Youth compete at 2024 Michigan 4-H Dairy Days
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EmailMichigan 4-H dairy youth participated in a newly formatted 4-H Dairy Days. With the challenges of the ongoing avian influenza outbreak, the event pivoted and shifted so interested youth could still compete.
Pivot! The 2024 Michigan 4-H Dairy Days had to do just that, several times, due to the ongoing highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) situation. Despite the challenges, the 2024 4-H Dairy Days provided an opportunity for interested youth to participate in educational contests with the work of dairy industry partners, the Michigan State University Department of Animal Science and Michigan 4-H. The schedule and format may have looked different than in previous years, but the event was still a success.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s HPAI Risk Reduction Response Order limited capacity for dairy cattle to be shown and necessitated a non-traditional approach to both showmanship and the dairy judging contest. For showmanship, exhibitors were able to bring and show heifers that met testing criteria. Those who participated in the dairy judging contest judged dairy cattle classes on paper, rather than live animals, still giving oral reasons and competing for the opportunity to qualify for the national dairy judging contest.
Both the dairy management contest and the dairy judging contest were held in Anthony Hall and the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education. This allowed all age divisions to compete in all the contests. The dairy management contest had 83 total participants and the dairy judging contest had 87 total participants. In the dairy judging contest, the winning teams were Clinton County (senior), Ottawa County (junior) and a novice composite team of youth from Ottawa and Tuscola counties. In the management contest, Isabella County (senior), Washtenaw County (junior), and Ottawa County (novice) earned first place.
In the 4-H dairy show, Willow Evans from Clinton County was named the Champion Senior and Overall Champion Showman. Caden Petroshus from Allegan County was the Reserve Champion Senior and Reserve Overall Champion Showman. Logan Welch from Allegan County exhibited the Champion Overall Heifer (Champion Ayrshire); this heifer is also a bred and owned heifer for Welch. The Reserve Overall Champion Heifer was the Champion Red and White Holstein. When asked about winning the show with a heifer that he and his family raised, Welch said, “It was an honor for my homebred animal to be named Supreme Champion.”
The ongoing HPAI outbreak provided challenges, hurdles, setbacks, and disappointments, but 4-H youth persevered and met those challenges by using life skills that 4-H teaches. Several youth qualified to represent Michigan 4-H at national contests The event experienced lots of adjustments and pivoting, but it was made possible by the efforts of so many dairy industry partners, MSU Animal Science staff, graduate students, and the 4-H community, including 4-H volunteers.
Save the date! The 2025 4-H Dairy Days event will take place July 14-17, 2025. As more information becomes available, it will be posted on the Michigan State University Extension events calendar.
