University of Wisconsin - River Falls
Department of Animal & Food Science
River Falls, WI 54022
The University of Wisconsin - River Falls Block & Bridle Club
began the 2003-2004 school year by sponsoring a booth at the annual
Freshman/Transfer Student Night. Students were then invited to attend our
meetings and our fall picnic.
The fall semester then continued with our members participating in the judging
contest and knowledge bowl at the Minnesota Beef Expo. We also held our annual
showmanship contest, The Royal, in October. Members had a chance to show sheep,
beef, hogs, horses, and dairy cattle in either the novice or experienced
categories. Our major fundraiser for the fall is always our Date Auction. Each
club in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences is invited
to nominate two of their club members for the auction. We have a great time
together and the activity raises quite a bit of money for our club. To end the
semester we sponsored a Christmas Party/Dance to raise money for Toys for Tots.
The spring semester began with an exciting trip to the Block & Bridle Convention
in San Antonio, Texas. The bus trip, which we shared with the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, was long yet
fun-filled. In the month of March, we held our annual Ag Olympics competition.
Teams of six individuals from
throughout the University compete in various events such as a bale toss, egg
toss, and milk chugging contests. The registration fee from each team is then
donated to the River Falls area Special Olympics. Club members also donate their
time to help set-up or run the International Polled Hereford Association Sale
and the St. Croix Valley Bull Sale.
The excitement of the spring semester is wrapped up in two weekends. At the end
of April we hosted our horse show. It took a lot of work, but was again a big
success this year. Then, the first weekend in May was our Prospect Show Weekend
where we hosted both a sheep show and a beef show.
We ended the year with a Spring Banquet, during which scholarships and awards
were handed out. The year was a great success, but we are looking forward to an
even more successful year next year. We hope our club can continue grow in
numbers and in activities in the year to come.
2003 - 2004 Officers
President - Aaron Schroht
Vice President - Jeff Tank
Secretary - Lindsay Starr
Treasurer - Jenny Bjelland
Historian - Jenny Kohlwey
Ag Advisory - Lisa Kossel
Advisor - Dr. Tom Goerke
