Four members of the East Knox FFA recently competed in the State FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event on March 26 at the Ohio Exposition Center in Columbus.
The team, consisting of senior Andrew Poff, juniors Hailey Frazee and Dustin Springer and freshman Dylan Springer, placed second in the state event 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 a test including problem-solving questions. Individually, Dylan Springer placed sixth, Poff finished seventh, Frazee placed ninth, and Dustin Springer was 31st out of a field of competitors from around Ohio. The top four scores make up the team score.
East Knox FFA will now represent Ohio in the Eastern States Exposition (Big "E”) Milk Quality & Products Career Development Event in West Springfield, Mass., in September in conjunction with the Big “E” Fair.
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 banner for placing second in the state at the Ohio FFA Convention on May 5 at the Ohio Expo Center. Dylan Springer, Poff and Frazee each will receive a state plaque for their efforts of finishing in the top 10 individuals. This is the 14th year that an East Knox FFA Milk Quality & Products Career Development event team has placed in the top 10 in the state, and they have won the event three out of the past five years.
