Members of the Udderly Crazy 4-H Club, all from East Montpelier, took part in the 2023 Northeast Region 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl, February 25 in Orleans. They were Carson Ayer (kneeling), Sophie Purchase (behind Carson). Middle row (left to right): Ella Purchase, Scarlett Perry and Jasper Paquet. Back row: Patrick Paquet, Madalyn Perry, Emmeline Paquet, Katelyn Sibley and Carys Wood, who is holding hands with Ella Paquet, a soon-to-be 4-H’er. (photo credit: Hilary Paquet)
Saturday, February 25, was a day of fun and friendly competition for members of Northeast Kingdom 4-H clubs, including 10 4-H’ers from the Udderly Crazy 4-H Club, all residents of East Montpelier.
The occasion was the 2023 Northeast Region 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl, the venue the Orleans Elementary School in Orleans. Thirty-two 4-H’ers participated in this event.
The competition gave the 4-H’ers an opportunity to showcase their dairy knowledge through participation in a written test and fast-paced buzzer rounds. They scored points for knowing the answers to questions about the dairy industry from ruminant nutrition, milk production and anatomy to calf health and marketing of dairy products, among other topics.
In the senior division (ages 14-18) Madalyn Perry captured third place. Emmeline Paquet was the sixth place finisher out of 10 contestants in the 12- and 13-year-olds division.
Competing in the 10- and 11-year-olds division were Carys Wood, who came in first, and Katelyn Sibley, third. Patrick Paquet placed second and Ella Purchase, third, in the 8- and 9-years-olds division.
Four East Montpelier kids were among the eight 4-H Cloverbuds, ages 5-7, who took part in buzzer rounds, answering age-appropriate questions just for fun as points were not tallied. Instead of the written test, this age group worked on a dairy activity booklet that included a word search, maze and a dairy breed and terminology match game.
Receiving rainbow participation ribbons were Carson Ayer, Jasper Paquet, Scarlett Perry and Sophie Purchase.
Quiz bowl was coordinated by University of Vermont Extension 4-H educators Lindy Birch and Holly Ferris with milk provided by Orleans County Dairy Promotion. Adult volunteers from East Montpelier were Hilary Paquet, Melissa Purchase and Jodi Sibley, who scored the written tests.
For information on the Udderly Crazy 4-H Club or the Vermont 4-H dairy program in the Northeast region, contact Lindy Birch at melinda.birch@uvm.edu.