Nipomo FFA starts of competition season strong

On March 2nd, Nipomo FFA’s Milk Quality and Dairy Food Evaluation team packed their bags for the long road ahead to UC Davis for the first field day of the competition season. On Saturday, March 3rd Ashlie Andrade, Tucker Banta, Julia Boersma, and Kayla Zalesny won the competition with Kayla Zalesny as 1st high individual, and Julia Boersma with 2nd high individual.

Members of the Milk Quality and Dairy Food Evaluation team demonstrate their knowledge about the dairy industry by learning about the processing, distribution, promotion, and marketing of all milk and dairy foods. Members identify defects that are in the milk, types of cheeses, milk fat amounts, real and artificial ingredients, and test their knowledge with a 200 question dairy industry test. Throughout the Spring season, Nipomo FFA travels with their different Career Development Event teams all across the state of California to get ready for state finals which is May 5th.

After asking Tucker Banta how he felt about the contest since this was his first time competing in Dairy Products Judging he replied, “I was really excited for an actual competition against other teams that are from all around California because I had only practiced against my teammates. It was a huge learning experience for me because I was finally able to compete in a real contest. Coming from Livestock Judging was a big transition, but I’m glad I decided to take on this new opportunity.”

Overall, the contest was a huge success for the Dairy Products team and they hope to continue it throughout the season. Their next contest will be March 17th, where they will travel to Merced.