(By Atlantic FFA reporter Aspen Niklasen) – Atlantic FFA member Taylor McCreedy was selected as a 2021 Stars Over Iowa Finalist as part of the 93rd Iowa FFA State Leadership Conference at Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, April 18- 20, 2021. 6 finalists were selected in the Agricultural Placement award area. The finalists were selected from a pool of 621 FFA members that will earn the Iowa FFA Degree—the highest honor the Iowa FFA Association can bestow upon an FFA member. “It was incredible to be a finalist and was an absolute honor to be on stage representing my chapter. It was definitely an amazing experience and an honor I was blessed to receive.” McCreedy said.

The star awards recognize students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their career development programs and demonstrated outstanding management skills. Taylor has been fortunate to be able to work with different species of livestock on a variety of levels. McCreedy said, “The skills I have developed are different for each species, and I have learned a lot from the diverse experiences. I have researched and developed feed regimes for the horses based on purpose and level of activity. This has improved their body condition, muscle, and overall health. For the dairy goats, I studied the physical structure and analyzed strengths and weaknesses of our does, including milk production, and located bucks for breeding that would correct the deficiencies.” Over the last two years, Taylor has been able to eliminate a shoulder issue that some of the goats had, and have become very competitive showing them. As a result of this success, Taylor has had many inquiries about selling future offspring.

Taylor McCreedy

Star Award group photo

“This has been a huge accomplishment for me because it involved learning a great deal about how dairy goats are judged and scored.” McCreedy said. In addition, Taylor learned to analyzed a lot of different bucks to find the perfect match for each doe. “Working with our meat goats has been similar to the dairy goats in my efforts to produce higher quality and faster growing market animals. I developed feed schedules and mixture to maximize rate of gain and successfully sold market animals that have become champions.” McCreedy has also learned a lot about the cow/calf operation and has become quite skilled at pulling calves.’It takes different skills to be successful with each species’, McCreedy said.

Stars Over Iowa finalists receive a plaque and a cash award. The Stars Over Iowa program is possible with support from Beck’s Hybrids through the Iowa FFA Foundation. Listed below are the Stars Over Iowa Finalists. Star Finalists in Agricultural Placement: Taylor McCreedy, Atlantic FFA, Atlantic Hunter Thompson, Edgewood-Colesburg FFA, Edgewood Kesley Holdgrafer, Northeast FFA, Goose Lake Kolton Eisma, West Sioux FFA, Hawarden Talin Knobloch, West Lyon FFA, Inwood Michael DeJong, Montezuma FFA, Montezuma.

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In a first for Atlantic FFA Taylor McCreedy won the 2021 Diversified Livestock Production. Taylor started DSB Ranch where she trains and boards 3 horses, raises high quality beef cattle and raises dairy goats. In the midst of COVID, Taylor came up with the idea to make and sell goat milk soap to overcome profit deficits. Taylor hopes to continue and improve genetics within her operation and build her brand with all of her animals on the farm.

Taylor plans to focus on working with her horses to better improve their performance, and has advanced to working with young horses to learn to break and train them from the ground up. McCreedy said, “I prioritize the importance of nutrition, different dietary needs for different stages of training, supplements, and general health as the horses age.” Taylor plans to continue to work with a training barn to further develop her skills, while helping riders by assisting with a youth camp over the summer. Taylor plans on continuing to develop her business, “This year I have expanded to include boarding, and I am responsible for the daily care of all the animals in my barn. I have really enjoyed the opportunity to work with young people, to work with younger horses, to provide board and care for horses, and to continue learning by riding other horses”. McCreedy said.

100% of FFA members have proficiencies as part of the agricultural program and the FFA. These proficiencies range in the areas of Agricultural Communications to Home and/or Community Development and from Diversified Agricultural Production to Swine Production. Proficiency Award winners have excelled in their Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) Programs. These awards encourage members to develop specialized skills that will apply toward a future career. State winners will advance to the National FFA competition where they will compete against winners from the other State FFA Associations. The Iowa FFA Proficiency Awards program is possible with support from the many partners of the Iowa FFA Foundation. The specific partner for each area is identified in our summary of results.