Stock team
plac
es tenth
at unicago
by John Russnogle
CHIC AGO-While many Nebraska fans were
anxiously watching the nationally televised
Nebraska-Oklahoma football game on Thanksgiving
Day the University of Nebraska-Lincoln livestock
judging team had other competition to worry about.
The team competed at the International Livestock
Exposition in "Chicago the Saturday of its
Thanksgiving vacation. .
The International features some of the best
livestock used in the;ilnited States plus a menagerie
of people, exhibits, .and displays.
The UNL team placed 10th out of 38 teams
competing in the university judging competition. Big
Eight teams fared as well at Chicago as they do in
national football rankings. Five of the top 11 teams
were from the Big Eight conference.
Teams came from as far as California, Florida and
Pennsylvania to compete in the contest.
International competition includes breeding and
market classes for swine, sheep and cattle. Adults
compete in the open class division and 4-H and FFA
members compete in the junior division.
There is a marked difference between the people
who come to the International to exhibit livestock
and those who come to look.
Livestock producers dressed in jeans, boots and
cowboy hats seem at ease in the cement pavilion
which separates them from the near-by ghetto.
Exhibitors busily wash and groom their animals in
preparation for the livestock shows. The sheep's wool
is repeatedly carded and trimmed until it has the
appearance of a fine bristled brush. -
Hair coats of cattle are oiled and coiffed until
every hair is groomed to the owners' satisfaction. The
whole process demands an outlay of equipment
which competes with that used by a licensed
beautician.
Chicago residents who came to the International
seemed hesitant as if in a foreign country. Their main
concern was watching where they walked to prevent
soiling their shoes.
One little girl pointed to a pen of sheep and tugged
at her father's coat while saying she wanted to stop
and see the "cows." Livestock owners often are
amused with the wide-eyed looks of both adults and
i y , I i,
I , , "' 1 . S . Z. t r
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children when they see animals up close for the first
time.
The livestock was not the only entertainment at
the International. An entire section of the Exposition
building was partitioned off for various pinball games
and an ice hockey version of football. Many
youngsters who were quickly bored with the livestock
found hours of amusement with the machines.
One nationally prominent cattle producer set up a
booth which featured live cattle, slides and brochures
advertising the cattle.
Once exhibitors took their animals to the show
ring to be judged, the atmosphere changed.
Exhibitors displayed their animals to the critical
eye of the judge while family members and friends
crowded around the edge of the show ring. Whoops
of excitement and looks expressing "Well, maybe
next year" surrounded the ring as the judges made
their final placings. .
TO
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" ' 31
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Livestock team
develops skills
Livestock judging team members are taught their
evaluative skills in a series of three regular curriculum
classes beginning their junior year.
The students develop a background knowledge of
what are commonly accepted as contemporary ideals
in cattle, sheep, hogs and horses, according to R.B.
Warren, I ivestock judging team coach. Evaluations
of animals in respect to fat cover, cutability and
predictability of carcass merit are also studied, he
said.
An average of 55 students enroll in the beginning
livestock juding class. Nine to 10 students are chosen
from the class to compete in national judging
contests.
.Team members travel to events in Fort Worth,
Denver, Kansas City and Chicago. Their expenses are
paid by an Ak-Sar-Ben grant given to the Agriculture
College. Warren said the team also has off-campus
workouts for which the team members must pay their
own food and lodging expenses.
The judging contests are divided into two
parts the actual animal evaluation and reasons, an
oral presentation explaining the evaluations.
Twelve classes of four animals each are judged.
Reasons must be given on eight of the classes. The 12
classes include both market and breeding animals.
Hogs, sheep and cattle are judged.
Although Warren, who has coached since 1957,
has never had a team win first place in national
competition, his teams have consistently placed
highly. Many team members have won first place
honors in single livestock divisions. The highest a
UNL team has placed at Chicago was second in 1964.
In other years it has ranked consistently in the top 10
teams.
Most team members remain in agriculture-related
fields after graduation, Warren said. Typical jobs for
graduates are county extension agents, bankers,
livestock buyers, University professors and high
school teachers.
ASIAN
g CAUC.
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University rheatre(&
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51
paged
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, december 6, 1972