Poultry team places 5th at national collegiate contest

On Nov. 3, the University of North Georgia (UNG) poultry team added another trophy to its collection. The team placed fifth out of 12 teams in the 55th National Collegiate Poultry Judging Contest in Arkansas.

The team competed against Texas A&M University, North Carolina State University, Auburn University, the Ohio State University, Kansas State University, Mississippi State University, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Wisconsin, the Pennsylvania State University, University of Arkansas, and Louisiana State University.

"What makes this extremely amazing is our team is one of the smallest universities to compete and has no on-campus live animal facilities. Half of the contest is judging live animals and we have found innovative ways to practice this skill without the use of animals," Dr. Linda Purvis, assistant professor of biology and poultry science, said. "Two of our students had never held a live chicken before the contest."

In the competition, team members must show their knowledge in egg grading and carcasses evaluations, and live bird evaluations of chickens and turkeys. Half of the contest is analyzing live birds and judging them based on breeding characteristics. The team also judged the eggs and carcasses of chickens and turkeys. During the egg examination, team members scrutinized the egg's interior and exterior shell and yolk. For the carcasses, students inspected the chickens and turkeys based on USDA Guidelines.

"I am so proud of our students," Purvis said. "We held our own against larger schools with bachelor's degrees in poultry."

UNG offers an associate degree with an agriculture-poultry science pathway or an agriculture-avian biology pathway.

The poultry team will compete in April 2022 at Louisiana State University.

If interested in joining the poultry judging team, email linda.purvis@ung.edu.