Agricultural News
Cherokee County 4-H Meat Judging Team Takes 2nd Place at National Competition
Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:01:46 CDT
The Cherokee County 4-H meat judging team represented Oklahoma well in the recent American Royal National 4-H Meat Judging and Identification Contest. This contest is held every year in conjunction with the American Royal Livestock Show.
The three-member team, comprised of Hallie Barnes, K.C. Barnes and Trico Blue, placed 2nd nationally at the competition that took place at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. They are members of the Cherokee County Riders 4-H Club.
With a score of 2,154 points, the trio was a mere two points behind the Texas team that placed first. In addition to their 2nd place overall finish, the team also won multiple divisions in the contest, including beef judging, retail judging, total judging and reasons. The team placed 3rd in meat identification and 5th in pork judging.
Individually the team members did exceptionally well. With 60 participants being scored, K.C. Barnes was high point individual, and placed 1st in reasons, retail judging and total judging; 2nd in beef judging; and 3rd in meat identification; Hallie Barnes was the 5th high individual scorer; 2nd in reasons and retail judging; 7th in total judging; and 9th in both beef judging and meat identification. Blue placed 6th overall; 4th in reasons and beef judging; 8th in retail judging and total judging; and 12th in meat identification. K.C. Barnes received a $1,000 scholarship for his high point individual award, and the team received $300 for its 2nd place finish.
Kent Barnes, the Cherokee County meat judging team coach, said the team worked very hard to prepare for the contest.
"We started preparing back in early August. We got in 27 practices before the contest, including three trips to Stillwater to judge classes and talk reasons to members of the OSU meat judging team," Barnes said. "The OSU team critiqued them and gave them a lot of guidance. Each of our practices were three to four hours long, and we practiced after school and on weekends. It was pretty intense."
Barnes also said that the team's 1st place finish in oral reasons was a heavy contributor to their overall placing. He said these club members do not practice reasons because up until the state qualifying contest last spring at OSU, they hadn't been in a contest with oral reasons.
"This team is very talented in describing their reasons to the judge and explaining why they placed more value on one thing or another," said Greg Highfill, Extension educator, agriculture/4-H Youth Development in Woods County. "You have to be knowledgeable in order to give reasons. Sometimes you can get lucky in placing a class, but with reasons you know it or you don't - and these kids know it."
Barnes said not only do the participants learn to identify retail cuts and the criteria for judging meat, but with their involvement in meat judging they also continue to build on the life skills that have always been a big part of the 4-H program.
"They learn decision making, public speaking and teamwork," Barnes said. "I've been involved with youth judging teams for a long time and I want to say I'm really proud of these kids for the hard work they put in. They stayed with it and saw it through and represented Oklahoma very well."
Lake Region Rural Electric gave the team a grant to help cover some of the costs associated with travel to Kansas for the national competition. In addition, the Cherokee County 4-H Volunteer Leaders Council helped pay for the team's registration and other training expenses.
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