Carcass Contest Results

By Jackie Beardsley

The results for the 4-H Carcass contest were announced last week, according to Powder River County Extension Agent Jackie Beardsley. An excited group of 4-H participants, parents and supporters gathered at Broadus Meats Tuesday afternoon to hear the results. Terry, Sherry, Jeff and the Broadus Meats crew were thanked for their support of our Powder River County Fair and for hosting our carcass contest at the meat shop.

Additional thanks goes to Jimmy Collins for taking photos throughout the fair of kids and their market livestock, the Schroeder family for designing and setting up the photo back drop, Steve Vail for brand inspecting, John Olson for hauling livestock and Kuhbacher Auction Service.

This is the fifth year we have had the opportunity to evaluate carcasses via ultrasound data. Technician Elin Kittelman, NSIP/UGIC Certified Ultrasound technician from Ekalaka spent her morning evaluating the market livestock. During the swine ultrasounds, the first species, a pig, made a quick snack of her ultrasound machine's power cord. Lucky for us, our kids were on task and kept a steady stream of animals headed her way, finishing up with a little bit of battery to spare. By utilizing ultrasound, the carcass contest was able to include animals that went to slaughter at other facilities or went home with 4-H kids.

The carcass contest is an opportunity for 4-H market livestock exhibitors to see the results of the time, feed and exercise they put into their project. Ultimately market livestock becomes a meal, although the payout of the animal being sold is an exciting step, understanding the type of product the kids made can help connect those dots for our young producers. Retired Extension Agent, Mary Rumph, shared the grading process with attendees, describing how the percentage of back fat, or live weight contributed to the designations of the animals.

Results are as follows:

Beef Carcass Contest winners were 3rd place Tabitha Escott, 2nd Place Thad Escott, 1st place Ashton Madsen. Cash awards were sponsored by The Body Shop and Lester and Dawn Aye. Ashton also received a buckle sponsored by the Craig and Christine Appleman Family.

Swine Carcass Contest winners were 3rd place Emelyn Harper, 2nd Jordyn Schroeder, 1st Darren VerWolf. Awards sponsored by AgWest Farm Credit and Ross & Kylie Randall. Darren also received a buckle sponsored by Olson Farm and Ranch.

Lamb Carcass Contest winners were 3rd place Clinton Handran, 2nd Macey Madsen and 1st Krystin Kramme. The awards were sponsored by Askin Construction and Jim and Emily Madsen. Krystin also received a buckle sponsored by Dale Edwards Inc, Diana Edwards & Steve Edwards.