The Petaluma Future Farmers of America team continued its high level of performances, but this time on a global stage by winning the top two team and individual awards in dairy-cattle evaluation competition at the prestigious Royal Highland Show in Scotland this week.
"They did a remarkable job," said Dominic Grossi, the team's coach, who returned on Sunday to be with his family.
Petaluma's four team members - Mandy Brazil, Kelli Carstensen, Sam Cheda and Rocco Cunningham - were divided into two teams as they competed in a field against teams from the United States consisting of the other top FFA teams, the best 4-H teams and the top three junior college teams. Scotland and the United States are the countries that compete in the show each year.
The team of Brazil and Carstensen placed first, and Cunningham and Cheda finished second. In the individual competition, Cunningham finished first, Brazil second and Carstensen third.
Cunningham was a senior at Petaluma High School this year, and will be attending Cornell University this fall. The other three students now attend Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, after graduating from Petaluma High School in 2009.
Since Scottish teams test on beef and sheep, as well as cattle, and take a written test on Scotland agricultural laws, they do not compete directly against U.S. teams in cattle evaluation.
The Petaluma foursome qualified for the Royal Highland Show by finishing second in dairy-cattle evaluation teams in the FFA national competition in Indianapolis, Ind., in October. They traveled to Scotland with their coach, family members and friends.
The four students comprise the first Petaluma FFA team to compete internationally, although five Petaluma teams have participated in national events.
"It was an amazing experience. It was on 110 acres of land, with huge crowds," Grossi said.
A record 187,644 people attended the show, which began on June 24 and ended on Sunday, when the Petaluma team drove through the Scottish countryside to England.
"The green hills filled with cattle and sheep that we traveled through reminded us all of the green rolling hills of Petaluma," Brazil wrote in an e-mail to the Argus-Courier.
"We arrived in England during the late afternoon," she continued. "Our first stop was a small countryside town to take a tour of a Holstein dairy. The dairy operation had a similar set-up to the smaller, family-owned dairies that we see around Northern California."
The group reached London the next day, and visited many of its historic sites. They also plan to visit France and Germany before returning to Petaluma.
(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)
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