Andy Tullis / The BulletinMountain View High School FFA students, from left, Shannon Tacy, Emma Rooker, Meghan King, Lindsey McPeake, and Delaney Hood have won all 11 of the livestock evaluation since March.

Traci Dulany is no longer surprised when her students try to quit the Future Farmers of America program.

Some come to the Mountain View High School agriculture teacher with excuses about too much homework in other classes. Others tell her they’re frustrated by always losing at competitions. Still others simply send her a text message, shirking from a face-to-face meeting.

Dulany responds to each attempt to quit in the same way.

“No.”

Two of the five students on the program’s Livestock Evaluation team tried to quit at various points in the last four years. And if their teacher had let them, maybe the team wouldn’t have gone on to win 11 contests since spring. Maybe they wouldn’t have swept the state competition last month.

Maybe they wouldn’t be headed to the National FFA Convention & Expo in Louisville, Kentucky, to compete this October.

“We’ve grown so much together and had a lot of losses along the way,” said Shannon Tacy, 18. “This is the first year that we’ve ever won anything before. It was three years of hard work and not giving up — even though some of us tried to.”

Mountain View’s FFA team has had plenty of accomplishments in past years, but never in the livestock evaluation event until this year, Dulany said. The core of the team, which includes recent graduates Tacy, Lindsey McPeake, 18, and Meghan King, 18, have been together since they were freshmen. Delaney Hood, 17, a senior, has been a member for two years, and sophomore Emma Rooker, 16, joined last year. Since spring, the team has traveled to various parts of the state to participate in livestock judging competitions at county fairs. They’ve participated in 11 total, including the state competition where they went up against almost 30 high school teams. The Mountain View team came out on top in each competition.

While judging the quality of livestock may seem a simple task, the reality is it’s much more difficult than it looks. At each contest, students are presented with a group of four of the same animal, which can be hogs, sheep, cattle or goats. Students must then inspect each animal and number them one through four, from best quality to lowest quality. They judge the animals on their build and other factors related to quality.

Students’ assessments are then compared to the judges’ earlier assessment of the animals, and they are given points based on how closely their scores match the judges’ scores . Students compete individually, but teammates scores are totaled at the end of the competition.

To do well in the competition, students must have knowledge of the type of animal they are judging and have a solid grasp of livestock terminology. They must also be able to explain and defend their positions to the judges, as they are often asked specific and technical questions about why they make the choices they do.

“No animal is the same,” Delaney said. “The hardest part for me personally is being able to tell someone why I placed them the way that I did. I know what makes an animal a good animal, but explaining that to someone else can be really difficult.”

While the event challenges students to memorize and use terminology, Dulany said it also helps students in ways that have a much bigger, long-term impact on their lives.

“They’re learning how to confidently make a decision and then present it to a group, justifying why they came to the conclusion they did,” Dulany said. “They’re learning how to articulate their thoughts.”

Delaney said she’s experienced this firsthand.

“When I first got to high school, I didn’t have a lot of confidence,” Delaney said. “Being a part of this team, though, has given me so much of that. It’s taught me more about why I think in certain ways. It’s made me a more well-rounded person.”

Being part of the livestock team has had other benefits in addition to first-place trophies and the camaraderie that comes with being part of a winning team. Tacy, McPeake and King all received scholarships because of their livestock wins. All three are attending community colleges this year that have competitive livestock judging agriculture programs.

After winning the state competition last month, the girls hope to continue their winning streak at the national competition the third week of October. At the very least, they’d like to close out four years of hard work on a high note.

“It’s never been about a single individual doing well,” McPeake said. “It’s been about the team and depending on each other.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0354,

mkehoe@bendbulletin.com.