Sleepy Eye FFA Dairy Team Takes First Place

20251023Dairy Team Pic — The Sleepy Eye FFA Dairy Team took 1st at their Region Contest. The team included: l to r – Isaac Christensen, Jared Portner, Dustin Portner, and Charlie Hoffmann

20251023Horse Team Pic (1) — The Horse Team took 2nd place at the Region Contest. Pictured l to r – McCoy Marti, Breanna Lopez, Leah Kucera, Kenedi Wersal, and Millie Lax

20251023Forestry Team Pic — The Forestry Team took 5th place at the Region Contest. Pictured l to r – Clark Lazatin, Jony Flores, Riley Eckstein-Sprenger, and Bella Eckstein

The Sleepy Eye FFA members competed in their first Region VI Contest on October 7 and 10, 2025. The Dairy Team placed 1st in their contest! The Horse Teams took 2nd and the Forestry Team received 5th place.

On October 7th, FFA members competed in two Career Development Events (CDE’S) at Sherburn in the Region VI Fall CDE competition.

The horse team took 2nd place in the competition. Team members included: Leah Kucera (2nd place ind.), Millie Lax (4th place ind.), Kenedi Wersal (6th place ind.), Breanna Lopez, and McCoy Marti.

For the Horse CDE, members judge halter classes, performance classes (western pleasure, hunt seat, english pleasure, western riding, western horsemanship, and trail), and also take a test on general horse knowledge.

For the Forestry Contest, members identify trees, wood, and tools used in the forestry industry; measure trees; take a forestry exam; solve business management problems; and use a compass and pacing to figure out the bearing and distance.

The forestry team placed 5th overall in the Region VI Contest. The team members included: Riley Eckstein-Sprenger (10th place Ind.), Bella Eckstein, Jony Flores, and Clark Lazatin.

For the Dairy Contest, Dustin Portner (5th place ind.), Jared Portner (7th place ind.), Charlie Hoffmann, Isaac Christensen evaluated several classes of Holstein and Jersey dairy cows and heifers on October 10th in Hutchinson and placed 1st out of 10 teams.

They also recited reasons to a judge on one class of cows.The other portion of the contest is a team activity with dairy trivia and management questions.

The Horse and Dairy teams also advanced to the State Competition which will be held in the Twin Cities in April.