History

The National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest is the oldest of the three National 4-H Livestock Contests tracing its roots back to the Chicago International Livestock Exposition in the early 1900's.  The Contest was not held from 1942-1945 due to World War II and stayed in Chicago until 1974 when it moved to the newly formed North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) where it is still held today.  The National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest was the first of the three National Livestock Judging Contests (Senior College, Junior College and 4-H) to make the move to Louisville.

The National 4-H Livestock Skillathon Contest was started in the late 1990's and has been held at the NAILE from the beginning.  It comprises of everything in the livestock industry from breeding to retail meat cuts and everything in between.  

The National 4-H Livestock Quiz Bowl Contest was started in Omaha, NE in the early 2000's at the Ak-Sar-Ben 4-H Stock Show and moved to the NAILE in 2019 bringing all three National 4-H Livestock Contests together for the first time.  

All National 4-H Competitive Events are governed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National 4-H Headquarters.  All three contests are required to apply annually to hold the contests and agree to uphold the National 4-H Competitive Events Guidelines.