Last year, I competed in the dairy foods contest at South Dakota State University. I reconnected with my high school FFA advisor and had him show me the ropes when it came to identifying impurities and milk and labeling cheeses correctly using taste and texture. It’s a difficult contest to perfect, and it takes a lot of heart to taste and spit out all the different kinds of milk and cheeses, some that taste good and others that taste bad. That’s why I give kudos to anybody that has ever participated in dairy foods competitions, and I found an article about a group of FFA members that did just that.

Three students from Oak Hill Junior High School have competed in an Olympic event of sorts for the dairy world. Evan Cannon, Megan Dragstrom and Erick Moon placed sixth in the state as a team in the FFA Junior Dairy Foods competition.In one part, six milk samples are scored on flavor, meaning taste, and odor. There is cheese identification, where eight cheese samples are identified from a list of 16. They also have a problem-solving part where they identify six samples, such as creams and dairy frozen desserts, and answer questions about them, among other things. If that weren’t enough, they answer 50 questions on various aspects related to milk.

To read the entire article printed by the Chronicle-Tribune, link to “Kids compete in dairy contest.”