The Washington County 4-H Livestock Judging Senior Team has been preparing to compete at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado this week. The competition is being held on January 9th and 10th. KCII spoke with coach Dustin Ford to learn more about what it took to get to the National level, “The way that our senior livestock judging team for Washington County qualified for this was actually through the state 4-H contest that was held this past April in Ames, Iowa. And the senior team, now have actually been together and judging as a group since they were probably around ten years old, and so eight years for some of them.” Brynn Younge, Charlotte Sieren, Garrett Greiner, and Peighton Ford are the Washington County 4-H team members competing at nationals and have been dedicating many hours to prepare for the high level of competition with 4-H volunteer coaches Dustin Ford, Derek Henningsen, Chad Younge and Ted Greiner. In preparation for this contest, the team has worked to collect sponsors to help with registration and travel expenses. Livestock judging consists of critiquing and analyzing 4 animals per class and then ranking them from top to bottom. After placing the animals, youth stand in front of a judge and present their own individual oral reasons. They earn points based on their placings and reasons. There are both individual and team placings at each contest.