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Alabama
Team Wins National Western Meats Judging Competition
 Auburn,
Jan 31, 2002 --- Four Alabama 4-H'ers went to the National
Western Meats Judging Contest with a mission — make perennial
powerhouse states like Texas take notice.
They accomplished their
goal in style — by winning the overall competition held recently
at Colorado State University.
The Alabama team,
composed of three Tuscaloosa County 4-H'ers and one Pickens County
4-H'er, outscored Texas by more than 30 points to claim the title.
In addition to their
team success, each of the young people won individual honors.
Rebecca Wiggins from
Gordo in Pickens County was the second high individual in the
contest with a score of 704. Just three points behind Wiggins was
her teammate, Heather Reach of Tuscaloosa County. Reach was the
third high individual. Remaining team members, Ellis Thorne and
Michael Polke, were the fourth high and tenth high individual
overall. No other team had more than two members in the top ten.
"I'm just very
proud of the team," says Johnny Gladney, Tuscaloosa County
Extension agent and the team coach. "They worked incredibly
hard, were very focused on their goal, and deserved the victory they
earned."
Tom Bonner, an AU
graduate student in meat science and coach of the AU Meat Judging
team who accompanied the team as well, agrees with Gladney.
"I think they were
probably the most well-prepared team in the competition," says
Bonner. "That preparedness really shone especially in meats
identification."
The Alabama team had a
team score of 870 out of a possible 900 in meats identification.
Gladney and Bonner
stress the young people treated the trip to Colorado in a
business-like manner.
"They were intent
on doing the things they needed to win," says Gladney.
For two months prior to
the contest, the team had practiced weekly. Those practices focused
on all aspects of the competition. The team practiced giving oral
reasons, as well as meats identification and meats placings.
In meats placings, an
individual is shown a class of meats. A class may be anything from
an entire beef carcass to pork chops and will have four examples.
The individual must rank the example in order of quality. In oral
reasons, the individual must defend his placings to a judge.
In meats identification,
the individual must identify the species, where the cut comes from
on the animal, and its retail name.
The team also spent two
full Saturdays at processing facilities, including the Auburn
University Meats Lab and Billings Meats, a small facility in Gordo,
honing their placings and identification skills.
They continued their
practices even in Colorado. The team visited a local grocery and a
local processing plant to buff up their meats identification skills.
Ellis Thorne, who is the
third member of his family to compete in meat judging, says visiting
the Denver stores enabled the team to look at cuts that are not as
readily available in Alabama.
While the team was
confident of their skills, some still seem surprised by their
individual sucesses.
"I was really
shocked to place so high in individual competition," says
Wiggins. "I've only been competing in meat judging for a year
or so. But I have participated in livestock judging for nine years,
so that really helped me handle the pressures of the
competition."
There was time for the
young people to have some fun between practices and the actual
competition. They went ice-skating as well as visit some historic
sites around Denver and Ft. Collins.
Funding for the young
people's trip came from a variety of sources. The Tuscaloosa County
Cattlemen's Association contributed more than $1,000.
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