The University of Minnesota placed 1st overall in the collegiate dairy cattle judging contest hosted by the North American International Livestock Exposition
(NAILE), Louisville, KY on November 8. The margin of victory was 18 points over 2nd place Michigan State, and students from 15 universities competed.
University of Minnesota teams have placed 1st overall in 8 of the past 10 collegiate contests at Louisville. In addition to placing 1st overall, the University of Minnesota team was 1st in Ayrshire, 1st in Holstein, 2nd in Guernsey, and 3rd in Brown Swiss.
Team members were Evan Hathaway, Barneveld, WI; Tyler Rakta, Cold Spring, MN; Rachel Visser, Hutchinson, MN; and Alexis Hoefs, New Prague, MN. Individually, Hathaway placed 2nd overall, Ratka was 3rd overall, and Visser was 10th overall.
The high individual was Emma Townsend from Purdue University.
University of Minnesota coaches are Dr. Les Hansen, Dr. Isaac Haagen, and alumni Eric and Gabriella Houdek.
The top 10 teams:
1. University of Minnesota
2. Michigan State
3. UW-River Falls
4. UW-Platteville
5. UW-Madison
6. Purdue
7. Penn State
8. Ohio State
9. Virginia Tech
10. Iowa State
