Jackson and Broward County 4-H Members Compete at National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference

On November 15, the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference was held during this year's North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky.

This event is the national competition for five educational contests relating to poultry that 4-H programs across the country offer. This year, Florida 4-H was represented in two of the contests, with three additional sets of qualifiers that did not attend the national contests.

For Poultry Judging, Florida was represented by your state champion team from Jackson County 4-H, with team members Emma Caraway, Hayden Warden and Morgan Seale. Together, as a team, they placed fifth in the market eggs division and tenth overall. Individually, Caraway placed as the twentieth high individual overall for the contest, with 19 teams and 78 individuals competing in this year's event.

In the Turkey Barbecue Contest, Florida was represented by Hayden Hawes from Broward County 4-H. He placed third overall in this year's contest, with approximately 12 youth competing.

Florida also had three other sets of qualifiers who did not compete on the national level.

Dalton Brock from Pasco County 4-H qualified for the Chicken Barbecue Contest through winning first place for poultry in this year's State    4-H Tailgating Contest.

Ainsley Peterson, Destiny Fennell, Tyler Hamilton and Hailey Peterson from Suwannee County 4-H qualified for the Avian Bowl Contest through being your reserve state champions from this year's State 4-H Poultry Judging Contest.

Ainsley Peterson from Suwannee County 4-H also qualified as an individual contestant in the Poultry Judging Contest through being the highest placing individual not on the winning team as your state second high individual from this year's State 4-H Poultry Judging Contest.

Congratulations to each of these youth on their accomplishments on the state and national level, and best of luck to them pursuing their future adventures related to poultry and more.

Poultry events stretch beyond teaching if the chicken or the egg came first, teaching youth skills in consumer selection, food safety, public speaking, decision making, study skills and more. For more information and complete results, visit www.ca.uky.edu/national4hpoultry.

(Photo from Jackson County 4-H Livestock Club on Facebook)

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