The 40th Montana Range Days concluded in Harlowton this week. For the past four decades Montana Range Days has been providing youth and adults the platform to learn about the diversity of the rangelands that agriculturists and outdoor enthusiast's utilize everyday.
The three day event is centered around curriculum that provides attendees the opportunity to learn about plant taxonomy, plant anatomy, plant ID, soils, rangeland ecology, stock ratings and much more.
FFA, 4-H and other youth from across the state not only learned about the importance of the rangeland that surrounds them, they also were able to showcase through competition what they learned during the experiential hands on learning that is Range Days.
The Top Award for youth, ages 14-19, in the FFA/Open Youth division is the Top Range Hand award. With the highest score during this year's Range Days was Kyleigh Bonsell of the Carter County FFA.
The Top FFA Green Hand falls in the same division for freshman FFA members. The Top Green Hand winner was Melanie Power of the Wheatland FFA Chapter.
The Top 3 FFA Chapter Teams:
1st Wheatland FFA
2nd Missoula FFA
3rd Clarks Fork FFA
2016 Open Youth Division:
1st C&C
2nd Miles City
3rd Range Wizards
The Wrangler Division, for youth ages 12-13, was the next level of participation for the event. The winning teams were:
2016 Wrangler Division 12-13 years old
1st Team Jeaniouses
2nd Team King ropes
3rd Team Taco Truck
Next is the Super Starters ages 9-11 years old.
2016 Super Starters Teams 9-11 years old
1st Team Forb
2nd Team Shrub
3rd Team Grass
For adults participating in Montana Rages Days there is the Open Adult division. This years 1st Place Open Adult was Emily Standley.
Lastly, for the adults that are active in the ranching industry there is the Top Rancher Division. This years Top Rancher was Teven Chandler.
For more information on the Montana Range Days visit http://montanarangedays.org/.
© Northern Ag Network 2016
