Abstract
Collegiate livestock judging programs require financial resources to support expenditures associated with competition and overall team achievements. Recent economic pressures have forced administrators to critically evaluate program the value of co-curricular programs. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to examine the current and anticipated sources of support and expenditures associated with university livestock judging programs. Each of the thirty-nine four-year college livestock judging programs that competed at the North American International Livestock Exposition in 2012, 2013, or both years, were sent a researcher-developed electronic survey. Twenty-nine surveys were returned for a 74.4% response rate. Most collegiate livestock judging programs received funding from their academic unit(s), stakeholders, development accounts and via fundraising revenue. Less than half of collegiate livestock judging teams received funding support from student participants, in-kind support, or other sources. Most respondents anticipated level funding support from the academic unit(s) over the next few years. However, among those who expected a change in academic unit(s) support, ten anticipated a decrease and only one anticipated an increase. Over half of the respondents anticipated expenditures for travel, contest entry fees and overall livestock judging program expenditures to increase over the next five years.