Spring 2008 Recap
Spring 2008 has been a busy but productive semester for the VT Block and Bridle Club. From the cold and blustery February morning at our Horse Judging Clinic to the warm sunshine of April at our Little International Contest, Block and Bridle has enjoyed the participation of numerous members, alumni, and youth from across the state in our events. We are proud to announce that the total number of participants for our five spring 4-H and FFA contests was 1,906 this year! Check out our slideshow or photo gallery for more images of this spring's events.
Horse Judging Clinic
458 middle and high school students from across Virginia visited campus to learn the principles of horse judging and prepare for the up-coming 4-H and FFA judging seasons at our annual horse judging clinic. Chair Kate Lawrence organized morning lectures that covered balance and breed conformation, blemishes and undesirable characteristics, giving oral reasons, note taking, performance class evaluation, and judging equitation. After a demonstration on conformation and movement evaluation in a hunter in-hand class, students were given the opportunity to evaluate a stock horse halter class, a hunter under saddle class and a western pleasure class at the Alphin-Stuart Arena in the afternoon. Example sets of reasons were also given by past members of the Virginia State 4-H Horse Judging Team.
Pledge Garth Pitcairn prepares drinks for participants during lunch at the 2008 Horse Judging Clinic.
Stockman’s, Meats and Livestock Judging Contests
Virginia Tech Block and Bridle played host to 479 4-H and FFA participants at our annual Stockman’s contest on March 14. Chairman Laura Neff designed the contest to evaluate students’ knowledge of various aspects of animal husbandry. Classes include a 25-question multiple choice quiz; identification of feeds, equipment, breeds, retail meats cuts; judging of hay, retail meats cuts, beef cattle, sheep, and swine, and questions about the animal judging classes. For Senior teams only there is a group exercise which the team completes while working together.
Block and Bridle members enter data during our annual Stockman’s Contest.
The Meats Judging Contest, chaired by Luray, Virginia native Jonathan Burner, was held later the same evening and hosted 124 participants at the Food Science Building. This contest gave students the opportunity to evaluate whole pork and lamb carcasses as well as individual cuts of beef, lamb and pork. A meats ID section and written quiz were also used to evaluate the student’s knowledge of meat science. This contest serves as the official state contest for both the 4H and FFA organizations. Thus, the winning team will represent Virginia in their organizations' respective national contest in the fall. The top senior 4-H team was from Nelson County and was comprised of David McCann, Rebecca Carter, Brandon Beer, and Brittany Kern. The top senior FFA team was Central High School and was comprised of Willie Elgin, Cain Harbison, Aaron Heishman, and Brian Walsh.
One youth works hard on a calculation during our Meats Judging Contest.
The Livestock Judging Contest on March 15 brought 388 contestants to the Alphin-Stuart Livestock Arena. While there, these students evaluated and placed classes of breeding and market animals. Beef classes included performance Angus bulls, Charolais heifers, and Simmental heifers. Senior contestants were asked to present oral reasons on the bull class. Dorset rams composed the sheep selection classes while Suffolk market lambs served as the senior reasons class in the species. Two classes of market hogs (one was designated as a senior reasons class) and one class of commercial breeding gilts composed the swine portion of the contest. One class of goats was introduced as a special class this year to provide students with a new opportunity but it was not counted toward overall scores. Questions were also required on one class of each species. Jacob Gilley chaired the successful 2008 Livestock Judging Contest. The results for all three of these contests can be found under 2007 Block and Bridle Contests at: http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/livestock/results.html
Participants gain hands-on experience in evaluating market animals as they judge this class of Suffolk lams.
Hippology Contest
The second annual B&B Hippology Contest was held on March 21 at the Alphin-Stuart Livestock Arena. It allowed Virginia 4-H and FFA contestants to judge a class in-hand, take a 30 question written exam, and complete 4 identification stations that included equipment, feed, breeds, and anatomy and physiology to evaluate the students’ equine expertise. This contest is designed to help fill a void left by the lack of events available to Virginia youth for preparation in state and national competition on this subject. One hundred ninety-nine contestants and Chair Cliff Williamson made the second annual event a success and we look forward to increasing participating during future years. Results of the Hippology Contest have been made available at: http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/horse/judgingclinics/HippologyResults.html
4-H and FFA contestants identify equestrian equipment at our second annual Hippology Contest.
Horse Judging Contest
On March 22 B&B hosted our annual horse judging contest where 258 students were given the opportunity to evaluate and present oral reasons on various classes of horse breeds both in-hand and under saddle. Chair Lindsey Williamson coordinated in-hand classes to include Warm-blood mares, Quarter Horse mares, and Percheron geldings. Western Pleasure, Saddlebred Equitation, and two sets of Hunter Equitation composed the under saddle classes. Questions were required on some of the classes and advanced contestants were asked to present oral reasons after lunch. The results of this contest can be accessed at: http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/horse/judgingclinics/results.html
Contest participants evaluate a Smithfield mare during one of the in-hand classes during B&B’s Horse Judging Contest.
National Agriculture Awareness Day
Block and Bridle teamed up with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassadors, Agronomy Club, and Dairy Club to present displays, products, and information on the Drillfield of campus to promote National Agriculture Awareness Day. Block and Bridle donated 800 pork BBQ sandwiches to be served to students walking between classes and also provided flyers about Virginia livestock production. Though blustery conditions made it difficult to get the meat cooked and spoiled our plans for bringing the cooker to the Drillfield, we still served a number of sandwiches to grateful Hokies and raised awareness of the livestock industry with our presence and information.
New Vice President Laura Neff helps hand out sandwiches and information about agriculture on the drillfield during National Ag Awareness Day.
Beef Expo
Block and Bridle members donate their time at Virginia Beef Expo in Harrisonburg each spring. While there, they serve as ringmen and announcers, as well as assisting with weigh-in and registration. All class winners were awarded a scotch comb courtesy of Block and Bridle. B&B also donated windbreakers and directors chairs for Grand and Reserve Champions for the Steer and Commercial Heifer Classes, as well as ribbons and rope halters for all Showmanship classes. Furthermore, class division winners each received a duffle bag, a gift certificate to Frey’s Show Supplies, and a plaque.
APSC Junior and B&B member Amanda Weakley hands out ribbons to participants at Beef Expo in Harrisonburg.
Ham Show and Sale
Companies and individuals from around the state were asked to donate hams for the show and sale. A committee of Food Science professors and Block and Bridle members judged the quality of the hams based on taste and appearance. Grand Champion was awarded to Smithfield Hams and Reserve to Land of Promise Farms. The 15 hams were then auctioned off by VT B&B alumnus David Leonard during lunch at the 86th Little International. We would like to thank all of our ham donors and buyers for making this event a successful fundraiser for the club.
Block and Bridle members pose with our winning hams prior to the start of the auction at the 86th Little International Contest.
Little International Contest
The Alphin-Stuart Arena and Virginia Tech Block and Bridle hosted the 86th annual Little International Contest on April 26 for Virginia Tech students interested in showing livestock. We were pleased to welcome Sarah Gilmer back to Blacksburg as our Little I Princess and Jared Burner as our Master of Ceremonies. Participants selected from hogs, lambs, horses, and beef heifers for exhibition. Overall Grand Champion and Swine and Beef Grand Champion was Adam Heishman, while Overall Reserve Grand Champion and Sheep Grand Champion was Allison Spivey. Horse Grand Champion was Brittney Jones. We would like to thank Lance Leachman, Matthew Miller, Kim Huffman, and Katherine Meadows for serving as our judges (cattle, sheep, horse, and swine respectively). Ringmen included Todd Caudill, Chris Threewitts, Jason Pratt, and Tim VanReenen. Alumni and visitors enjoyed Block and Bridle’s famous beef and pork BBQ for lunch along with the exciting competitions on the arena floor. Our second annual spring semi-formal and social, “Country but Classy,” which was organized to raise money for an agriculture charity, followed the Little International Contest.
Winners, Judges, Ringmen, and Chairman pose for a picture at the end of Block and Bridle’s 86th Little International Contest.
Pledging and BBQ
We were very excited to have 42 pledges join our membership during spring semester. Their dedication and willingness to help has played a vital role in making all of our spring contests and BBQ’s successful. In addition to our Little International lunch, Block and Bridle also prepared and served BBQ for the Virginia Beef Conference and the Dairy Club’s Little All-American Contest this spring.
Block and Bridle pledge class members paint their B’s, on which they must obtain B&B member and APSC faculty and staff signatures so that they get to know people in the department.
by Kayla Minnick, 2007-2008 Block and Bridle Reporter
For News from Fall 2007, click HERE
For News from Spring 2007, click HERE