FFA students compete

By Sam Waller

The Albany FFA chapter competed in the Big Country District and Area 4 contests Wednesday, April 13, at Tarleton State University in Stephenville.

Local students prepared for the event by competing in several practice meets over the last three weeks, attending contests at Weatherford, Sweetwater and San Angelo.

“We’ve been going to several different contests letting the kids practice,” Albany FFA advisor Chris Beard said. “I’ve had several in and out trying to learn the different livestock. We’ve had several kids swapping around on teams trying to figure out what their niche is, now we’ve got them all lined up.”

The wildlife team competed in the Region 5 contest Monday, April 4, at Greystone Castle at Mingus.

“We ended up getting second, but we haven’t gotten our banners,” Beard said.

After the Big Country District and Area 4 contest, students competed at the Area 4 wool contest on Thursday, April 14 (today), at Ballinger.

Results will be reported next week.

Beard said the earlier contests helped prepare Albany students for this week’s events.

“These contests have really helped the kids by seeing different animals, different horses and all the different livestock aspects,” he said. “It just prepared them a little bit better.”

Two events are on tap for Tuesday, April 19. The Big Country District Degree Check will take place at Cisco, while plant identification and cotton teams compete at Texas Tech. Beard said there is a possibility of more teams participating at the Lubbock event.

On Thursday, April 28, the environmental natural resources team, and possibly other teams, will compete at the state CDE at Tarleton State.

The FFA chapter will wrap up its activities for the school year Wednesday, May 18 at the Area 4 convention at Wichita Falls.