All-Ontario Judging Competition Orangeville

In this class of provincial judging competitions, I place the 1st All-Ontario Judging Competition at the top!

On May 30th, the Junior Farmers Association of Ontario (JFAO) hosted the first ever All-Ontario Judging Competition at the Orangeville Fairgrounds. The competition challenged 4-Hers and Junior Farmers of all ages, including alumni and our visiting JF International Delegates, to judge a wide range of classes. Participants had the opportunity to give placings for sheep, heavy horses, first aid kits, paintball masks, knitting, canola, soybeans, and hay. As an extra challenge, oral reasons were given for dairy, beef, maple syrup and oat sheaves. To keep things interesting, two quizzes were put into the rotation. One quiz tested knowledge of agriculture in Ontario through a multiple choice quiz, and the other was a challenging identification quiz consisting of various weeds, muscles, animal tracks, farm tools, and lifeskill tools.

29 judges competed for prizes as the top individuals, JF Club, 4-H Association, and for top scores in each judging category. These awards were presented at the Awards Gala following the day’s events. The evening portion included a fantastic catered dinner, official reasons and placing for each class, and awards. Participants, volunteers, committee members, sponsors, and dignitaries of the agricultural community shared in an evening of celebration, hosted by JF’s very own Justin Williams.

The success of the 1st All-Ontario Judging Competition could not have been possible without the support of our partners. JFAO’s Diamond Partners – CYFF (Canadian Young Farmer Forum), North Waterloo Farmers Mutual Insurance and OFA support all of JF’s provincial events and we are gracious for their continued support of rural youth in Ontario. Partners that designated their sponsorship to the All-Ontario Judging Competition were: Stewart’s Equipment and Kubota, Royal Chevrolet Cadillac Inc., Perth Junior Farmers, Direct Genetics Inc. Canada, Murray A. Breckon Farm, Floradale Feed Mill Limited, Woodrill Ltd., Echo Lane Lavender, Lippert & Wright Fuels Ltd., Palmerston Grain, Betty Hughes, Justin’s Maple Syrup, Raymond Wilson, Nic Weber, Mike Gill, John Drummond and Commercial Printers Stratford. Thank you for your support of the All-Ontario Judging Competition!

A shout out to the 1st All-Ontario Judging Competition’s 1st ever committee! Through some challenges the committee came together and worked as a fantastic team to make the judging competition an all day success. Thank you Claire Johnston, Courtney Steven, Crystal Blake, Lee Mayes, and Taylor Campbell as well as co-chairs Sarah Breckon and Alex Mitchell. You were a fantastic team!

Evaluations following the day’s events were overwhelmingly positive. The participants thoroughly enjoyed the judging competition. Many cited the structure of the competition as a selling point – they like that time at each class was limited to 15 minutes and that participants had to follow a set rotation rather than being able to rush through the judging, or go to whichever class they wanted to. Other participants were impressed by the difficulty of the classes, and loved the challenge of judging high-quality items. The most common remark heard was that people are happy Junior Farmers is hosting this event at all. Judging in Ontario is almost exclusively run through 4-H and therefore only for youth aged 9-21. 4-Hers were excited for the opportunity to participate in a provincial competition, and the Junior Farmers were excited to continue judging in their post-4-H lives!

In talking to participants and volunteers, some exciting next-steps came up. For example, Waterloo 4-H requires every member to participate in a judging competition every year. One Waterloo Junior Farmer Member got permission for her participation at the All-Ontario Judging Competition to fulfill that 4-H requirement. Accreditation of the competition with local 4-H Associations for next year is a great way to strengthen the bond between 4-H and JF, and encourages more 4-H members to attend.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the All-Ontario Judging Competition, along with the final placings and cuts of all classes and a full list of participant scores:

Top Overall County (4-H + JFAO) – Brant

Top Junior Farmer Club– Brant

Top 4-H Association – Kawartha-Haliburton

Top JFAO Member – Cassandra Werry (Perth)

Top JFAO International Delegate – Beatrice Hadorn (Switzerland)

Top JFAO Alumni – Brenda Lothmann (Dufferin)

Top Junior 4-H Member – Maggi Murray (Dufferin)

Top Intermediate 4-H Member – Darryl Young (Halton)

Top Senior 4-H Member – Caleigh Van Kampen

Top Quizzes Score – Keturah Breckon (Brant)

Top Crop Score – Lana Kraus (Perth)

Top Life Skills Score – Cassandra Gorrill (Kawartha)

Top Livestock Judge – Jessica Lasby (Dufferin)

Knitting: 4-3-1-2; cuts of 1-2-2

Paintball Masks: 2-1-4-3; cuts of 2-1-3

First Aid Kits: 1-4-3-2; cuts of 1-2-3

Maple Syrup: 1-3-4-2; cuts of 3-1-2

Second Cut Hay: 4-2-1-3; cuts of 2-4-2

Canola: 4-2-1-3; cuts of 3-1-2

Soybeans: 3-2-1-4; cuts of 3-4-2

Sheaves: 3-1-4-2; cuts of 3-2-4

Sheep: 2-3-1-4; cuts of 1-2-3

Beef: 1-3-4-2; cuts of 2-5-1

Dairy: 4-1-3-2; cuts of 3-1-3

Horses: 3-2-4-1; cuts of 2-3-3

ID Quiz Answers:

1. kneecap/patella 2. MCL/medial collateral ligament 3. Femur 4. Greater Celadin/Chelidonium 5. Garlic Mustard/Alliara petiola 6. Motherwort/Leonurus 7. Gommon Mullien/Verbascum 8. Broad Leaf Plantian/Plantago 9. Canadian Thistle 10. Soil Sampler 11. Tatting Shuttle 12. Spark Plug Gauge/Feeler 13. Potato Ricer 14. Beaver Prints 15. Racoon Prints 16. hand planer 17. pipe cutter 18. Fuel Filter 19. Skunk Prints 20. Drill Press Clamp

Knowledge Quiz Answers:

1. C, Lanark 2. C, Dufferin 3. C, Dufferin 4. D, Wellington 5. B, Nipissing 6. C, Pork 7. C, 1 in 8 8. B, a year’s worth 9. B, 3 10. C, Asparagus and Rhubarb 11. C, Learn to do by doing 12. C, 9-21 13. B, Dairy 14. C, 2013 15. D, All of the above 16. D, 15-29 17. C, Josiah’s Journey 18. A, Belgium 19. C, 300 20. B, Gerry Ritz