 In this video, we will be going over the basics of livestock judging. The specific topics covered will be the species being evaluated in each contest, what you should consider when evaluating a livestock animal, and what oral reasons are. There will be a series of videos following this overview to explain the different aspects of livestock judging in greater detail. So please be sure to review those videos before attending your livestock contest to help you prepare. When judging livestock, you only focus on four species. These are cattle, swine, sheep, and meat goats. All four of these species provide consumable products for human use. Being able to judge the value and quality of these animals is an important skill that many industry professionals utilize. Each species of livestock is evaluated based on different characteristics. Within each livestock species, the animal's intended purpose can be different. What do we mean? Knowing an animal's intended purpose will make you see and judge that class in a different way. For example, a class of ewes might be raised for wool, meat, or as a breeding animal. In each of these cases, you would look at the ewes with new perspective. Here, you see four ewes in a class at a livestock judging contest. In livestock judging, all classes contain four animals of the same species and type. For example, an Angus bull class will only contain bulls of the Angus breed, not steers or heifers. Your job as a competitor is to evaluate the animals in each class and place them in an order of highest value to lowest value. At a livestock judging contest, you will mentally select and separate the highest value animal from the lower value animals. You will explain to an oral reasons judge why you choose to rank certain animals higher than others. The reasons you provide will be based on the information you learned about different species and types prior to the contest. When oral reasons are given, a class of four animals is ranked in descending order. This means that you will discuss the highest ranked animal first when you give your oral reasons to the judge. Then you move on to discussing the second best, the third best, and finally the animal in last place. To get ready for this part of the contest, you should bring a pencil and notebook so that you may write down notes about the class. When the time comes, you will study and memorize the notes that you took earlier in the contest for the oral reasons class and present that to the judge. This contest will help you organize your thoughts, make decisions, learn to speak with confidence, and to stand behind the decisions that you make. These are all qualities that an employer looks for in young adults. Employers find great value in a young adult or new hire if they can capably speak to clients or speak in front of an audience. Thank you for watching. Be sure to check out our other livestock judging videos as well as the Alabama Cooperative Extension YouTube channel.