For many youth, the culmination of their junior dairy judging career rests on the Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest at World Dairy Expo. Years of practice, a love for dairy cattle, and a brain full of reasons terminology are put to the test during a long day of judging classes, giving reasons, and waiting for the results.
When the final awards were announced at the banquet held Sunday night following the 2024 national contests, the University of Minnesota judges and their coaches had plenty to smile about. That’s because their team was named the winner of the 2024 Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest.
This was Minnesota’s fourth winning team in the past decade. The Gophers earned 2,530, 22 more points than second place University of Wisconsin Madison. The team was first in Guernseys and Milking Shorthorns. They also won the reasons portion of the contest, outtalking the second place reasons team also University of Wisconsin Madison by 10 points. Other team accolades were 1st Guernsey, 1st Milking Shorthorn, 2nd Brown Swiss, 2nd Holstein, 4th Ayrshire and, 5th Holstein.
It is rare for a team to have such consistency but these ladies were willing to step up to the plate. The team has been affectionately donned the "powerpuff girls" due to bright and bold judging uniforms of blue, green, and pink. The team of 3 ladies placed consecutively 4th, 5th and 6th overall as individuals and 3rd, 4th and 5th individually in reasons.
Leading the way for the University of Minnesota was Megan Meyer who individually was also 3rd in reasons, 3rd Guernsey, 4th Jersey, 6th Milking Shorthorn, and 7th Red and White. Following close behind was Sarah Hagenow placing 4th in reasons, 2nd in Milking Shorthorns and 9th in Brown Swiss individually. Rounding out the "powerpuff girls" was Megan Ratka who individually placed 5th in reasons, 1st in Milking Shorthorn, 3rd in Brown Swiss and 10th in Guernsey. All 3 ladies earned the prestigious honor of All-American by placing in the top 25 as individuals.
The team was coached by Les Hansen, Isaac Haagen, Eric Houdek, and Gabriella Houdek.