MANCHESTER, Iowa — Four young ladies recently competed in the North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) Dairy Judging Contest representing Iowa 4-H. Amber Engelken, Tehya Demmer, and Laney Demmer from Delaware County, and Madi Palmer from Allamakee County.
Each year the State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest is held at the Iowa State Fair. From this competition, the top county team represents Iowa at the National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest in Madison, Wisconsin. The top four individuals, not on that team and who have not competed at NAILE before, go on to represent Iowa 4-H at NAILE in Louisville, Kentucky.
This year, there were 20 teams in this division of the contest, with 78 youth competing. All youth teams judge 10 classes of cows and heifers, then give reasons on 4 of the classes.
As a team, they were 1st place in the Jersey Breed with Madi Palmer earning 1st individually, Amber Engelken earning 3rd, and Tehya Demmer in 11th. The team placed in 7th for the Holstein Breed, 10th Overall and 12th in Reasons. Individually, Madi Palmer also earned 2nd Aryshire and Amber Engelken earned 9th Holstein.
Coaches for the Delaware County youth are David Kunde, Jeannie Domeyer, and Kaleb Kruse. Coaches for Allamakee County are Aaron Palmer and Lars Sivesind. Also assisting in coaching the team were Matt Henkes and Jeff Hammerand. Chaperoning the team to Louisville was Stacey Demmer.
The team appreciates the financial support offered by the Ron Orth 4-H Dairy Endowment Fund which helps defer some costs for 4-Hers participating in this National contest.
— Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
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