On January 27th, 2023, Frank H. Peterson’s livestock judging team got the opportunity to attend a
livestock judging class at the University of Florida. The trip consisted of two days of learning and
executing what we have learned about how to judge livestock. The first day had a 4–hour long class that
went through several classes of livestock like swine, cattle, and lambs. On the second day a mock
competition was held where they brought out 7 classes for all students to place into classes. At the end
of all the classes the instructors explained how and why the classes were placed in the way that is
correct.
The instructors went into a lot more detail on how to examine the livestock to be able to place them in
order from 1 to 4. Although the livestock judging team already knows the basics of livestock judging,
they admit it was nice to have a new variety of livestock and get more advanced knowledge.
Besides just the classes, there was much more to the trip that made it exciting for the students. Brandi
Acadimia, a freshman amongst the team says, “The trip was a good learning experience and interesting
exploring the campus, very cold though.” Students got to explore other places on UF campus besides the
barn in which the classes were held like the dining hall, veterinary medicine building, and the bookstore.
For the students it was such an overwhelmingly positive experience and a few of them have hopes to
attend the University of Florida in the future.