Livestock Skill-a-thon

Superintendents: Dr. Bryan Reiling and Brian Bosshamer

Date, Time & Place: Monday; Registration/check-in at 9:30 am, 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm based on rotation group, at the main PASE registration desk. (Teams will be notified in advance which rotation group they will be in.)

**Due to time constraints on the competition day, 4-H members may compete in either the Livestock Quiz Bowl OR the Livestock Skill-a-thon. 

Group 1 Registration at 9:30, Orientation at 9:45, Contest 10:00 am – noon,
Group 2 Registration at 12:00, Orientation at 12:15 pm, Contest 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm,
Group 3 Registration at 1:45, Orientation at 2:00 pm, Contest 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm

The livestock skill-a-thon contest has two divisions. In each division a team consists of three, four or five individuals. All members of a team work together throughout the contest for one team score. An Intermediate Division team consists of individuals ages 12 or 13 as of January 1 of the current year. A Senior Division team consists of individuals aged 14, 15, 16, 17 or 18 as of January 1 of the current year. (If a county/unit does not have enough individuals of this age to compose a team, they may use additional members who are Intermediate Division age, but who are not also on an Intermediate Division team. These members will complete the senior division activities with other senior division team members.) If a Senior Division team has one or more members who are under 14 years of age as of January 1 of the current year, that team will be ineligible to qualify for national competitions. The highest ranking eligible team will qualify for the National 4-H Livestock Skill-a-thon Contest at Louisville, KY. Eligible senior teams must meet age and all other qualifications established by the national contest. If the Champion team is ineligible or declines to participate, the opportunity will be offered to the next highest ranking eligible team. However, a team must rank no lower than 5^th overall in the state contest to be offered a national trip.

Contest Components: The contest will consist of six team stations. Each station is worth 100 points, for a total of 600 points in the contest. Stations will be 18 minutes each. It is expected that stations will have enough tasks or problems to complete that in order to complete an entire station, all team members will not be able to work together on all tasks/problems. Stations will include:

1. Meats
2. Breed and/or equipment identification and use
3. Breeding scenario problem (may include a brief oral defense of decisions)
4. Feed identification and use and/or feeding/performance problem
5. Quality assurance
6. Animal evaluation and/or marketing problem

Refer to the Resources section of this website for example problems and more information.

Participants must furnish their own pencils, clipboards and calculators. Worksheets will be provided at each station, along with blank paper if needed.