Butler Livestock Judging Team Wins 2024-2025 National Team of the Year

Butler Community College’s nationally-recognized Livestock Judging program won Team of the Year for the 2024-2025 season after being named Reserve Champions at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo earlier this year. Additionally, four members of the team were named All-Americans.

This is the sixth time the Butler judging team has been named national Team of the Year, and the first time since 2020-2021.

In order to win the top honor, the team needed to post the lowest cumulative rank across five national competitions, and Butler coach Taylor Frank said it came down to the final contest. “Heading into Houston, we were ranked third. We needed a strong performance and a bit of luck, too,” he said. “But this team never wavered. They stayed focused, driven and united—rooted in optimism, relentless work ethic and a team-first mindset.”

Associate Dean of Career and Technical Education Derek Foust, a former Butler agriculture instructor, spoke about the significance of the victory. “I know the students personally and they are extremely deserving,” said Foust. “Butler has a reputation of being highly competitive in livestock judging, and this [win] helps us recruit the most talented judgers across the country.”

Livestock judging competitions have two primary scoring components. The first is placings, where students evaluate several animals and place them according to select characteristics. The closer their placing aligns with how the official judges scored the animals, the better the score. The second component is called reasons. After placing the animals, students explain to the judges why they placed the animals in the order they did.

In addition to being named Reserve Champion at the Houston competition, the team earned 2nd overall in Placings, 2nd in Reasons, 5th in Cattle, and 1st in Sheep & Goats.

Members of the team are listed below by hometown, along with end-of-year awards and individual results from Houston.

Chanute

Brady Hurt (Alternate Division - High Individual Overall, 1st in Placings, 3rd in Reasons, 4th in Hogs, 1st in Sheep & Goats)

El Dorado

Cally Miller (Alternate Division - 11th Overall, 10th in Reasons, 8th in Cattle, 7th in Goats)  

Iola

Carly Dreher (Alternate Division - 7th in Reasons, 9th in Brahman Cattle)

Lake Benton, MN

Matt Weber (All-American)  

Laramie, WY

Riley Miller (All-American, 4th Overall, 3rd in Reasons, 6th in Cattle, 5th in Sheep & Goats)  

Maple Hill

Jalyn Davis (Alternate Division - 13th Overall, 3rd in Hogs)

Moore, OK

Brody Scroggins

Nevada, MO

Mason Forkner

Page, NE

Tucker Stagemeyer

Richwood, OH

Bailee Amstutz (All-American, 8th in Sheep & Goats)  

Stonington, IL

Cole Paulek (All-American)  

Vienna, GA

Maddie Dean (Alternate Division - 10th in Goats)