Christopher Decubellis, associate state program leader with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences' 4-H program, has won the title of champion milker after competing in the Sunbelt Ag Expo Milking Contest.

Christopher Decubellis has been milking cows since he was 3 years old. Now 44, he didn’t think his decades of experience would land him the title of “milking champion.”

But it did.

Decubellis, associate state program leader with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences' 4-H program, has won the title of champion milker after competing in the Sunbelt Ag Expo Milking Contest two weeks ago.

He said the university held its own competition to determine who to send to compete at the expo, and he was dubbed the best milker.

Representing the orange and blue in his Gator T-shirt and baseball cap, Decubellis traveled to Moultrie, Ga., to compete against three other milkers from Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky.

Each competitor milked a Holstein cow for one minute, poured the content into a graduated cylinder, then rotated to the next cow. He said each competitor got one minute at a different cow so the results would be fair.

At the end of the four minutes, Decubellis had well over a gallon of milk, which he said was at least double what the other competitors had.

“I got a lot more than they did,” he said. “I don’t like to brag, but man, I filled mine up.”

Decubellis grew up on a farm near New Port Richey where his dad taught him how to milk cows and goats. Now a resident of Archer who lives just inside the Alachua County line, he’s earned three degrees from UF: a bachelor’s in animal sciences, and a master’s and doctorate in agricultural education. He has been working at UF for almost 20 years.

“Not only are we good in football, basketball, baseball and volleyball, we’re good in milking cows, too,” he said.





