UA takes first in national poultry judging contest
April 16, 2008Contact Information:
Karen Eskew, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
479-575-3192 / keskew@uark.edu
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From left, University of Arkansas poultry judging team Coach Jason Emmert, and team members Samantha Blair, Chris Scarborough, Sherita Baker, Assistant Coach Dennis Mason and Nicole Young hold up the 14 trophies they won, including first place overall, during the 61st Annual U.S. Poultry and Egg Association's National Poultry Judging contest.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas Poultry Judging team took first place overall during at the 61st Annual U.S. Poultry and Egg Association's National Poultry Judging Contest April 3-5, at Louisiana State University.
In addition to winning first place for the overall team, the U of A took home first place for breed selection and tied for first place in team market products. Fourteen teams competed.
Members of the UA team were Sherita Baker and Samantha Blair, both of Springdale; Christopher Scarborough of Allene; and Nicole Young of Alma. All four students are poultry science majors. Young had the second highest individual score for the contest, Blair had the third highest invidual score and Baker had the fifth highest individual score. Team members took home several other individual honors in the two categories.
Coach for the UA team was Jason Emmert, associate professor of poultry science. Assistant coach was Dennis Mason, visiting instructor of agricultural and extension education.
"This was incredible," said Emmert. "It was an extremely tough competition and these students really worked hard and prepared themselves for the event. By the end of the competition, we had so many trophies, I wasn't sure we could fit them all in the vehicle for the ride home, but that's a problem I was happy to solve."
Other teams in the contest were from Auburn University, Kansas State University, Louisiana State University, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Penn State University, The Ohio State University, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M University, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.