The Pierce County 4-H dairy judging team represented the State of Wisconsin well at the 2026 World Dairy Expo in Madison, finishing second place overall and first place in reasons as a team.

The competitors are Braeden Bechel, Bryce Bechel, Ava Kolodzienski and Hannah Fesenmaier, and the coaches of the team are Bob Traynor, Peter Coyne and Jayne Esch. Braeden and Bryce are brothers, which Traynor said has made for some fun brotherly competition within the team.

“To win reasons and then to be second place overall, it’s a huge achievement. The ability to do public speaking and problem solving, it’s just so incredible for their development down the line,” Traynor said.

The team had some massive individual results as well. Braeden Bechel won the overall individual title, the reasons title, the placings title and the Guernseys title, finishing second in Brown Swiss, Holsteins and Ayrshires. He also finished seventh in Jerseys.

“He’s really into it. He’s a very intelligent young man. He works hard, he pushes himself probably even harder than we do. He just does a great job.” Traynor said.

Kolodzienski took 13th overall and sixth in Brown Swiss, Bryce Bechel took 12th overall, sixth in reasons and ninth in Jerseys and Fesenmaier took seventh in Ayrshires.

There are 10 classes at Nationals, made up of five breeds with a heifer and cow class in each breed. Each competitor gets 15 minutes to judge and take notes before preparing their reasons. They then present five sets of memorized reasons to present in two to three minutes to a complete stranger.

Traynor said the four have each been involved in competing for many years, so the stress of a national scale competition does not get to them.

“They’ve all been judging from the time they started 4-H,” Traynor said. “They have a lot of experience.”

Two years ago, the team got second in State, which sent them to an eastern United States competition in Harrisburg, Penn., an event the team went on to win. Winning State this time around meant they competed at the World Dairy Expo this year.

As competitors get older, they add reasons to their competitions. The reasons can be stressful as students begin to learn the process, but the growth over time makes it all worth the time.

“You have no idea. It is so fulfilling to see these kids start out at eight or nine years old and watch them grow up and get more self-confidence, start believing in themselves,” Traynor said. “You keep working with them and keep pushing them a little bit. Just getting to know their different personalities and stuff, it’s just an incredible blessing.”

Traynor said competing well on the national level is massive for Pierce County 4-H and 4-H in the surrounding area.
“It’s kind of like when a school has a really good football team,” Traynor said. “Any time you get a program that really has a lot of staying power and really does well at bigger competitions and stuff like that, it makes it a lot easier to recruit kids.”