Agricultural News
Ben Ivory of Marlow FFA Wins Noble Foundation Junior Beef Excellence Program
Fri, 22 Apr 2011 6:03:19 CDT
The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation announced the winners of the 2011 Junior Beef Excellence Program and Live Animal Evaluation during a special awards program last week at the Southern Oklahoma Technology Center in Ardmore.
Fifty-three students entered 60 steers in this year's event, which highlights the carcass merit of steers shown at junior livestock shows in eight southern Oklahoma counties. The top 10 entries were awarded a total of $12,500 as part of the annual contest.
Ben Ivory, Marlow 4-H, entered this year's champion steer. As the 1st place finisher, Ivory earned $2,500 and a custom winner's jacket. The 2nd through 10th place winners are:
• 2nd place, Hannah Stevens, Turner FFA, $2,000.
• 3rd place, Grant Cleary, Lindsay 4-H, $1,500.
• 4th place, Grayson Kuehny, Elmore City FFA, $1,250.
• 5th place, Grant Cleary, Lindsay FFA, $1,000.
• 6th place, Chase Willis, Marietta FFA, $950.
• 7th place, Anna Hernandez, Madill FFA, $900.
• 8th place, Jase Collins, Milburn 4-H, 850.
• 9th place, Logan Hartman, Wilson 4-H, $800.
• 10th place, Brett Willis, Marietta FFA, $750.
"The Junior Beef Excellence Program strives to reward and encourage production of superior beef cattle. This is all a result of the diligence and hard work that the kids put into their steer project," said Ryan Reuter, Ph.D., Noble Foundation assistant professor. "Participants in the program did a great job, and many of the cattle were superior to the industry average."
Each of the contest steers is individually priced on a grid, meaning they are sold on their own merit instead of on the average. Reuter said the average total price for a contest steer was $1,439.29, which is divided by the average live weight of 1,249 pounds for an equivalent live price of $115.23 per hundred pounds.
"This year, prices were dramatically higher than previous years. This is a result of the record high cattle prices we are currently experiencing in the industry." Reuter said. "The top 10 steers in our contest still outperformed the industry average by over $2 per hundredweight for the week they were marketed."
This is the 16th year of the Junior Beef Excellence Program in its expanded format. All participants are from Carter, Garvin, Jefferson, Johnston, Love, Marshall, Murray or Stephens counties, and all steers must have been shown in their county junior livestock show prior to entry. The steers are delivered to Ardmore, weighed-in and commingled for four days before being sent to Tyson Foods in Amarillo, Texas.
Members of the Junior Beef Committee are Reuter, Robert Wells, Ph.D., John Blanton, Ph.D., and Robyn Graves, all of the Noble Foundation, and Leland McDaniel, Carter County Extension Educator. Gretchen Hilton, Ph.D., OSU meat scientist, assisted with carcass evaluation.
For additional information about next year's program, call the Noble Foundation at 580.223.5810- or click here for details about the Junior Beef program found on the Noble Foundation website.
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