Toombs County Participates in 4-H Area Poultry Judging Contest

Sixteen Toombs County 4-H members participated in the 2021 Area Poultry Judging contest held on Monday, April 19, 2021, at the Toombs County Agriculture Center in Lyons. Teams from across South Georgia attended the event. Toombs County was represented by a Junior and a Senior team. A total of 10 teams participated in the event. Team members prepared for the event by attending classes and workshops on interior egg quality, exterior egg quality, broken-out egg quality, meat quality, poultry meat cuts identification, and a new portion of the contest, breaded processed poultry.

At the competition, all contestants judged two classes of live birds for egg production and gave oral reasons for their selections in one class. In addition, they judged carcasses for meat quality, candled eggs to determine freshness and grade, judged eggs for exterior and broken-out quality, and lastly judged breaded poultry for quality.

In the Junior division, the Toombs County team placed 6th overall. Team members included Haylee Doyle, Dearika Jackson, Carolina Medel, and Rose Quintero. In the Senior division, Brantley-Grace Smith received 4th place high individual and the Toombs County team placed 3rd overall. Team members were Amari Atkins, Brittney Bryant, RJ Florez, Tami Gonzales, Autumn Harris, Grace Holt, Bailey Hutchins, Landon McDonald, Hailey Morgan, Brantley-Grace Smith, Keishay Smith, and Adelyn Williams. The teams were coached by Toombs County 4-H Educator Riley Wimberly and Toombs County 4-H Agent Cheryl Poppell. The contest was coordinated in collaboration with the Georgia 4-H State Office, the University of Georgia Poultry Science Department and the Toombs County Extension Office. For more information on 4-H projects and educational judging events, contact the Toombs County 4-H office at 526-3101, or visit the Georgia 4-H website at www.georgia4h.org.