COLLEGE STATION – Texas 4-H members stood out at the recent American Royal 4-H Livestock Judging Contest held at Hale Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, said Dr. Toby Lepley, assistant state 4-H leader, College Station.

According to show materials, the American Royal Association is a nonprofit corporation and Kansas City’s longest running show whose purpose is to “provide scholarships, education, awards and competitive learning experiences that reward hard work, leadership skills and agrarian values.”

Teams from 10 states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia, competed in what is touted as Kansas City’s longest running show. But it was the all-girl Texas team from Guadalupe County consisting of Kylie Patterson, Reagan Langemeier, Kaylee Musgrove and Morgan Friesenhahn that took top honors, Lepley said.

“The big winner was the Texas team coached by Chuck Real, which won first place by 42 points with a total score of 2221,” Lepley said.

He said the Texas 4-H team members also garnered first place team awards in judging swine, sheep and goats, as well as in oral reasons, plus earned a second place team award for cattle judging.

Lepley added that team members also excelled individually, with Patterson taking first place in overall individual scoring among 4-H participants and Langemeier taking third place overall. Musgrove and Friesenhahn took 11th and 16th place, respectively, in the overall individual rankings.

“The goal of these contests is to improve the participants’ communication and decision-making abilities in the judging arena,” Lepley said. “After judging various livestock, participants give the reasons behind their placings and answer questions posed by contest organizers. It’s good ‘real world’ experience in applying what they know about livestock, then being able to verbally support and defend their judging decisions.”

The Guadalupe County team won third place at Texas 4-H Roundup in College Station, which earned them the right to compete in the American Royal 4-H contest, said Matt Miranda, AgriLife Extension agent for 4-H and youth development, Guadalupe County.

“The team worked very hard to prepare for Roundup and worked just as hard or harder in preparing for the recent American Royal contest,” he said.

Miranda said 4-H teams from Guadalupe County have been previously successful in state and national contests, and the team tried to follow that “tradition of past success.”

Guadalupe County 4-H livestock judging teams have had a “banner year” in 2014, said Jeff Hanselka, AgriLife Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources in Guadalupe County.

“Last year’s team from Guadalupe County won the National Western Contest in Denver in January and the World Contest in Scotland in June,” Hanselka said. “And this year’s team won the American Royal Contest in October.

“We have also been blessed to have Chuck Real as a volunteer leader and heading the livestock judging program for more than twenty-five years. (Kansas City) was my ninth national trip with Chuck in sixteen years, and his ability to teach young people is amazing.”

The team was the 10th Real has taken to a national contest in the last 20 years.

“I think the best way to describe the team was that they were focused,” Real said. “They are all intelligent, hard-working young women and were focused on the tasks at hand during the contest.”

Real said all team members had experience with various animal projects and showed animals as part of their 4-H background, which added to their knowledge and ability to properly judge livestock.

Specific award placements by team members were:

– Patterson – First place, sheep and goats; fifth place, swine; first place, cattle; second place, reasons; and first place, high overall.

– Langemeier – Second place, sheep and goats; second place, swine; third place, reasons; and third place, high overall.

– Musgrove – Fifth place, cattle; 11th place, high overall.

– Friesenhahn, Fifth place, reasons, 16th place, high overall.

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