BELLVILLE — The Annual Youth Forage Contest was held Oct. 4 at the Austin County Fair in Bellville. This event is sponsored by the Austin County Beef & Forage Committee utilizing hay samples submitted for the Hay Show.
Youth apply their knowledge of forage to identify species common to pastures and evaluate hay based on physical properties. The youth apply the information learned directly to forage production.
There are three components to the contest. The first is placing the hay sam ple classes, which are judged based on physical ranking, maturity, texture, leafiness, purity and color. The next compo- nent is plant identification, consisting of 20 native grasses, legumes, and weeds. The last component is a 20-question knowledge exam on forages.
There were team and individual award presentations and a $1,000 schol arship for the highest-ranking graduating senior from a competing school.
Team winners:
1st Place Team: Rusk FFA. 2nd Place Team: Bellville FFA. 3rd Place Team: Columbus FFA. 4th Place Team: Brenham FFA. 5th Place Team: Flatonia FFA Individual Placings:
1st Place: Cullen Halfmann, Bren ham FFA and High Point Graduating Senior, receiving a $1,000 Scholarship from the Austin County Beef & Forage Committee.
2nd Place: Jackson Kinney, Rusk. 3rd Place: Kash Kruger, Bellville. 4th Place: Britt Martin, Rusk FFA. 5th Place: Sadie Noska, Flatonia. 6th Place: Wesley Martin, Rusk. 7th Place: Jack Dudensing, Colum bus. 8th Place: Jack Luedeker, Bellville. 9th Place: Audrie Busa, Madison ville. 10th Place: Colby Lewis, Colum bus.
