Hansford County Livestock Judging Teams Finish Successful Season

The Hansford County livestock judging teams have completed their spring season. The Junior and Intermediate teams competed in three contests in March and April. Their first contest was the Texas Tech Invitational March 25. They placed 7th as a team in Lubbock, led by Brox Reid's 15th place finish and Brenlye Buchanan's 26th place finish. Next up was the Clarendon contest April 1. The team finished 9th overall and placed 4th in cattle. Kimber Jackson earned a 7th overall finish and was also 2nd in cattle. Brox won the cattle division and placed 19th overall. Their final contest was at the District 1 competition held at West Texas A&M on April 21. Here they broke into Junior and Intermediate divisions. The Jr team won the Swine division and placed 5th overall. Kimber led the team with a 10th place finish and was also 12th in sheep. Kreede Kight was 8th in sheep, 12th in swine and placed 19th overall. Cambryn Born won the swine division. Sloan Stedje placed 15th in cattle. Two new members contributed for the junior team this year; Gus Jimenez and Jack Steger. The Intermediate team put up a big day and were named High Team overall, winning both the cattle and swine divisions and placing 4th in sheep. Mallary Allen captured the 2nd high overall award. She was 2nd in swine and 3rd in cattle. Brox nailed down 3rd overall. He placed 4th in cattle, 11th in swine, and 14th in sheep. Hayden Shieldknight was recognized for 9th in cattle. The other intermediate team members are Chloe McLaughlin, Brynley McLaughlin, Addison Blevins, and Madison Moore.

The Hansford County 4-H Senior livestock judging team competed in six contests during March and April. They started out the spring season March 25 at the Texas Tech Invitational. In a contest where they were required to complete some exercises never seen in a 4-H contest, they still managed to place 26th out of the 83 teams. Arden Pittman led the team with a 10th place individual finish. March 28 found the team in El Reno, Oklahoma at the Redlands contest. The Hansford team fought for an 11th place finish out of the 51 teams there. Kip Pittman led the team with a 12th place finish. The next day they competed in Miami, Oklahoma at NEO Aggie Days. In a loaded field that featured 3 state champions and another team that was a national qualifier, the Hansford warriors secured a 6th place team finish. They were 4th in cattle and 5th in sheep. Individually Kip was 6th in cattle and 14th overall and Arden was 5th in sheep and 15th overall. April 1 found the team back in Texas for the Clarendon contest. The Hansford team had a solid day placing 2nd overall. They won reasons, were 2nd in cattle, 3rd in swine, and 5th in sheep. Arden was 2nd high individual overall. She won reasons and placed 5th in both cattle and sheep. Kip was 12th overall. Kinley Shieldknight earned 9th in swine. The team competed at the South Plains contest in Levelland April 14. They finished 4th overall. Within species, they placed 3rd in sheep, 6th in swine, and 8th in cattle. Arden placed 16th overall and Kip got 17th overall and 6th in sheep. Finally the contest they had been working toward was here. They competed at the District 1 contest at West Texas A&M on April 21. The Hansford crew grew up a lot over the past few weeks and won district for the first time since 2019. They won reasons and sheep and placed second in swine and cattle. Arden placed 3rd overall. She won sheep, placed 3rd in both reasons and cattle, and got 6th in swine. Kip nailed down 4th overall. He was 2nd in sheep, 4th in reasons, and 5th in cattle. Kinley stepped up and placed 6th overall. She got 7th in cattle, swine, and reasons and was 8th in sheep. Newcomer Alayna Schneider placed 15th overall. Spencer Aborn was 19th overall and Aubree Sharp placed 22nd overall. By virtue of winning the district contest the team has qualified to compete at the Texas 4-H state championships held atTexas A&M University in June. Hansford County is one of 4 teams statewide that have qualified for the state contest 13 consecutive years.

The teams are coached by Tyler Stedje, Nick Slough, and Bret Burgin. They would like to thank Stedje Livestock, Gruver Ag Supply, and First National Bank for allowing the coaches the time to train these judges.