By DEREK BECK
North Platte Post
NORTH PLATTE — Wallace seventh grader Cauy Robinson wants to take over his family ranch someday. He’s off to a good start when it comes to understanding the beef industry.
Robinson and the 4-H Livestock Judging team he competed for from Scottsbluff county placed second over the weekend at the Kearney Classic. Robinson has also been involved with the Chase County 4-H team in the past, whose team placed 1st at the Kearney Classic over the weekend. Cauy explained how most livestock judging competitions go “almost every contest we go to there's 12 classes with four calves or goats or sheep or hogs in it and you pretty much place it how you like them and then they'll (judges) be questions that you have to answer after the contest . They'll sit you down and they'll ask questions to everybody in the group and then mark your card 1 through 4 or you'll have to give a set of reasons to them (judges) of why you placed them that way.”
Robinson was in the Eagle studio’s in North Platte to talk about 4-H Livestock Judging, but what we noticed immediately was Cauy’s passion for not only the livestock judging competition but his eagerness to learn, and also speak up about what he loves about it.
He was in studio with Caitlyn Jacobson who is the Extension Educator for 4-H in Lincoln, Logan and McPherson counties. Jacobson was also impressed as Robinson spoke. “in 4H, we talk about learn by doing, and this is a great example of a hands on learning experience.” she went on to say “when they (4H’ers) go into a show ring they have a good idea of what kind of animal they have, and how to make improvements. That’s part of the learning aspect of the project. You learn what makes a good steer, what makes a good pig, so when you talk to a judge you can tell him hey yeah you know what; this is what's good about my animal and even in the showmanship you can kind of articulate some of those good qualities about your animal. It’s just a all around good hands-on learning experience and you get to learn, you get to meet a lot of different people along the way."
Robinson agreed, “my family shows cattle, we’re at the barn every day, all year round working them and getting them ready. And livestock judging is also a yearly deal, there’s contests in the summer, and winter.” He went on to say that he thinks judging and showing livestock go hand in hand. “not only do you learn how to talk your calf into the judge if they (judge) have questions, but you learn personally how you like to see cattle, or sheep or goats. You don’t wanna look at cattle from just here, you want to step back and get a good view, which helped me win showman ship at the state fair last year.”
To hear the entire conversation with this 13-year-old from Wallace, Click Play. Thank me later!
