Youth & Dairy Dawg Updates

Jillian Bohlen, Ph.D. – Associate Professor & Dairy Extension Specialist (jfain@uga.edu)

State 4-H Youth Events

There is nothing that provides promise of the future more than our young people.  Between 4-H youth events and collegiate activities, the commitment of so many to the dairy industry’s present and future is inspiring.  Please enjoy reading more on how these young people are learning from and giving back to this great industry.

State 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl Contest

The State 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl contest was held Monday, January 29^th at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. A change in date and time were chosen for this year’s contest to increase participation and it worked!  There were 8 Junior Teams (up 4 teams from 2023) and 4 Senior Teams (up 2 teams from 2023) competing for top honors.  These young people had heads full of dairy knowledge and were ready to put it to the test at this year’s competition!

Junior Contest

Placing first in the Junior Competition was Burke County with team members Dailey Blanchard, Lucy Lane, Betsy Murray, Sara Morgan Sapp, Emree Williams, and Madalynn Zittrouer

Hart County Team A placed second and Oconee County placed third.

Senior Contest

Placing first in the Senior Competition was Coweta County with team members Josiah Benjamin, Emily Jones, Avery Pruett, and Caeden Swartz.

Oconee County placed second.

Congratulations to all competing teams and best of luck to Coweta County who will represent Georgia at the National 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl contest in Louisville, KY in November thanks to the generous support of the Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation.  Special thanks to UGA Dairy Science Club students Sophie Dupont and Mackenzie Jones for helping to run and officiate the contest.

State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest

This year’s State 4-H Dairy Judging Contest was again held at the UGA Livestock Instructional Arena on Friday, April 26^th.  The contest was up by nine youth with a total of 35 participants to include 5 Junior teams and 3 Senior teams.  

Junior High Teams

1. Oglethorpe County
2. Burke County
3. Gordon County

Junior High Individuals

1. Abby Gabriel, Oglethorpe County
2. Camden Huff, Oglethorpe County
3. Silas Nix, Hall County

Senior High Teams

1. Gordon County
2. Coweta County
3. Hall County

Senior High Individuals

1. Justice Benjamin, Coweta County
2. Lowry Duggin, Gordon County
3. William Parrish, Gordon County

Congratulations to the Senior Team from Gordon County who will go on to represent Georgia at the National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest held alongside World Dairy Expo in Madison, WI on October 1^st thanks to the generous support of the Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation!

Thank you to the UGA Dairy Science Club students and UGA Teaching Dairy for helping to get animals prepared for the contest.

Southeast Dairy Youth Retreat

This year’s Southeast Dairy Youth Retreat (SEDYR) was hosted by Florida in Gainesville, FL on July 8^th – 12^th.  Georgia sent a delegation of nine young people to attend this year’s retreat. With a schedule jam packed with farm tours, educational events, and time to network, this retreat was one for the books! 

Thank you to Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation for helping to support these young people.  Also, a huge thanks to our two chaperones, Mrs. Pam Sapp and Ms. Katelin Benkoski, for taking their time to help these young people with this opportunity. 

National 4-H Dairy Conference

The National 4-H Dairy Conference is a premier event for young agriculturalists to learn more about the dairy industry and develop national connections.  Each year, Georgia selects 2-3 delegates to support in their representation of the state at this event.  This year’s selection was made difficult by a high number of qualified and dedicated young people with backgrounds in the 4-H program and service to their community.  The final group selected to attend represent the most dedicated of the young, dairy community.  

The Selected Delegates for 2024 are

Ava Haney (Hall County)

Caeden Swartz (Coweta County)

Lane Bridges (Chattooga County)

Lane Bridges was selected in 2023 to serve on the host planning committee for this year’s conference. We are incredibly proud of Lane for this achievement and honor!

This group will have an expense paid trip to National 4-H Dairy Conference alongside World Dairy Expo on September 29^th – October 2nd thanks to the generous support of the Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation and Southeast Dairy Farmer’s Milk Check-Off program.  An additional thank you goes to Roberta Pepper of Catoosa County for agreeing to serve as chaperone.

Collegiate Dairy Dawgs

The Dairy Dawgs, as usual, have been quite busy the past few months. Please follow them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ugadairyscienceclub) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ugadairyscienceclub/) for information on all activities they are currently participating in or hosting. Highlighted below is their trip to the national ADSA meetings.

2024 American Dairy Science Association Meetings

Every year, students from the University of Georgia attend the national American Dairy Science Association (ADSA) meetings with their advisor Dr. Jillian Bohlen.  Their attendance and participation in this annual meeting show a true testament to their desire to learn more from and give back to the dairy industry.   

This year’s travels for the first time in the past three years, was uneventful! Held in West Palm Beach, FL on June 15^th– 19^th, this is an incredible opportunity for students to learn, network and present their work to peers as well as academic and industry professionals.

Student Delegation: Kayleigh Smith, Sophie Dupont, Natalie Newton, Katarina Glassman, Jenna Hargett, Mackenzie Jones, and Samantha Mendoza.

• Sophie Dupont received 1st place in the national Dairy Foods presentation category with her talk “Proposed WIC changes: how decreased availability to dairy products could contribute to a growing vitamin D issue”.
  • Katarina Glassman received 3^rd place in the national Undergraduate Research presentation category with her work under the direction of Dr. Bohlen, “Evaluating the use of infrared camera imaging of the eye as a non-invasive, rapid, diagnostic tool to identify illness in calves”.
  • The delegation received 2^nd place for their website entry.
  • Katarina Glassman was elected to 2^nd Vice President to the national board. 
  • Sophie Dupont was recognized for her service as the outgoing 1^st Vice President to the national board.
  • The chapter was recognized as the third most outstanding in the nation, behind Penn State and VA Tech.  
  • Mackenzie Jones presented her national production talk “Liver Abscesses in the Beef on Dairy Market”, which was well received and from which she had many conversations with professionals on her research and thoughts.