Representing their local FFA chapter, Maleah Demmer (10), Sydney Demmer (12), and Keara Emerson (12) visited the Iowa Dairy Center in Calmar, Iowa, for the milk quality testing competition on Sept. 15. Over one hundred teams were invited from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

“We placed ninth,” Maleah said. “There were more than 30 teams in our competition so placing that high was way better than we expected.”

The team competed in four of the six activities, including milk defects, cheese tasting, and several tests pertaining to milk quality. In those events, the participants are presented with samples of milk, each with a “defect”, a different kind of cheese, and a series of tests that quiz the participants on milk production and marketing general knowledge.

“I liked trying all the cheese samples,” Maleah said. “I didn’t like the milk defects part because some of them tasted really bad.”

Maleah’s experience was fun and she’d like to go again but would prepare differently.

“You need to practice a lot before you go,” Maleah said. “I would try to know more about the different defects in the milk and study the equations on the test more before I go. But overall, I learned a lot and it was a fun time.”