Cal Poly Dairy Cattle Judging Team Wins First Place in National Contest

Cal Poly’s Dairy Cattle Judging Team placed first out of 22 teams competing in the Accelerated Genetics Judging Contest held recently in Viroqua, Wis.

Winning students on team one included Tony Evangelo of Hanford, who placed second overall and third in Jerseys; Kate Briggs, Turner, Maine, who took fifth overall, first in Holsteins, fourth in Jerseys, and third overall in reasons; Natalie Borba, Escalon, second in Guernseys. Team one placed first in the Holstein, Jersey and Ayrshire classes and took second place in the Milking Shorthorn class.

“With such a sweep, Cal Poly team one came home as the first-place winners of the contest,” said Dairy Science Professor and team coach Stan Henderson.

Jessica Becker of Sebastopol placed fourth in Brown Swiss, fifth in Guernseys, third in Milking Shorthorns and sixth in reasons. Sabrina Castro of Escalon took third place in Brown Swiss.

In all, Cal Poly sent three teams. Additional members of the teams included Sarah Renner of Fortuna; Erik Durrer, Modesto; Katie Hilt, Ferndale, Wash.; Devin Gioletti, Turlock; and Derek Barcellos, Hanford.

This latest win follows a national Holstein Association award that named the Cal Poly College of Agriculture's Holstein dairy herd winner of the Progressive Breeders Registry Award for the 50th time in the past 52 years.