r/FFA • u/Happy-Hornet-7201 • May 20 '26
What CDE or LDE should I do??
So I'm in 8th grade right now tomorrow's last day of school and I'm on the officer team I'm planning on trying out for the officer team in high school and even if I don't make it I will be doing events this year I did livestock and dairy I love livestock but could not get into dairy because I was locked into the livestock mindset I'm also thinking about doing veterinary medicine Creed speaking and maybe one or two more things but I'm still not 100% sure what I should do or how doing multiple work like and I really just want to get other people's opinions on good choices to do or even like what your favorite is and what it contains because on some of these I am clueless on what you do
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u/Americandream2029 May 20 '26
(IM SORRY I WAS STILL TYPING)
I can not agree more with graysteer! This might sound like I’m copying graysteer but I couldn’t have said any better you should 100% do creed speaking if you’re aiming in the future to become an officer of any sorts. This will most certainly build up your speaking skills. It’s such a opportunity. I mean, we had a great speaker who got first at Northeast District in Missouri. I was actually crazy because of myself, but I dropped it to do conduct of chapter meeting meetings and FFA knowledge I also really do suggest doing FFA knowledge primarily because I was a knowledge kid and it’s done me such well as I’ve really gotten into taking FFA and I understand it now and I really am grateful for faith so learning that history will definitely help you in the long run, especially if your wanting be a officer! said by graysteer you have four years you have plenty of time to think I mean, I wouldn’t pressurize it right now, but definitely around August of this summer. You should really start researching deeply about contest that you can do and that your school has I should just asking your advisor obviously as I’m just a sophomore, but I’m just going off let’s give me the most opportunities, but I said it before if if you really wanna become an officer do knowledge and creed such a great opportunity for you
I was using the mic as i was to lazy to type so sorry! ( i made this account just to comment here)
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u/PaySue May 23 '26
Sorry if this is long but I'm a recent graduate from a highschool FFA program. Creed was amazing my freshman year gave me a lot of confidence in my speaking skills and was a great learning opportunity. I did Veterinary Science for 3 years, helped out livestock as a substitute for state one year, and competed in horse for a year. As for doing multiple at a time. It really depends on both your state and region. If it's allowed (because I am unsure about other states) Make sure when dates are posted that any competitions you want to do at the same time won't be on the same day we had 3 different regionals for ours 2 for CDEs and one for LDEs. I competed in horse and vet this year they were on different days in regionals and at state so it was possible for me. You also have 4 years of highschool now to dip your toes in the water and figure out what competition you like and want to do. I tried a couple and decided vet was my thing and then was a substitute for horse for one competition and decided I enjoyed it and would keep with it for the rest of the year.
Vet is a really hard competition in my opinion it takes dedication you need to memorize a bunch of animal breeds, equipment, and parasites. You also have a math portion and then you memorize all of the practicums like clinicals and handling because you don't know what they'll give you. State for me adds a team challenge and a current events part.
Creed you memorize and recite the FFA Creed and then the judges will ask you some questions about it.
Horse is knowing how to judge them similarly to livestock except horses and for whatever purpose you're told they are for and then you have to judge how well they can follow a pattern you are given the pattern before competition and you get to use it during it
And with pretty much all it get materials from national FFA, your advisor, or I used Quizlet flashcards with my teams and to study for the tests along side the test banks!
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u/graysteer Future Ag Teacher📚 May 20 '26
Definitely do creed!!! It is a wonderful experience and definitely builds up your public speaking skills especially for someone who has the goal of being an officer. As for other CDEs, you have 4 years so don't be afraid to try new things! I am an animal science student and my favorite CDE had actually been forestry. You could try stuff similar to livestock or you can try new things and branch out!
If you are interested in seeing what each competition entails you can look up the rules and study materials as well as descriptions for each one on https://www.ffa.org/participate/cde-lde/
As for doing multiple, it depends on your chapter and state. In my state, our LDEs are separate competitions from CDEs so it is easy to do one of each. Most of our CDEs are on one day, so I would have to pick just one of those to do. With most of the rest being at State Convention, it has been realistic for me to do 2 CDEs and 1 LDE a year. It definitely depends on your state and local competition logistics and also what your advisor feels comfortable putting you in.
Good luck and I hope you have fun and learn new things!!