The Top Hand Stockmanship and Stewardship Regional contest, held on April 15 at the Carroll County Agricultural Education Center, is a cattle handling contest designed to educate and equip Georgia’s youth with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to be successful advocates and/or employees for the beef industry. Georgia students in 8th-12th grade compete as a team consisting of three members. The Carroll County Cattlemen’s Association and UGA Extension Carroll County teamed up with the UGA Beef Team and Georgia Cattlemen’s Association to conduct one of three regional contests held in the state. The top three placing teams get a chance to compete for the state title on May 3 in Forsyth, Georgia. The contest was held at the Carroll County Agricultural Education Center for the first time due to the purchase of cattle handling equipment which was funded by the Carroll County Commissioners to support youth and adult programming such as the Top Hand contest, 4-H Livestock Camp, cattle shows, and cattle educational demonstrations.
The winners at the Regional contest in Carroll County were the following:
1st – The Young Guns (Tyler Brown, Jake Vance, Wyatt Harmon) Coached by Eric Brown and Jeffrey Vance
2nd – Central FFA (Clayton Daniel, Levi Layton, Asher Ayers) Coached by Ryan Ayers
3rd – Haralson County FFA (Levi Webb, Luke Webb, Joseph Williams) Coached by Nikhol Dysart
4th – Coweta Cattle Crew (Julianna Breeding, Maddie Belle Massengale, Avery Pruitt) Coached by Lowell Kissinger
5th – Coweta Cattle Chicks (Reese Dodson, Palyn Dodson, Mary Anne Burnette) Coached by Lowell Kissinger
Special thanks to the judges David Huddleston and Liam Tewksbury, and to Eric Brown and Jeffrey Vance for providing the cattle. For more information about cattle or general agricultural programs, contact UGA Extension Carroll County at 770-836-8456 or join the Carroll County Cattlemen’s Association every third Thursday of the month at 6:30 pm at the Carroll County Ag Center.
