Not a sound could be heard as about 400 competitors appraisingly studied cattle, swine and sheep at Penn State's Agricultural Arena on Saturday -- save the occasional "baa," "moo" or snort.

The Penn State Block and Bridle Club held its annual Spring Livestock Judging Competition, an event offering youth and collegiate members of 4-H Club and the Future Farmers of America Organization from across the state the opportunity to practice their livestock judging skills.

Penn State's Livestock Judging Team -- the members of which take a three-credit class in the spring -- also participated in the event in preparation for their fall competitive season.

"The spring judging competition is mostly targeted for kids 18 and under -- it's an educational event for them to practice their animal selection ability," Katie Logan, competition chairwoman, said. "It's a good learning experience not only for agricultural skills, but for life skills as well."

Competitors were split into three divisions: junior beginner, junior advanced and collegiate professional.

Throughout the competition, participants rotated among six pens, each of which contained four animals of the same species.

After studying the animals in each pen for 15 minutes, the competitors ranked them from highest to lowest quality. Penn State owns all of the animals used in the competition.

"When we look at the cattle, hogs and sheep, we are looking at them as production animals. The top animal is the one you would want to take home with you," Allison Giraldi, a member of the Livestock Judging Team, said. "It's structurally correct, and it is a good, sound, well-balanced animal."

Jodi Torock, also a Livestock Judging Team competitor, said the way a class -- a group of animals -- is ranked depends on the species and the scenario.

"If you're ranking steer, you're going to look for a long-bodied animal with pretty good muscling," she said. "Since steer go to slaughter, you want a lot of muscle. But maybe you want a heifer to be big so she can carry a calf."

After ranking the animals in each class, the competitors had three minutes to present reasons justifying their rankings. The junior advanced competitors presented their reasons to members of last year's Livestock Judging Team, while the collegiate competitors presented their reasons to professionals in the agriculture industry. The beginner division competitors did not provide reasons for their rankings.

Individual and team awards were presented to the competitors whose rankings most closely matched the official rankings, which had been determined prior to the start of the competition.

Bob Rougeaux, who competed on last year's Livestock Judging Team, set the official ranking for each of the sheep classes and then listened to young competitors' reasons for their rankings.

"It's quite an experience because these kids are not used to giving collegiate reasons," he said. "It's a great experience, though, and a lot less stressful than actually competing."

Dan Kniffen, a Block and Bridle Club adviser, said the Spring Judging Competition provides students with valuable hands-on experience.

"It is exceptional training ... individuals learn to make decisions and how to explain those decisions," Kniffen said. "The competition also gives us the opportunity to showcase Penn State to hundreds of youth."

Giraldi said livestock judging builds competitors' public speaking and decision-making skills.

"It's a really great experience, and it builds character. Every animal has lots of good points and bad points, and you have to decide which are the most important," she said. "A lot of people don't think of livestock judging as a sport, but it is very competitive."

Penn State also hosted its annual Dairy Judging Competition and first-ever Horse Judging Competition on Saturday.