October 25, 2019
By: By: Leigh Fuson, 4-H Agent
In a true underdog story, DeKalb County 4-H poultry judging team members have earned a trip to the National Poultry and Egg Conference that will be November 20-21st in Louisville, Kentucky. After placing 7th at the regional level, the team was named Tennessee State Champions on October 19th at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. This is only the second time in history that DeKalb County has achieved the title.
Clayton Crook, Lily Martin, Megan Price, and Jacob Williams are the winning team members. Lily was awarded 4th high individual, which really helped to launch the team to success. However, it truly was a team effort because the lowest score in each class of the contest is dropped with a 4-man team. This allows each member to have strengths and weaknesses going into the contest. These youth know they have a big challenge ahead of them going to the national level.
“We were honestly surprised when we won, but we are going to keep working hard to do well at Nationals,” said Martin. The national contest will have twice as many classes as the state contest with an added level of difficulty. Poultry judging involves determining egg & meat quality, as well as live bird evaluation and oral reasons. Price, who is interested in becoming a veterinarian, stated, “I’ve loved learning about past production hens and the basics of the poultry industry.” Poultry is one of the biggest animal agriculture industries in Tennessee.
The team is excited to be representing DeKalb County and the whole state of Tennessee in Louisville, and we wish them the best of luck! Anyone wishing to help monetarily to assist with the trip may contact the UT-TSU Extension office at 615-597-4945. 4-H is a proud part of UT Extension, the UT Institute of Agriculture, and TSU Cooperative Extension. UT-TSU Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment through the cooperation of county, state, and federal governments.