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The North Fraser 4-H District Judging Rally 2023 was a huge success!

On May 27th, the judging rally was held at two different farm locations: the Hut Farm in Pitt Meadows and Brookfield Dairy Farm in Maple Ridge. This was the first time our district judging event had been held in this fashion at two different locations, and it went really well. Previously, all the members, judges and projects were brought to a fair location for this event, however, bringing the members to the projects rather than the project to the members kept things nice and much simpler with transportation.

Pitt River Rabbit Club members and Brookfield Dairy Club members started at 9:30 am at Brookfield Dairy Farm judging dairy, market lamb and market rabbit classes and Pitt River Lamb, Beef and Swine Club members started at the Hut Farm, also at 9:30 am, where they judged steers, swine and first aid kits. The judges each gave their preambles before members split up to judge the classes. Each member had to judge their own project and one other class at each farm, and senior members completed orals in the first aid kits class. Once members had finished both classes at around 10:15 am, they drove over to the second farm location, just five minutes away. Everybody had a snack before hearing the preambles and starting their second round of judging. The weather was wonderful, the sun was shining and there were high spirits. Even though this was many of the member’s first times judging, first time judging these particular classes or first time doing orals, there was a welcoming, enthusiastic and supportive environment, and everyone did an amazing job.

This was a great event to connect together our different clubs and for members to gain experience judging different classes and writing persuasively and comparatively. Being able to think critically about the best option and judge different groups of items, whether it be choosing your 4-H project or something in the outside world is a really important skill. Thank you to the leaders and official judges who organized and made this event possible!