HOWARD — Six members of the East Knox FFA recently competed in the State FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event on March 22 at The Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.
The team consisting of senior Ariana Talbott, juniors Joey Lively and Ariel Atkinson, sophomore Rylan Winkler, and freshmen Nealie Oliver and Madisyn Frost placed eighth in the state event held in the Rhodes Center on the Ohio Exposition grounds.
In the event competitors had to identify off-flavors and intensity of the flavor in 10 milk samples; recognize dairy and nondairy products and determine milk fat percentage or vegetable fat in the samples; identify cheeses from a list of 20 and complete a cheese matrix including moisture and fat content, origin, pasta filata, how it was ripened, and brine or surface salted; complete a California Mastitis Test on milk samples: and complete written tests including production, milk marketing, and problem-solving questions.
The Milk Quality & Products event is an educational activity designed as a practical method of teaching students to perform hands-on skills and to identify various dairy products and quality problems associated with milk.
The team will receive a plaque for placing in the top-ten in the state.
This is the 17th year that an East Knox FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event Team has placed in the top ten in the state.
Prior to this year, they won the event four out of the past eight years and finished second (twice), fourth, and eighth in the years they didn’t place first.