The North Callaway FFA Livestock team landed fifth place at the national competition in Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 30.
Team members Zac Abell, Chania Hoffman, Bailey Kemp and Emily Montgomery were seniors at North Callaway when they began their journey that eventually led them to nationals. They spent several nights a week starting in October 2014 to prepare for the district competition, which is necessary before advancing to state.
As livestock competitors, the four were required to become familiar with the industry be evaluating how different livestock fit into the market and judged how valuable they would be in different scenarios, their judging coach Chip Kemp said.
"It's pretty detailed and comprehensive," he said. "They busted their tails."
Part of preparing for the competition included a series of field trips to various farms, livestock competitions and practice contests in and out of Missouri. The group placed first in their division at state and were moving forward to the national competition.
In May, the four graduated but continued preparing for the national competition.
At the national level, the four presented individually in front of industry experts and had to do a presentation about the livestock they selected as the best option based on function and utility, Kemp said. They also answered questions during the process to show their knowledge about the industry. In addition to the presentations they had to take an animal science exam and work as a team on a genome and marketing project.
"We didn't know what to expect when we got there," Abell said. "We knew it would be difficult, but our state didn't provide test or team activity, so not knowing that was difficult."
Judges then tallied their individual scores to create a composite team score. In the livestock division the four beat out 45 other states in the competition.
"I couldn't be prouder," Kemp said. "They were able to focus and hold each other and themselves accountable and made an effort to really learn their craft. This opens their doors career-wise as professionals and they got a lot of recognition for their work."
Bailey Kemp, Montgomery and Hoffman are now freshmen at different colleges in the Midwest. Bailey Kemp is studying animal science at the University of Missouri, Montgomery is studying agriculture at Lincoln Land Community College in Illinois and Hoffman is studying agriculture at College of the Ozarks.
Abell is the owner of Show Stock Outfitters, which he started in 2013 and has used the insight he learned during the competition as a business owner, he said.
"I encourage students who aren't trying something new to give it a shot," Abell said. "We never thought we'd get fifth place at nationals. You never know unless you try."