Livestock Judging
2026 Contest Information
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
- Pre-registration must go through the county educator.
- Open to all Livestock 4-Her’s.
- Entry will be in Beginner, Junior or Senior levels or divisions.
- Each county can have a maximum of 8 contestants for each level; Beginner, Junior and Senior.
- Beginner division includes youth aged 8 -10 years as of Jan. 1
- Junior team members must be at least 9 and less than 14 years old as of Jan. 1 of the current year.
- Sr. members must be at least 14 years old as of Jan. 1 of the current year and not reached age 19 to or on Jan.1 of the current year.
Definition of a team is:
- The members of a particular "team" should all be from the same county 4-H membership.
A team may be formed if they do not have enough members for a full team with counties that they have a multi-county program agreement. - A team may combine contestants from counties in the same 4-H Educational District (reference pg. 6), the team must be pre-registered by Friday, August 21st.
- A county may register up to 2 teams, per level. Team 1 must have at least 3 members from the same county, extra members are then allowed to be utilized to form a second team with other county members within their 4-H Education district.
- If a second team isn’t formed the extra youth(s) from the county may pre-register or register the day of, as an individual contestant, these individuals will not be eligible for team awards.
- A maximum of 8 kids per county, per level is allowed per competition.
Onsite registration for teams will be allowed only if:
- They have 3 or 4 youth that are registered members of the same 4-H county, and they are registered by the assigned coach during registration.
- There is no combination of teams allowed at onsite registration, combined teams must be pre-registered and follow the rules above.
- In compliance with national contest rules, any college students enrolled in a post-secondary livestock course is not eligible for livestock contest.
- Registration for the contest will also be held at State Fair prior to the start of the contest.
- Pr-registration must go through the county educator.
- If entering more than 4 individuals, please use multiple forms.
Livestock Judging contests train youth to critically evaluate production animals based on breed standards and qualities for food production. Participants learn more about anatomy and physiology of beef cattle, sheep, swine and meat goats. Youth gain skills to distinguish which animals are more likely to become future breeding stock or quality meat products. They also learn confidence and public speaking skills while defending the reasoning for their placements to the judges. Youth can find local opportunities and judging clinics by contacting their country 4-H educators.
4-H Livestock Judging activities may be held at the local, regional or state level.
Contest Guidelines
Each county typically enters as many Senior and/or Junior individuals as they wish. A team consists of four members who judge up to 6 classes of animals from the following species: beef, swine, sheep and/or meat goats.
Contestants in the A Division will complete sets of oral reasons, one set for each species.
B Division contestants will participate in all activities that A contestants do with the exception of oral reasons.
Performance data will be used.
The New York State 4-H Livestock Judging Team was previously selected from the high scoring Senior Division A contestants who met age and 4-H membership qualifications. The Top Senior A Division county team in the state may be eligible for a national travel team in opportunity. This depends on funding available. Members of a team shall be from the same county unless there is a multi-county program agreement. If a county does not have enough team members to fill a team (4 members per team), counties may combine contestants to make a full team.
To be eligible for national travel, entries must be pre-approved by county 4-H educators and continue to meet 4-H age and membership qualifications.
For more information
Contact Brian Aukema at bja14 [at] cornell.edu (bja14[at]cornell[dot]edu).