Cloudland teams take honors at the Appalachian Fair
Published 8:58 pm Saturday, August 24, 2019
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Photo Contributed Pictured are members of the Cloudland FFA who placed well in the Appalachian Fair competition. Pictured are (L-R) Jeremiah Guinn, Journey Wood, Noah Barnett and Logan Barnett.
Photo Contributed Several Cloudland students took home ribbons from the Appalachian Fair. Pictured with their ribbons are Cloudland students (L-R) Johnny Guinn, Autumn Sparks, Logan Barnett and August Arnett.
BY DANNY BLEVINS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
GRAY- Teams of Cloudland High School students took home honors from the Appalachian Fair as part of the Future Farmers of America cattle judging event.
Each year, the Appalachian Fair hosts Beef Judging and Dairy Judging events for the local FFA chapters.
“This year one of our teams placed second place overall in the Beef Cattle Judging Event with four individual CHS competitors in the Top 10 for high individual scores out of 88 competitors,” said Lauren Turbyfill, the Agriculture Teacher and FFA advisor at Cloudland High School.
“The second place overall team consisted of Logan Barnett, Autumn Sparks, August Arnett, and Johnny Guinn,” stated Turbyfill.
“For our Top 10 individual scores, Logan Barnett and Noah Barnett tied for 9th place, Journey Wood placed 5th highest individual and Jeremiah Guinn placed 2nd highest individual of the entire competition.”
“Students from FFA chapters across East Tennessee gathered at the show arenas at the Appalachian Fair to take part in these events. The Beef Judging event was held on Aug. 19th. In that event, students observe three classes of cattle and each class contains four animals,” Turbyfill said.
“Students must determine which animal is the best quality based on many factors, such as conformation, bone structure, muscling, depth of barrel, the overall size of the animal, etc.,” she said adding students must rank the animals from most desirable to least desirable.
“The student’s rankings are then compared and the scoring determined by the official judge and students are scored out of 50, with 50 being the highest score.
“Several of our students received 50 points, placing the cattle exactly as the judge,” Turbyfill said.
Turbyfill said she is pleased with the showing by the Cloudland teams at the Appalachian Fair and is excited by the potential her students have shown.
“These are good kids and have come a long way in a short amount of time. The Cloudland FFA Chapter is growing exponentially, and even with great quantity, great quality is evident in these students,” Turbyfill said.
“Students are more dedicated than they have ever been, and showing great strides in competitiveness and sharing responsibilities. We are a big family of students from all different walks of life, which is the way the FFA should be!”
