Making the Cut

Over the summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work at a youth livestock judging contest. If you have never judged livestock, the premise is simple. Select the best breeding and market animal from the four presented in the ring and circle the order on your card. Sounds easy, right? It really is that easy, except, it is not. Here is why.

The classes presented at the contest were broken down into categories of breeding animals and market animals. Each animal had a class in both of these categories. For example, heifers showed under breeding, while steers showed under market. The same held true for the swine and the sheep. Where it becomes complicated is when the judges introduced their cuts.

If you are not familiar with this term, do not be alarmed, several of the youngsters did not know what it meant either. Cuts essentially help calculate scores by giving a numerical difference between where the animals in the class are placed. I have included a link below from the University of Nebraska's Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources to further explain how scores are calculated.
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In the end, our 4-H and FFA members did an outstanding job and it was fun to watch our judges, one a former student and the other a 4-H member from Scott County work the ring and give their reasons. It is a true testament to the power of the industry that our youth not only build their careers around it, but they respect it enough to want to teach the next generation to make informed decisions on quality and marketability.