HAYFIELD, Minn. — Coming on the heels of prom and running on about four hours of sleep, Jax Bauer thought the announcer said the state FFA Star in Production Placement was from Hawley.
He didn't realize it was him until the FFA officer behind him pushed him forward to receive his plaque.
Bauer, a senior at Hayfield High School, was on stage with the three other state Star finalists: Kelly Schouviller, of Detroit Lakes; Henry Hacker, of Montevideo; and Keyen Gardner, of Springfield.
His adviser, Nathan Thompson, was tipped that Bauer was a state winner, but he kept it a secret from him. He did queue in a few others, though.
Bauer's parents, Tony and Paula, and his siblings, Bethany, Ella and Brooke, came to the April 27 award session, as did Thompson and Hayfield High School principal John Howe.
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"I'm pretty proud of this," Thompson said.
Bauer is the third state FFA star from the Hayfield chapter in its 64-year history and the second in the past six years. Jared Franke was the state Star Farmer in 2009, and Scott Moon was the state Star in Agribusiness in the late 1970s.
Bauer received his state FFA degree this year and applied to be a Star on Thompson's advice.
"My adviser told me I had a good shot at doing well at it, so we put the extra time in," Bauer said.
The state degree application requires an applicant to catalog hours worked and money invested in an FFA supervised agricultural experience. Leadership experience is also detailed.
The Star application is more detailed and requires additional information on skills learned while working on the supervised agricultural experience. An applicant must have 50 hours of community service over and above FFA activities. In total, the application was 20 to 25 pages and included six pages of photos with captions.
Bauer has been a chapter officer and competed on the chapter's Dairy Evaluation Career Development Event team for four years. He took second in Region 8 in Creed Speaking and competed at the state level. He also competed in nationals in the Best Informed Greenhand Career Development Event. He took third in the region in the Farm Bureau Discussion Meet.
He has also attended many FFA conferences and has participated in county and state fair livestock shows.
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His supervised agricultural experience has been working on Terra-McCree dairy farm near Byron. He's been there for about two years.
"I've always been very interested in the aspect of dairy farming, so I wanted to gain knowledge and skills I could hopefully take with me," Bauer said.
He would someday like to have his own dairy herd of Holsteins and Brown Swiss.
At Terra-McCree, a registered Holstein dairy, Bauer began milking cows. Now, in addition to milking, he treats mastitis, tests feed and diagnoses and treats hoof diseases. He helps with overall heifer care and also helps in the field.
He submitted his Star application in late January. After winning the region Star, he was visited by a team of three from the state.
The three people visited Terra-McCree on March 23. Bauer gave them a tour and explained his jobs and the skills he's learned. He also showed them how to diagnosis and treat hairy heel warts. In just more than an hour, the committee was gone.
The FFA Star awards honor students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills through their SAE.
Next year, Bauer will attend the University of Minnesota.
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