Powell-Shoshone FFA has been active this year, gathering five top 10 team placements across four competitions ahead of the State FFA Convention in Cheyenne, April 9-12.

Powell’s FFA chapter kicked off its competitive season at NILE in Billings Oct. 14-15. This competition saw Powell-Shoshone’s senior Livestock Judging team, made up of Pratt Wambeke, Juliana Marquez, Weston Thompson and Taylor Peters, place seventh overall. At the junior level the team of Abigail Visocky, Marley Rimmer and Kaitlynn Linnebur ranked 30th overall with Visocky finishing fifth individually.

“It’s been a while since I’ve done it, like probably three years, so it’s kind of a refresher, but I think I did quite well for having [not done it] in three years,” Visocky said. 

Also at state, Bailey Kraft showed one steer and two heifers with her steer and merit heifer winning their classes.

Powell-Shoshone FFA then tried a hand at Vet Science during the Sweet Grass Showdown in Big Timber, Montana on Dec. 9. The Vet Science team of Dakota Erickson, Danika Fagan, Hadlee Lennon and Tanis Ginest took 16th.

A Vet Science competition has many different aspects, said team coach Gracie McLain. The team is usually split into four groups for a written exam, math test, identification portion and practicum.

“I’ve been working at a ranch since I was probably 4 years old. Last year as a freshman I decided it sounded fun, showed up and enjoyed it, now I do it because I want to be a vet,” Erickson said.

He added that the Vet Science competitions have helped give him more knowledge of the field and while he didn’t do as well as he wanted to, he did better than he thought he would. He did really well on the practicums but struggled in the identification portion, which is different each year and at each competition. 

The rest of the team also did well.

“We got 16th overall, which is pretty good for our first competition with a brand new team,” McLain said.

The Vet Science team will next compete at Border Wars on March 3 before heading to Torrington for their state contest on March 18. 

Heading into the new year Powell’s Wool Judging team went to state for their first and final competition of the year in Laramie on Jan. 14. The team of Katie Morrison, Alyssa Ely, Cami Gernhart and Colton George placed third overall, with Katie Morrison taking fourth place individually and placing high overall in reasons and questions.

“We got third overall and it was [George and I’s] first year so we thought we did pretty great,” Gernhart said.

This year’s competition was a little different, while the team graded their fleeces as usual they also had the chance to compete in collegiate classes, which was a new experience, Morrison said.

“I’d say we all did pretty well for it being our first ever time with no experience,” she added.

Wrapping up the pre-state competitions the Livestock, Mechanics and Meat Judging team competed in the Montana Cowtown CDEs in Miles City, Montana on Feb. 7. The Mechanics team of Dakota Erickson, Tanis Ginest, William Shelby and James Forsberg placed sixth overall while fellow Powell students on the Meat Judging team, Hadley Cooper, Pratt Wambeke, Meisja McCrary and Alyssa Ely, placed fifth overall. The Livestock Judging team made up of Juliana Marquez, Taylor Peters and Tempie Day placed fourth with Peters taking ninth. 

The Cowtown CDEs was Montana’s qualifying contest so it provided a little more competition than some past events.

“It definitely gave us a different view of the contest, because it was a little different than ones we’ve done in the past,” Cooper said.

For example, one of the grading events was on paper rather than on an actual carcass, which requires you to know the content better, she said. 

“It was our first competition of the year, so we just need to kind of work on each of our individual areas and just tie up some of those loose ends before we head to state,” Cooper said. 

This was the second competition for the Livestock Judging team after NILE and the team is preparing for state, Peters said.

“That’s what’s nice about these kind of pre-state contests. It kind of gives kids a real life opportunity to kind of evaluate where they’re at and reassess as they go forward, so they know what to practice on,” adviser Ben Curdy said. “And I think that a lot of the kids came away from this contest with that, so they’ve, you know, identified the things that they’re doing well, and they know what to work on going forward … I think that you know any contest is going to increase the ability to be successful at state.”