This series is offered in connection with the University of Wisconsin Madison Animal & Dairy Sciences Department, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Division of Extension.

The Wisconsin Youth Livestock Program (WYLP) is excited to offer these LIVE Virtual Zoom educational programs for the spring of 2023.  These current topics are for youth and adults alike and occur on the first Monday of the month from January through March.  Each session begins at 7 p.m. CST with a presentation followed by the question-and-answer time.  Register for any or all events to get the connection information by email.

January 9 – Why participating in knowledge and judging teams is important!  Join us to learn how to get involved, prepare, and learn about the advantages you gain from being involved in teams.  We will identify the skills you gain from these events and how they assist you as a young person and in a career.  We will cover Livestock & Meats Judging, Livestock Quiz Bowl, and Livestock Skillathon.

Speakers:  Scott Howard was raised north of Madison on a small Angus cattle operation.  Scott attended Colorado State University, where he was active in the meat judging, wool judging, and meat animal evaluation programs.  Throughout graduate school, Scott conducted research on beef quality, carcass yield, and growth and development, earning a Ph.D. in 2013.  During this time, Scott coached multiple meat animal evaluation and meat judging teams.  Following graduation from Colorado State, Scott spent eight years with Cargill Protein in Wichita, Kansas, including time in research and development, new product implementation, and supply chain management.  For the past year, Scott has worked as the Director of Operations for Meyer Natural Foods in Loveland, Colorado, focused on supply chain optimization of copacker relationships.  Scott maintains involvement with the collegiate meat judging program through an affiliate faculty role at Colorado State and participation in the American Meat Science Association.  Professionally, Scott enjoys identifying talented students at Colorado State and beyond and helping them succeed throughout the protein industry.  In his free time, Scott enjoys traveling, continued involvement with Angus cattle through Marda Farms in Lodi, WI, and spending time with his family and friends.

Liz Gartman is a co-coach of the Sheboygan County Livestock Quiz Bowl and Skillathon teams and has been coaching longer than she can remember. She has coached two teams that went to the National Quiz Bowl contest – one team placed 2^nd, and the 2022 team placed fifth. Liz is currently an Ag Instructor at Lakeshore Technical College.

Stephanie Witberler is a Kansas State University student who is active in Meats Judging and other activities.  Stephanie was extremely active in knowledge and judging teams as a Marathon County 4-H member.  Her plans involve moving on to graduate school.

January Recording, please complete the Survey once you have viewed the webinar.

***NEW date*** February 13 – Beef Live/Carcass Evaluation & Cookery
Speakers:  Ron Russell and Bernie O’Rourke

February Recording, please complete the Survey once you have viewed the webinar.
Resources:  Similar Pork & Lamb Evaluation/Carcass Videos

***NEW date*** April 3 – Reproductive Technologies in Agriculture
Speakers:   Dr. Nate Dorshorst, GenOvations

Register for April Session – Zoom

Please have the Educational Verification Form printed before the session begins.  You can write down thoughts throughout the session. Complete the form and turn it in to your county fair and/or livestock committee to verify your participation.  These activities can serve as “county educational requirements.”

Questions, contact Bernie O’Rourke, UW- Madison Animal & Dairy Science Extension Youth Livestock Specialist at (608) 263-4304 or borourke2@wisc.edu.

Archived webinars can be found here.