As the new FFA program starts this school year, so do the competitions. The first competition of the year was the Livestock Skillathon. The new Agriculture Science Teacher, Samantha Goen, directed the FFA members into teams. In the weeks leading up to the competition, Goen held meetings and would train and practice with the members.

Livestock Skillathon is a career development event. At the contest, students test their knowledge of different cattle, sheep, and pig breeds. Students also tested their knowledge of farm equipment, feeds, meats, and quality assurance. 

“I hope the FFA members that competed learned more about the importance of each part of the contest. The students that competed all have an interest in this area of agriculture and I believe that they were able to gain more knowledge on each category,” said Goen.

The members who went were separated into two different teams. The first team consisted of senior Taisha Robbins and freshmen Graydan Padgett, Joe McDonald, and Gracie McKibbon. The group placed 17th out of 31 teams. The second team consisted of sophomores Billy Bob Apple and Keegan Cox and freshman Novee Busick. The second team placed 24th out of 31 teams. Out of those teams, Robbins placed 14th out of 102 competitors.

“The first year I did livestock Skillathon was in the eighth grade with my sister who was a senior at the time. I was rushing through it, but she was going slowly. Now I understand how she felt. My favorite part about the competition is going into the testing area and seeing questions I hadn’t expected but know how to answer,” said Robbins.

The next competition the FFA program will attend is Crops Entomology and Forestry.