After one Wessington Springs High School (WSHS)FFAteamqualified for the National Land and Range Judging Contest at Rangeland Days, the South Central Land and Range Judging Contest held this fall served as the springboard for two more teams to punch their tickets to Oklahoma.
“It’s unbelievable. Craig Shryock brought a team to Oklahoma every year for 20 years, so it’s a tradition to some degree. These 12 kids know Wessington Springs has been known for excellence in this for a very long time,” said Wessington Springs FFA Chapter Advisor Brady Duxbury. “The other thing is they understand the work involved. They are willing to put in the extra time and know that this applies to the real world in so many ways.”
Duxbury points to the plant identification and soil health knowledge students learn in land and range judging as an example.
“Lots of our students are already involved in farming or ranching and many will continue that into the future. Plant knowledge and soil health helps make their pastures produce more and handle more cattle. All of this relates directly to how we make our grass, our pastures, our ranches better,” he explained.
Duxbury said that he begins working with students at the beginning of the school year for this contest in particular. He shared that with freshman students, he takes them through the ins and outs of what they need to do for the contest: texturing soils, determining slope, finding restrictive layers, determining the difference between top soil and sub soil, evaluating stones. He explained that students must then tie all of those components into a conversation about what is the best use for the land they are evaluating.
“On the range side, during their sophomore year, I focus on plant identification. You have to know your plants to do any type of range management. You figure out which are meant to grow in this environment and which invasive species have taken over,” Duxbury said. “Then during their junior year, we figure out how to evaluate and manage a site to get a more desirable result.”
With more practice and studying ahead of the teams leading up to the national contest, Duxbury said that the unique aspect of these three teams is the wide variety of students heading to Oklahoma.
“We have everything from freshman to seniors but they have a lot in common when it comes to the work they do for these contests, they truly care. And it’s more in depth than just the contest — they are having real conversations about soils, getting to a level that will impact them in the real world the rest of their lives,” Duxbury said. “I’m proud of the knowledge they’ve built and that they cared enough to better themselves. As for the trip, we will enjoy it and I know the kids will do the very best they can.”