HOUSTON — The Texas A&M University Wool Judging Team, from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, brought home both first and second place awards from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Intercollegiate Wool Judging Contest on March 15, 2011, closing out the spring judging competition season.

Angelo State University Blue, Kansas State University and Angelo State University Gold finished third, fourth and fifth.

Aggie team members secured six out of the top ten high individual awards led by Katie Moore from Richmond winning high individual. This was followed by Konni Kelso from Seguin; Dillon Garr from Fayetteville, Ark.; Jacob Brown from Bryan; Lea Luensmann from Zuehl; and Brent Hale from Dayton finishing second, third, fourth, seventh and tenth high overall individually. Also representing Texas A&M were Brittni Littlejohn from Longview; William Whitworth from Junction; Meredith Earwood from Sonora; Chloe Geye from Rising Star; Lexus Weinheimer from Stonewall; Whitley James from George West; and Misty Jackson from Sumner.

Dr. Shawn Ramsey is the faculty coach/coordinator and Kim Hardan is the coach. Assistant coaches are Claire Luensmann, Kenton Kirkpatrick and Carl Muntean.

The Intercollegiate Wool Judging Contest involves placing breed and commercial fleeces and classifying 15 fleeces of wool into various grades and spinning counts. Special attention is paid to the wool’s staple length and yield, and the highest yielding fleeces are ranked first, followed in order by those with a lesser yield. Additionally, contestants determine the correct grades for a class of 20 mohair samples. The contest awards prizes in both individual and team categories.

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For more information regarding news from the Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, please contact Courtney Coufal at cacoufal@tamu.edu or (979) 845-1542.