WEYBURN - The 2023 Provincial 4-H Judging Competition featured 41 4-H members aged 15-22 who gathered in Weyburn at the Souris Valley Industries Show and Sale Arena at the Weyburn Agricultural Society on August 18 and 19. Members qualifying from Whitewood, Swift Current, Lloydminster, Saskatoon and Weyburn Regional qualifying judging competitions had the opportunity to judge the following classes: dog agility, feed evaluations, light horses, charolais heifers, breeding ewes, rib steaks, wheat and a mystery class of floral bouquets. The top 12 members of the provincial competition will make up the team to represent Saskatchewan 4-H at the national competition held in conjunction with Canadian Western Agribition.
This event was sponsored by: Viterra, Saskatchewan 4-H, SAASE, Prairie Sky Co-op, Barber Motors, Young’s Equipment, Crescent Point, Willow River Farms, Bayer Crop Science. Other sponsors that contributed to the success of the event included: Weyburn Agricultural Society, Affinity Credit Union, Kingston Midstream, South Country Equipment, Flying C Vet Services, Prairie Animal Health Centre, Weyburn Credit Union, Big Bob’s Meats, Brady’s House of Flowers and Masterfeeds. Top judges per class were rewarded with prizes from SaskTel, SaskEnergy, Affinity Credit Union, Cymri 4-H Beef Club, DKF Red and Black Angus, Vandy Cattle, JF Custom Creations and Meagan Haberlack.
Judging competitions are based on how well a member placed four items per class, their placings are scored out of 50 points and their reasons are scored out of 50 points for a total of 100 points. Members presented written reasons on two classes and oral reasons on six classes. Each member also completes a questionnaire with questions specific to each class they will be judging throughout the weekend.
Classes for this competition were provided by the following: light horses were provided by Amber Martinson, the official judge for this class was Glenn Gress. Charolais Heifers were provided by Payton Caldwell, the official judge for this class was Logan Martinson. Breeding ewes were provided by Janelle Evans, the official judge for this class was Pamela Bartless. Rib steaks were provided by Big Bobs in Midale and Prairie Sky Co-op, the official judge for this class was Brittany Stepp. Mystery class of floral bouquets were provided by Brady’s House of Flowers, the official judge for this class was Janice Ashworth. Wheat class was provided by Viterra, while this class was officially judged by Viterra, there was an additional judge provided to listen to member’s present oral reasons, these were judged by Carolyn McCormack.
Members judged two classes on August 18: the first class was feed evaluation provided and judged by livestock and feed extension specialist Natasha Wilkie, and the second class was dog agility with teams from Fido’s Place and official judge was CindyAnn Boehm.
Members gathered following the competition in the Weyburn Agricultural Society Exhibition Hall for the awards banquet on August 19. First the official judges presented their official placings, splits and reasons why the class was placed they way it was. Prizes were awarded for top 4 members per class prior to members finding out who placed top 12 and will represent Saskatchewan 4-H at CWA.
Top 12 members were as follows: Walker Murphy (Whitewood 4-H Beef Club/Multi Team), Kailee Murray (Durness Multi 4-H Club/Lloydminster), Kira Wignes (Viscount 4-H Beef Club/Saskatoon), Faith Stevens (Catherwood Beef and Sheep 4-H Club/Saskatoon), Kate Nielson (Alameda 4-H Beef Club/Whitewood), Katherine Andree (Mankota Beef 4-H Club/Swift Current), Heidi Fradette (Pangman-Ogema 4-H Beef and Sheep Club/Weyburn), Emma Thomason (Ernfold Beef 4-H Club/Swift Current), Dylan Frey (Alameda 4-H Beef Club/Whitewood), Makaila Peutert (Mankota 4-H Beef Club/Swift Current), Payton Caldwell (Brokenshell Multiple 4-H Club/Weyburn) and Hillary Sauder (Enfold Beef 4-H Club/Swift Current).
Volunteers who helped make this event successful were Trish Martinson, Ashlee Wilgenbusch, Kaitlyn Stepp, Charlene Wimmer and 4-H Regional Manager Melodi Hawksford-Lee.
