Harrisburg. The team won the contest and two members ranked first and second as individuals overall.

The team — coached by Bob Traynor and Peter Coyne — consisted of Braeden Bechel, Hannah Fesenmaier, Ava Kolodzienski and Abby Thompson.

Bechel topped the contest and placed fifth in reasons, while Kolodzienski placed second and was 10th in reasons. As a team, the group placed third in oral reasons. Bechel won the Guernsey breed, leading his team to a first-place finish in the breed. Fesenmaier was the high individual in the Jersey breed.

While competing in the contest, the four judged 10 classes — five classes of cows and five classes of heifers — and gave four sets of oral reasons, including a set on one of the heifer classes.

“We had a really good trip,” Traynor said. “We were pretty proud of them. Peter and I have both been coaching for 39 years, and this was just a blast.”

This year’s team is the second the pair have taken to the contest in Harrisburg. They have their sights set on next year with all four members of this year’s winning team returning and some young judges they are excited about moving up.

“We’re liking our chances for next year, and for our future,” Traynor said. 

He said that Braeden and Ava are well seasoned and that Abby and Hannah are young and very talented. He said with it being only Hannah’s second year with reasons and Abby’s second year with judging that placing in the Top 20 in a national contest is impressive.

“We just plan to keep developing,” he said. “These kids are really into practices. ... When you’re coaching, that’s just gravy. It’s a lot of fun to coach when the kids really want it.”

Bechel said his first trip to Pennsylvania will be one he is unlikely to forget.

“I thought I could be competitive; I’ve been doing well this year,” Bechel said. “The classes were kind of tough, in my opinion, and I didn’t think my reasons went that well. I started out thinking I could have done better, but it worked out OK.”

Bechel began his 4-H judging career young and has enjoyed building his skills.

“I really enjoy the reasons,” Bechel said. “I like talking about why I like the cows. Sometimes my coach and I don’t agree on placings, but I can usually talk my way out of it.”

Everyone on the team played a role in their success. 

“Everyone has their job, on the team,” Bechel said. “Reasons are my strong point, and Ava is probably the best at seeing the cows. Hannah and Abby are very consistent and always turn in very solid scores every single time. It takes all of us to achieve success.”

Kolodzienski agreed that seeing the cows is her strong point, although that was not always the case.

“I started judging in fifth grade, and I wasn’t very good at it,” Kolodzienski said. “Then something just clicked when I was in seventh or eighth grade, and I started to get better. Now the placings are the easy part for me, but I still struggle sometimes with reasons. I’d prefer to do placings and type analysis questions.”

Bechel and Kolodzienski agree that judging has opened doors they never expected.

“I’ve never played sports, so this is my thing,” Kolodzienski said. “Being good at something is rewarding. It takes you out of your shell and makes you try new things.”

Both say they have benefited from improved communication skills.

“I was never very good at giving speeches in school,” Bechel said. “But as I’ve gotten better at giving reasons, I’ve gotten better at public speaking overall.”

Kolodzienski agreed.

“It’s not the easiest thing to do, to stand in front of a random stranger and tell them what you think when you don’t know if you’re right or wrong,” Kolodzienski said. “I’ve developed more confidence in expressing my thoughts.”

The social aspect of dairy judging is important too, the pair said.

“I love meeting people through dairy judging,” Bechel said. “I’ve made a lot of new friends, who I share a passion with.”

Kolodzienski said she enjoys the camaraderie and close relationships built with her coaches and teammates.

“(We) have a lot of fun together,” Kolodzienski said. “It makes judging exciting, and it makes us all want to do better, because of that closeness.”

Building those relationships has happened over the years of learning and competing together.

“It’s not necessarily the easiest thing to learn, but stick with it,” Kolodzienski said. “Once it starts to make sense, you’ll start to love it. The more you practice, the better you’ll get.”

Success with oral reasons grows with practice, too, Bechel added.

“Don’t be too rough on yourself at the start and don’t be scared of reasons,” Bechel said. “Focus on your TAQs, they’ll help you with reasons later on. It all comes with age, time and practice.”

Because of their attitude and work ethic, Traynor said he and Coyne have no doubts this team has yet to complete their story.

“In the last three contests this year, I’ve written down what I expect the day before and then I share it with them after the contest is done, to see how close I come,” Traynor said. “For this contest, I predicted they would win the contest and we’d have at least two in the top 10. I thought we’d be in the top three teams for reasons, and that we’d have a couple of breed winners. They completely exceeded my expectations.”