UW Livestock Judging Team Member Earns All

A University of Wyoming livestock judging team member earned an All-American Award.

Blake Ochsner, of Torrington, received the honor during the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky., last month.

Ochsner is among 11 students across the nation receiving the award, and UW is one of only five universities to have an All-American Award recipient, says Caleb Boardman, UW livestock judging coach.

Ochsner’s resume includes a meat judging All-American Award as a member of the UW reserve national champion team,  a Junior College All-American Livestock Judge award for Casper College in 2014, and a member of the 2015 UW meat animal evaluation team, where he was second-high individual overall at the national contest.

Boardman believes Ochsner is the first UW person to ever accomplish being a three-time All-American.

“The amount of work he has put in, both in academics and judging, is unprecedented,” Boardman says. “He is the type of student that makes being a coach so enjoyable.”

Ochsner was named an outstanding senior in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources by Gamma Sigma Delta and is a member of the Block and Bridle, Collegiate Cattleman’s and Food Science clubs. He conducted an undergraduate research project on the “Regional Economic Impacts of Brucellosis.”

Off campus, he is involved with the Wyoming and National Junior Hereford associations and the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.

Ochsner will graduate with an agricultural business degree this month and plans to return to the family-owned Hereford and Angus ranch, which was established in 1913, as a fifth-generation member.