Modesto Junior College held their first annual Dairy Judging Jumpstart workshop on January 16 on the West campus, Sierra Hall and beef unit. A group of nine FFA students traveled along with FFA advisor Mr. Stuart McCullough to begin the dairy judging season.

The event held practice classes, coaching and reasons help before a mini competition on how a student would perform in an actual one. Students were given a workbook with space to write notes and their observations during the practice. 

There were four levels of competition, which included 4-H beginners and advance, FFA beginners and advance. Seven of the students were put in the FFA beginners group while the two others were in the advanced level.

FFA Dairy Judger Kacey Silveira (9) said, “I was excited to learn more about cattle and what to look for in a cow. It was a great experience and I recommend other FFA members to try out dairy judging.”

Dairy judging is the scoring of a class of cows, ranking from which is the best to the least. The dairy cow scorecard consists of four major breakdowns that determine the evaluation which are based on the frame, dairy strength, feet and legs, and udder.

The frame is 15 percent of the score as the rump, front end, back/loin, stature and breed characteristics are judged. Dairy strength is 25 percent, judging the ribs, chest, thighs, barrel, neck and withers.

Feet and rear legs are evaluated by the appearance of their movement, side and rear view, feet, thurl position, hocks, bone, and pasterns. The fourth breakdown is of the udders’ depth, teat placement, fore and rear udder, teats, and udder balance and texture.

There are five dairy judging contests currently scheduled for the year, starting with the Golden State Contest on Feb. 28 at Santa Rosa College. It will be followed by the Western Classic Dairy Show on March 7, MJC Field Day on March 14, California State Show on April 8, and closing with the California FFA State Finals on May 5.