Eastern Colorado agriculture students compete in FFA State Range Judging event

High school agriculture students from across southeast Colorado competed in the FFA State Range Judging and Plant Identification event held on Oct. 8 at the Mike and Julie Livingston Ranch. This youth educational event was hosted by the Stratton and Hi-Plains FFA Chapters. Cory Wedel, agriculture teacher at Stratton High School, coordinated the event. The Burlington Conservation District, along with most of the conservation districts in eastern Colorado, together with Pawnee Buttes Seeds and many local businesses provided the funding to support this educational youth event. The Colorado Section of the Society for Range Management provided individual awards as part of their youth activities program. The Colorado State Land Board, Colorado Department of Agriculture, and Colorado State Conservation Board provided staff assistance. The generous support of these sponsors is greatly appreciated.

This rangeland educational youth event involved 255 agriculture students representing 27 FFA chapters in eastern Colorado. The advanced team results were Lone Star-First-place Gold, Stratton-Gold, Idalia- Silver, Flagler-Silver, Rye-Bronze, and Hi-Plains-Bronze. Beginning team winners were Lone Star-Gold, Holyoke-Silver, and Rye-Bronze. Kaylee Coin, Lone Star FFA, and Sky Richards, Stratton FFA, were recognized as the first and second place individuals, respectively, for combined site judging and plant identification. Michael Amaya, Rye FFA, had the high score on plant identification.

During the competition students were required to identify 50 range plant specimens and two ecological sites. During the plant identification test students had 1 minute to identify the plant. At the ecological sites, students had to complete a rangeland inventory to determine the rangeland condition of the site, and evaluate the condition of the soil surface. Judging the ecological site also tested the student’s plant identification skills.

Following lunch, guest speaker and local rancher Levi Kokes gave an interesting presentation about his experience using virtual fencing as an important grazing management tool on his ranch. Don Thorn, Colorado State University College of Agriculture, talked about the importance of ag education through FFA involvement. The students gained special knowledge about proper rangeland management practices to sustain ecosystem goods and services provided by healthy rangelands.

The Range Judging Contest is one of many FFA Career Development Events agriculture students can participate in to test their skills and knowledge learned through their agricultural education classes. Through the Range Judging Contest students gain skills on plant identification and reading the landscape to determine the ecological site, amount of usable forage, and number of animals that can be properly supported on the rangeland.

Thank you to the Livingston Ranch, FFA advisers, local businesses, conservation districts, Colorado State Land Board, Colorado Department of Ag, Pawnee Buttes Seeds, and the Colorado Section SRM for helping make this event a success for all the participating high school agriculture students in eastern Colorado.