The Sleepy Eye FFA Nursery Landscape Team received 2nd place at their Region contest. Team members included: l to r – Madi Martinez, Kamille Capacia, Austin Uecker, Kyle Capacia, and Marcus Martinez.
The Sleepy Eye FFA Dairy Team took 1st at their Region contest. The team included: l to r – Jared Portner, Rachel Portner (3rd Place Individual), and Gracie Sellner (1st Place Individual).
By Chloe Howe, Chapter Reporter
The Sleepy Eye FFA members competed in their last Region VI Contests on April 5th and April 14th. The Dairy Team placed 1st in their contest!
The Region VI FFA Floriculture and Nursery Landscape Contests were held in Windom. The Nursery Landscape Team placed 2nd overall out of 10 teams and 40 individuals. The Sleepy Eye FFA Team members included: Madelyn Martinez (3rd place individual), Marcus Martinez (4th place individual), Kamille Capacia (7th place individual), Kyle Capacia, and Austin Uecker.
The NL CDE consists of Identification of Deciduous Trees and Shrubs, Evergreen Trees and Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, Weeds, Equipment, Pests, and more as well as a Knowledge Test and Problem Solving. There are also two practicums each year. This year’s practicums were calculating landscape bricks for retaining walls and pruning.
The Floriculture team placed 4th overall out of 15 teams and 59 individuals. The team members included: Lily Kallevig (7th place individual), Grecia Navarro (10th place individual), Jose Castorena, and Katelyn Tauer.
The components of the Floriculture CDE are Identification of Cut Flowers, Potted Greenhouse Crops, Annual Flowers, and Tools as well as a Knowledge Test, a Problem Solving Activity, and Corsage making Practicum.
For the Dairy Contest, Gracie Sellner, Rachel Portner, Jared Portner evaluated several classes of Holstein dairy cows and heifers. They also judged a pedigree class where they judged cows based on their records and a sire selection class where they chose the best bull for their cows. The final portion of the contest is a team activity with dairy trivia and management questions.
The Dairy team placed 1st out of 12 teams and Gracie Sellner was the highest scorer in the contest and earned 1st place individual.
The Meats contest was composed of identifying meat cuts by type (Beef, Lamb, Pork), wholesale, and resale. The meats team also evaluated pork carcasses and judged classes of cuts of meat. Yuri Fernandez, Alex Confer, Trevor Rathman, Nolan Weicherding, and Gavin Fischer judged Meats. The team placed 6th out of 13 teams. Trevor Rathman was the highest scorer on her team.
For the Livestock Evaluation Event, members evaluate beef cattle, sheep, goats, and swine on physical characteristics and records for market and breeding usage. Members give oral reasons explaining their placing of certain classes. They also completed a Team Activity on Swine. Members participating in this contest included: Charlie Hoffmann, Kenley Jensen, Santi Martinez, Chloe Okerman, and Ethan Schwartz. This was a new event for all five of our members. The highest scorer on the team was Ethan Schwartz.
The Floriculture, Nursery Landscape, Dairy, and Meats teams advanced to State Competition!
