Northeastern Junior College Livestock Judging Team

NJC family, friends, and alumni lost a special man earlier this month, Allen Nelson.

Allen H. Nelson was born January 7th, 1943, to Harvey and Mary Jane (Gardner) Nelson in Holyoke, CO. He spent his youth and high school days in Crook, CO, graduating from Crook High School in 1961. Allen then attended Colorado State University receiving his Bachelors of Science in agriculture then his Master of Education. Later, Allen attended Washington State University, furthering his education.

In March of 1966 he married Betty Fowler of Sterling, CO. Together they had two children, daughter Debbie and son David.

Allen spent most of his life in education, with his first teaching position as vocational agriculture instructor at Oshkosh, NE High School. He also held the same position at Lamar, CO and then Fort Morgan, CO. In the fall of 1974, he joined the faculty of the Animal Science Department at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, CO where he remained until retiring in 2000. He also served as the coach of the livestock judging team during his 24 years at NJC. His teams won many contests throughout the nation during his tenure, including still holding the record of being the winningest livestock judging coach in NJC history.

Allen passed away October 3rd, 2024, at UC Health Center in Greeley, CO. He was preceded in death by his father Harvey Nelson, mother Mary Jane Nelson, brother Alton "Buzz" Nelson, and sister Joan Rhodes. He is survived by daughter Debbie (Jared) Norrell of Van, TX, son David (Jillian), grandchildren Sadie and Jacob Nelson of Falcon, CO, sisters Janet Nelson of Grand Junction, CO, Jean Davis of Phoenix, AZ, Jody (Dirk) Banning of Harrisburg, PA, brothers Arlen "Bim" (Jeri) Nelson of Bassett, NE, Alvin (Kathy) Nelson of Crofton, NE and many nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held at the Bank of Colorado Event Center at NJC on November 8th at 11:00 a.m. There will be a social gathering following the celebration of life at Mitcheck Event Center at Logan County Fairgrounds from 1:00-3:00 where lunch will be served. The family requests in lieu of plants and flowers, all donations be made to the Allen Nelson Memorial Scholarship Fund at Northeastern Junior College.

https://www.njc.edu/scholarships/alan-nelson-memorial-ag-scholarship

The fall has been off to a great start. Here are results from our last 3 contests!

National Barrow Show Austin, MN 9/15

8th High Team Overall
Brooklyn Plumb- 10th Placings

Casper Mock Casper, WY 9/21

Reserve Sophomore Team
Brooklyn Plumb- 3rd Overall, 3rd Reasons, 3rd Sheep, 5th Cattle, 5th Hogs
Bailey Fischer- 7th Overall, 5th Reasons, 3rd Hogs, 6th Sheep
Allison Morrison- 10th Overall, 4th Cattle, 10th Reasons
Kayleen Lindholm- 9th Cattle

Reserve Freshmen Team
Lilly Solemsaas- 3rd Overall, 2nd Reasons, 3rd Cattle, 3rd Sheep, 4th Hogs
Kaitllyn Hill- 4th Overall, 4th Reasons, 5th Sheep, 6th Cattle, 7th Hogs
Kara Nelson- 10th Overall, 5th Hogs

AKSARBEN Grand Island, NE 9/29

7th High Sophomore Team
4th High Sheep & Goats

Brooklyn Plumb- 8th Overall, 2nd Hogs, 7th Sheep & Goats
Kayleen Lindholm- 8th Cattle

RESERVE Freshmen Team Overall
High Team Sheep & Goats
4th High Cattle Team

Lilly Solemsaas- 2nd High Individual Overall, 2nd Reasons, High Individual Cattle, 4th Hogs
Kara Nelson- 9th High Individual Overall, 5th Sheep & Goats
Kason Bruns- 2nd Sheep & Goats
Bailey Churchwell- 7th Sheep & Goats

Go Plainsmen!!

Our show would not have been possible without our amazing sponsors. Thank you isn’t enough to express our gratitude!

Photos from the weekend are up!! Huge thank you to Payton Voloshin for capturing it all!

Plainsman Preview 2024 Photo collection by Bar Y J Photography

What a day!!! Ready to do it all over again tomorrow. Cowboy church is at 8:30 AM in the hog ring.

Our talented photographer for the weekend, Payton Voloshin!

Hello, I am Payton Voloshin, owner of Bar Y J Photography, I grew up in Craig Colorado, on my family’s ranch where we raise registered and commercial cattle and performance horses. I have also been heavily involved in the livestock industry, showing mainly angus cattle, I attended NJC and I just graduated from the University of Wyoming and I got my degree in Agriculture Communications.
I have shot as a livestock photographer at many shows and jackpots, including the National Western Stock Show, Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo, and the Cheyenne Livestock Exposition.
It brings me great joy to capture the beauty and essence of the livestock industry, and I can't wait to share your story through my lens.

FYI’s for the weekend! It’s going to be a great time & safe travels to Sterling!

Sorting sheep and goats on Day 1 is Logan Despain!

Logan is originally from Laramie, Wyoming where he and his family raise club lambs. Logan was an active 4H and FFA member showing all species of livestock and served as a Wyoming State FFA officer in 2016. Logan attended Casper College and the University of Wyoming earning his B.S in Animal Science while playing a vital role on the livestock judging team at both institutions. Following his collegiate career Logan served as an assistant coach at the University of Wyoming. Now Logan resides in Northwest Kansas with his family and is the head livestock judging coach at Colby Community College.

Entries are live if you’d like to register beforehand!! We will take entries day of as well.

Keep in mind, we will have a card reader there so you do not have to pay the credit card fee!

Showman | Online Livestock Show Management Showman is show management software made for livestock shows. Featuring a cloud based solution for online entries, payments and set of tools that help show day run smoothly.

Judging Day 2 of hogs is Seth Ebert!

Seth currently resides in Ashland, Ohio.

He earned his Associates degree from Casper College and a Bachelors degree from Colorado State University. He was on highly competitive livestock judging teams at both institutions.

Out of college, he managed A Cut Above Sires/Hirschfeld Livestock in Benedict, Nebraska. He moved home to Ohio in the fall of 2019 where he now raises state and national level Duroc hogs.

He is also the Livestock Judging Coach at Ohio State ATI in Wooster, Ohio.

Welcome Seth to Sterling next weekend!

Thanks to some incredible supporters of NJC Livestock Judging, we will have 141 banners and 24 buckles (NEW THIS YEAR) that will be given out next weekend.

Our banners were 100% donated by one of our Platinum Sponsors *Fransen Pittman Construction*

The buckles were a team effort of several contributors and we are extremely excited to have these additions for the 2024 show.

6 Champion Overall Market Animal buckles:
*Chamberlain Concrete- Platinum Sponsor*

18 Champion Showmanship buckles for Senior, Intermediate, and Junior divisions:
*Elite Ag- Platinum Sponsor*
*Flatland Showpigs-Silver Sponsor*
*Ally Genetics- Silver Sponsor*
*Mathewson Show Goats- Silver Sponsor*
*Jett Club Lambs- Silver Sponsor*
*Lindsey & Dr. Clay Carlson- Bronze Sponsor*

Sheep and Goat Judge Announcement: Tyler Pickinpaugh will be sorting on Day 2 of the show. Welcome Tyler back to Sterling!

Tyler and his family live in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was heavily involved in 4H & FFA showing and judging growing up. Tyler attended Casper College & The University of Nebraska & was a member of the judging team at both schools. Along with his Wife Wayde and Daughter Burns, they own and operate Pickinpaugh Livestock where they raise and market show lambs and consult with show families on their projects at the local, state and national level.

We are SO excited to announce our first judge, Trace Mulligan!! He will be sorting hogs on Saturday, June 8th at the Plainsmen Preview.

Trace is originally from Scott City, KS and is a graduate of Kansas State University where he studied Animal Sciences and Industry. At K-State, he was a member of the 2020 National Champion Livestock Judging Team and the High Team at the American Royal. Prior to attending KSU, Trace was a member of the livestock judging team at Hutchinson Community College where he was an All-American. He and his family own and operate Mulligan Show Pigs and raise purebred and crossbred show pigs. Trace currently resides in Wamego, Kansas and works for the Kansas Department of Agriculture as the Agribusiness Development Manager.

Here is the schedule for the Plainsmen Preview show June 8-9th. If you have joined us in the past, it will look the same. We have an excellent lineup of judges and some new awards to give out this year! Our online registration will be up soon.

Next to be recognized, Kellum Carnahan!

Kellum spent much of his childhood in Western Wyoming where his parents ran several hundred head of Angus cross cows. It was there that after hours pouring over AI sire and sale catalogs along with going to bull sales that he learned he had a pretty good eye for livestock. It wasn’t, however, until he moved to Northeastern Colorado in the 8th grade that he realized this could be useful off the ranch as well. It was then that he joined the Philips County Judging team. Over his high school career Kellum was fortunate enough to get to participate at all levels in judging, even traveling to Scotland after winning the National 4H contest in 2022.

For him there was no better place to continue his judging and academic career than NJC. He is an Animal Science and Ag Business major. Competing and traveling on the NJC Livestock Judging Team has been one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of his life.

He looks forward to Judging for Kansas State University as a part of the 2025 team. In life Kellum would like to thank his parents for showing him what it means to work hard and enjoy what you do. In judging, he would like to thank all of his coaches but especially McKenna (his sister), Brandy Morris, and of, course Lindsey Carlson.

Congratulations, Kellum!

Next sophomore is Paige Porter!

Paige Porter is graduating from NJC with an associates in Animal Science. She was born and raised in Bayfield, CO and started 4-H at 8 years old and continued until she was 18. She grew up showing goats, pigs, and lambs. She enjoyed her years with livestock, and knew she wanted to continue her passion.

She came up to NJC with no intentions of judging, until advising day when Lindsey happened to be her advisor and encouraged her to join the team. She was worried at first, but it became one of the best decisions she could have ever made. It completely changed her college journey for the best, and she got to travel our country and see elite livestock with her 7 teammates who are walking out as her best friends. NJC became her home for 2 years, and opened her eyes to the industrial side of the agricultural world she wasn’t able to be a part of growing up. These past 2 years have helped Paige learn about our wonderful industry and she can’t wait to continue to her journey in agriculture!

Congratulations, Paige!

We are so excited to host the 2024 Plainsmen Preview. Judge and sponsor information to follow soon!

The American Royal was top tier as always!

7th High Team Sheep & Goats

Kellum Carnahan- 8th HIGH INDIVIDUAL OVERALL, 8th High Reasons, 5th High Sheep & Goats, 14th High Hogs

Matthew Bruns- 14th High Sheep & Goats