The team from Marathon County took top honors in the senior division of the State 4-H meats Contest held Feb 15 at University of Wisconsin Madison Meat Laboratory.  Team members were Ashley Zimmerman, Katelyn Zimmerman, and Emma Walters.  They were coached by Mark Zimmerman.  These 4-H members will represent Wisconsin at the National 4-H Meats Judging Contest to be held this fall in Kansas City.

The second place senior team, which will represent Wisconsin at a contest in Denver, Colorado, was from Dodge County. Team members included Jesse Lynch, Sam Nehls, Natalie Siedsclag, Richard Condon, and Mary Kirchberg.  The team was coached by Rebecca Doman.

The State Contest consisted of evaluating classes of hams, beef, pork and lamb carcasses, and 2 retail cut classes.  The youth also identified 40 retail cuts of beef, pork or lamb and graded 5 beef carcasses.

The top ten senior individual’s judges, in order, were:  Hannah Taylor, Columbia; Lena Frank, Grant; Ashley Zimmerman, Marathon; Bridgett Hoffman, Jefferson; Katelyn Zimmerman, Marathon; Jesse Lynch, Dodge; Rebecca Starkenburg, Columbia; Lea Parker, Columbia; Sam Nehls, Dodge; Natalie Siedsclag, Dodge.

The top junior team was from Grant County.  Team members were:  Dillin Meier, Matt Walz, Will Esser, Jessica Patterson, and Abby Meier.  The team is coached by Dennis Patterson.  The second place junior team was from Columbia County.  Team members were: Zach Mickelson, Justin Taylor, Medora Richards, Tyler Cross, Maggie Stalbaum, and Abby Stalbaum.  The team is coached by Todd Taylor. 

The top ten junior individual judges, in order, were: Zach Mickelson, Columbia; Dillin Meyer, Grant; Matt Walz, Grant; Justin Taylor, Columbia; Will Esser, Grant; Haakon Schriefer, Iowa; Bree Gaffney, Iowa; Stephanie Witberler, Marathon; Riley Kappell, Dodge; Medora Richards, Columbia 

Results and photos are available at:  https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/youthlivestock/programs/4hmeatscontest/

Sponsors for the State 4-H Meats contest include The Wisconsin 4-H Foundation and UW-Extension.  The contest is organized annually by Extension Meats Specialist, Jeff Sindelar, Extension Youth Livestock Specialist, Bernie O’Rourke and 4-H Youth Development Specialist Pam Hobson.

For more information contact: Pam Hobson (608) 262-9605 or Bernie O’Rourke 608-263-4304.  The Wisconsin Youth Livestock Program can be found by going to https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/youthlivestock.  To receive email updates of information related to beef, sheep, swine and meat goats, on the right side of the page, add your email address and click subscribe.  You can also connect with us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wiyouthlvstk or on facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wisconsin-Youth-Livestock-Program/308375924101

This article was posted in Beef, Meats Judging, Sheep, Swine and tagged beef, judging, lamb, meats, pork.