Two events held on the Iowa State campus this weekend brought 65 participants to Ames from across the Midwest

Iowa State’s Block and Bridle Club hosted the North Central Regional Conference and Junior Livestock Evaluation Clinic.

The regional conference involved 25 participants from five universities: Southwest Missouri State, Fort Hays State in Kansas, University of Nebraska, North Dakota State and ISU.

Block and Bridle also sponsored the 14th annual Junior Livestock Evaluation Clinic (JLEC) on Saturday with 40 Iowa high school students attending. Participants judged market and breeding classes of swine, beef and sheep.

Regional conference

Heather Schreiber, a junior in animal science and coordinator of the regional event, said the conference went very well.

Friday night participants went to a farm for a barn dance. Saturday they toured the veterinarian medicine complex, meat lab, beef teaching farm and campus.

“They loved our campus and thought it was a beautiful school,” Schreiber said. “They especially liked Reiman Gardens.”

Workshops involving the future of the swine industry and beef ultrasound were held during the afternoon. Carol Balvance from the Iowa Beef Industry Council spoke at the banquet. A dance at Scheman followed.

Estee Walter, a junior in animal science, won the election for regional president. Craig Beinhart, a senior in animal science, retired as regional vice-president. Nebraska won the vote to host the 1997 regional conference.

Denice Schoelerman, a senior in animal science, said she had enjoyed planning the regional event for the last year. She said the participants enjoyed the conference and got an overall good impression of ISU.

Livestock judging clinic

Kevin Cook, a junior in animal science and chairman of the JLEC committee, said the event was a success.

“Block and Bridle feels it is a good educational program to benefit students,” Cook said. “Hopefully, it will give them a better understanding of livestock through the experience.”

Clinics were held to teach students about giving oral reasons, evaluating live animals, using performance records and judging meats. Cook said it is an opportunity to answer students’ questions and give them pointers for judging. He said teams may use the clinic to prepare for the Kansas City Royal Contest.