UI hosts first Ag Olympics

MOSCOW – Lindy Black experimented with several cow pie-throwing techniques during the University of Idaho Ag Olympic games.

“I tried some discus style, some shot put and then some freestyle,” said Black, a junior from Prairie City, Ore.

The cow pie throwing competition was one of several that took place Saturday during the inaugural year of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences games, which included milk chugging, cracker eating, a pie bake-off, round hay-bale rolling and hay-bale bucking, or throwing.

Each contestant in the manure toss had three chances to throw the farthest. Black’s freestyle method netted best throw of more than 35 feet, good enough for a middle-of-the-pack finish.

“It’s harder than it looks because the pies are so awkward,” Black said. “And they explode when you throw them.”

Black said she was “very strategical in picking the poo” from the truckload of manure fellow agriculture student Bill Brewer had collected for the event. Brewer, a University of Idaho sophomore from Sonora, Calif., started prepping for the cow pie throwing a week in advance, allowing the manure enough time to dry out.

There was talk of contestants using gloves, but Brewer objected.

“I was going to make them throw barehanded because I picked them up barehanded,” he said.

Brewer said it takes a special kind of person to appreciate a good manure-throwing competition. “A lot of people wouldn’t get close to touching one of those cow pies,” Brewer said.

Jake Silver, a UI senior from Melba, competed in the milk chugging competition, where contestants had to sprint about 20 yards, hit the ground rolling, jump up and then gulp down two 16-ounce cups of milk. Contestants then have to roll and run back to the finish line, where Silver came in first.

After crossing the finish line, he had one question.

“How long do I have to wait before throwing up?” he shouted to the timekeepers and audience.

Ag Olympics planner Ryan Rademacher, a senior from Hermiston, Ore., said nearly a year went into planning the festivities. He hopes the event can be held annually.

“Hopefully next year it will be bigger and we can open it up to the whole university,” he said.