To become an assistant officer, thesemembers had to fill out an application and were chosen by theofficers. All applicants were required to have their GreenhandDegree.

Recently, the A-C FFA went to the Mt. Gileadand Marysville Invitational contests. These invitationals helpmembers prepare for competition at the district and state levels. Atthese contests, only a certain number of the top teams are placed, soresults are not available for all teams. If a team received aplacing, it is listed after the description of its contest.

The Dairy Cattle team consistsof Mike Justice, Dan Tooill, NolenGossett, Randall Miller, andMartina Stanley. For this contest, they place five classes of fourdairy cattle, evaluate one pedigree class, place a sire selectionclass, and take a written test based on dairy management, milkproduction, processing, and marketing. At Marysville, Randall placed 6thout of 100 contestants.

Tracy Larson, Jennifer Evans, JoshKnotts, Jace Spires, Amy Darst, Emilee Klamfoth, and ShannaSpencer all participated in theWildlife Management contest, which is divided into four sections.These sections are general knowledge of fish and wildlife management,the identification of sixty specimens, equipment identification, anda practicum of either topographical map interpretation, determiningthe age and sex of specimens, or pond management.

Ryan Foster and DavidThomas are both members of theNature Interpretation team. For this contest, they answer fiftyquestions from nature interpretation materials, identify sixtyspecimens, identify equipment, and do either a topographical mapinterpretation, determine the age and sex of specimens, identify birdcalls, or read nature signs that are shown to them in a slideshow.

The Poultry Judging team consists ofHeather Makarius, Eddy Cox, BethFouse, Tabby Strausz, Rachel Makarius, and DanielMiddleton. These individuals have totake a written test over poultry management, grade ready-to-cookcarcasses, place egg-type hens, select a keep/cull class of broilers,place four cartons of eggs, grade eggs, placed chicken patties, andidentify poultry parts. The Poultry team placed 7th at Mt. Gilead and3rd at Marysville.

Jennifer Strickler, RobertBlosser, Kevin Strickler, Brian Bussert, Mark Francis, ErinGilfillen, and Travis Kiser formthe General Livestock team. For this contest, these members have toplace six classes of livestock consisting of four animals each. Thereare two classes of sheep, beef cattle, and swine. Five objectivequestions are asked on each of the classes, and one class of fourfeeder cattle are graded. At Mt. Gilead, the General Livestock teamplaced 1st (with Jennifer placing 5thout of 268 individually!) and 33rd at Marysville.

Cassie Shaeffer, Casey Teets, MalloryMcMaster, Christina Gierhart, Tiffany Timmons, and HollyEdwards participate in the EquineManagement contest. They place two classes of four horses in a halterclass, place one class of four horses in the performance class, takea written test involving all areas of horse management, and identifyforty-five items, which can be general, english, and racing equipmentand tack, grains and internal and external parasites. Contestants arealso required to place one class of hay. The Equine Management teamplaced 8th at Mt. Gilead. At Marysville, Casey placed 10thand Cassie placed 15th individually out of 133contestants.

Members participating in theAgronomy contest are Shawn Goodman,Jenny Green, Whitney Turner, Meagan Silva, SidneyBennett, and Amber Hedrick. TheAgronomy contest involves the identification of 30 specimens of cropand weed plants, the identification of 30 crop and weed seeds anddiseases and deformities, and a test over soil usage, classification,and fertility. The Agronomy team placed 13th at Mt. Gilead.

The Meats team consists of Calvin Hanes, Jordan Lee, MikeTolliver, and Joe Davis. For thiscontest, different cuts of meat must be identified.

The District 7 Skills Contests will be heldat Canal Winchester on April 7th. The bus will be leaving at 8:00 AM,so please be there on time. The state Agronomy, Dairy Cattle, GeneralLivestock, Meats, and Poultry contests will be on April 21st at theOhio State University. The state Nature Interpretation and WildlifeManagement contests will be at Muskingum Tech. on April 28th.