Maryland State Fair - Casey Prather/ The Towerlight

Embedded deep inside the Maryland State Fairgrounds is an enormous barn known as the Cow Palace.

This sanctuary of straw and cement houses hundreds of cows, which once a year are joined by an equally large number of student farmers and dairy science majors. Unlike the lazy cattle, these students are anxious. Most of them stare at the wall with their hands behind their backs, focusing on the phenomena they had just observed.

Several others pace up and down the barn with small notebooks while muttering to themselves and waiting to be called into the judges’ circle.

The young men and women, whose ages range from eight to 18, are competing in the State Dairy Cattle Judging Competition. The competition took place Friday, Sept. 3 amidst the rides, concerts and games of the yearly Maryland State Fair.

“What happens here is four cows of the same breed are brought to the middle of the barn. We only get 15 minutes to observe and analyze the cows. Everyone ranks them one through four based on different criteria that we’ve been taught” Rebecca Winegardner, a freshman agriculture science major at West Virginia University, said.

Volunteers for showcasing the cattle at the event wear a badge that displays a number from one to four and lead the cows into the arena.

While the leaders make the cows walk around the perimeter several times, students from different schools take notes and make judgments based on different physical traits of the cows, including utters, feet, legs, dairy character and frame.

This year, Winegardner is not competing in the contest, but is handing out awards to the eight finalists.

Out of the eight finalists, four will be chosen to participate in the National Dairy Cattle Judging Competition in Madison, Wis. in October.

“This competition teaches you time management. They only have two hours to memorize their reasons and then must go up to the judge and describe their rankings confidently,” Katie Albaugm, one of the eight judges, said. “They’re going to have to explain to us why they placed this cow over this cow in a stylized speech, so they’re learning decision making, communication skills, dealing with pressure and taking constructive criticism.”

Being able to spot the best cattle is a valuable skill because it allows farmers to choose to herd only the cows that will make the most milk and live the longest time. Breeding the best cattle will improve genetics over time, which will create healthier and a larger supply of dairy products.

The groups of younger students, generally in elementary and middle schools, are in the 4-H program, an organization that promotes hands on learning in animal sciences and agriculture technology. 4-H also hosts a variety of other competitions, from horticulture to milking to flower arranging.

Their participation in the dairy judging competition is a necessary practice for them because the opportunity to get a college degree is critical in modern farming management.

“These are the young people who are going to become the farmers that produce the food that feeds the world, or if they don’t become farmers they become veterinarians, business consultants or lawyers for the dairy industry,” Katharine Knowlton, a professor of dairy science at Virginia Tech University, said.

Knowlton’s eight students are the current reigning national champions of the competition. Before the competition begins, the judges unanimously pick the rankings of the four cows. In all, there are 10 different classes of cattle that contestants have to analyze.

Most of the contestants are from out of state, including Ohio, Michigan, Florida, Virginia and West Virginia. The cattle chosen for the event were raised in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The national dairy-judging competition started in 1919, and since then participants from Maryland have won the championship 29 times.

The next most-winning state is Wisconsin, which has won the competition eight times. This event also promotes the steps that farmers have taken to improve cattle living conditions.

Cows are in pain if they’re not milked, so these students are committed to giving attention to every last cow and calf.