WOOSTER, Ohio – Ohio State University Agricultural Technical Institute (ATI) has a highly successful Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Team in place. This dairy squad has placed high in state and national competitions, including the World Dairy Expo.

Now, the ATI hopes to achieve similar success with its newly created Livestock Judging Team.

The first step in this process is hiring a team coach, that being Jeromesville native Seth Ebert. Ebert joins the ATI faculty as coach and lecturer.

“When ATI reached out to me, I was really excited because there are so many students who can benefit from this program,” said Ebert, 30. “This new team will offer a lot of opportunities to kids in Ohio and the eastern United States. There’s not a junior college even close to this one that offers such competition and opportunities.”

Livestock judging involved evaluating market or breeding beef cattle, sheep, goats and swine against a set of commonly accepted criteria for an ideal animal (placing) and then defending those evaluations to a panel of judges. As did Ebert, many young people begin judging as part of 4-H and FFA activities and seek to continue judging at the collegiate level.

Ebert was successful enough in 4-H and FFA to earn a scholarship from Casper College in Wyoming. After earning an associate degree in animal science from Casper, Ebert earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University, where he participated in livestock judging at the national level. Ebert now frequently serves as swine judge on the state and national levels.

“The skills developed by evaluating livestock, whether as part of a course or a judging competition, are used almost daily in every aspect of animal agriculture,” Ebert said. “I not only want to make a competitive livestock judging program here at ATI but want to develop well-rounded stockmen and stockwomen who can go out and succeed in the livestock industry.

“In my opinion, there’s a real disconnect at the junior college ranks that it’s all about winning. I’m competitive and I want to win, but at the same time I want to teach my students to have a fundamental and practical mindset and teach them how to properly judge livestock.”

Ohio State ATI expects to have its first livestock judging team ready for competition in the fall of 2023, fielding both a first-year and sophomore team. There are already 15 students committed to the sophomore team and Ebert recently recruited four more for the incoming team this fall.

“I’m recruiting in Ohio and all other states,” he said, “and my recruiting process is just less than a month old.”

Being on any collegiate livestock team requires lots of travel and time away from the classroom.

“Kids on this judging team will take great pride in their academics because they’re going to be traveling a lot and missing classes. They have to stay dedicated to their classes as well as the live skills they’ll learn from being on the judging team,” Ebert said.

In addition to coaching this newly formed team, Ebert is teaching classes in Animal Handling and Animal Science. Next fall he will add courses of Livestock Judging and Livestock Marketing to his lecturing list.

“I have this wealth of knowledge that I haven’t given back to the industry, nor have given back to the students and community that has made me what I am today,” Ebert said. “So now I’m able to give back.”

Ohio State ATI was established in 1969. The institute is the associate-degree-granting unit of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and maintains a close relationship with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center and OSU Extension. The first classes at ATI were held in 1972, with 197 students enrolled in the first quarter.