Minnesota Ag Connection - Whitcomb Named Minnesota FFA Star Farmer

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Whitcomb Named Minnesota FFA Star Farmer
Minnesota Ag Connection - 05/02/2016

he Minnesota FFA Association named Madison Whitcomb the 2016 Minnesota FFA Star Farmer at the 87th Minnesota FFA Convention. Whitcomb is an Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City FFA member.

At a young age, Madison Whitcomb's father decided it would be in the farm's best interest to sell their goats and focus on a different livestock animal. Whitcomb immediately protested against her father's decision.

Since 6th grade, she has taken on the responsibility for the goat operation and growing its business as an FFA member.

Whitcomb is responsible for nutrition decisions, medical attention, facilities and daily care of the animals.

"The moment I met her, I knew she was going to be a hard work," Craig Dischinger said, who is a technology education teacher at Whitcomb's high school. "She continually proved that through the years of classes she took in my department."

When her goat barn burned down while she was at school one day, Whitcomb overcame huge difficulties to create significant learning opportunities. Out of the fire, she lost a lot of equipment and hundreds of square bales she has personally labored.

Later that same year, an unknown and rare parasite invaded the herd, which led to a loss of several animals. Whitcomb worked with her veterinarian to identify the parasite and has adapted to herd health challenges by preventing initial illness instead of responding to it.

In addition to bailing all of the hay for her animals on the farm, Whitcomb supplements the hay with bread no longer allowed to be used for human consumption. Because of this, she also saves money on feed.

Whitcomb also works with chickens, cattle and pigs.

A passionate, thoughtful, driven and entrepreneurial young woman, she desires to share what she has learned with others. Whitcomb has even developed a series of resources to help students get experience and study for competitions.

Whitcomb hopes to attend Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, to major in animation and game design. She plans on giving the business to her mother and exclusively selling show stock to 4-H and FFA students.

Each year, 16 state finalists -- four in each category -- vie for the association's top awards: Star Farmer, Star in Agribusiness, Star in Production Placement and Star in Agriscience. These awards honor students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills through their supervised agricultural experience (SAE) and earned the state degree.

The Minnesota FFA Degree recognition programs are sponsored by AgStar Financial Services as a special project of the Minnesota FFA Foundation.

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