Holmes 4-Hers receive advice at carcass contest
Dr. Lyda Garcia, extension meat specialist from the Ohio State University, talks turkey — or rather beef, sheep and swine — with a packed house of 4-Hers and their families at the annual Holmes County Fair Carcass Show at Sugar Valley Meats.
The Holmes County Fair may have officially ended Saturday, Aug. 10, but when Thursday, Aug. 15 rolled around, it looked like a gathering of Holmes County 4-Hers and parents at Sugar Valley Meats could have just about filled the Baker Building at Harvest Ridge.
The purpose for their gathering was for the annual Holmes County Fair Carcass Contest for steer, swine and sheep, where the top 10 in each category from the livestock market show united to determine the grand and reserve champion for what was on the inside of their animals: the meat that ends up on people’s tables.
Following a meal sponsored by the Holmes County Beef Committee, Dr. Lyda Garcia, extension meat specialist from the Ohio State University, returned once again to judge all three animal carcass classes and to share some educational information about what makes the best quality of meat and why it matters.
“It’s a delight to see all of these carcass shows grow and grow,” Garcia said. “If we’re going to be in the food raising arena, it’s important that we understand what we are producing.”
Garcia said in educating and judging during each carcass show, her hope is she plants seeds over the years to set up the future generations of animal raisers.
Garcia had high praise for all 30 of the animal carcasses she judged, saying of the carcasses, “Every single one of these animals is quality, and all of them will sell.”
She also said that in breeding market animals, the entire purpose is to raise animals that will eventually be sold as quality meat. Garcia would go on to discuss how the evaluation process works when judging an animal carcass, noting each judge performs duties based on the U.S. grading system, so meat judging is based on no biases but comes from the grading system that has been put in place.
She then went into the judging process of estimating sellable product, touching on grading points like kidney, pelvic and heart fat, the back fat, ribeye, yield grade and more.
Her purpose in defining each step of the process was so those in attendance could better understand the importance of each step of developing and raising an animal for market judging.
“The importance of discussing the process is so everyone can better understand the process and what’s important when it comes to producing high-quality meat,” Garcia said.
She delved into marbling in the beef carcasses and talked about its importance in developing meat that is flavorful, tender and juicier, the marbling being important because fat is less dense than the meat and melts with heat.
“That is going to assure a much better eating experience,” Garcia said.
She then touched on how an animal reaches the coveted high choice grade as compared to select and said genetics and nutrition play key roles.
She also said raising an animal as stress-free as possible will aid in the process.
She then walked through both the pork and lamb selections, again focusing on creating a stress-free environment for the animals while raising them.
“It all comes down to paying attention to your animal when raising it,” Garcia said. “Each year is different, and you’ve got to pay attention to the individual animal because each animal is going to be different.”
Garcia, who is approaching a decade of judging carcass shows and has been a reliable judge for Holmes County for years, said she was impressed with this year’s crop of animal carcasses, much as has been the case in the past several years, where Holmes County 4-Hers have produced high-quality meat on a consistent basis.
Finally, the top 10 awards were doled out, with Blake Patterson and Chloe Patten receiving grand and reserve champion, respectively, in sheep; Billy Patten and Derek Coleman garnering grand and reserve champion, respectively, in swine; and Rollin Hendrix and Paulina Milner earning grand and reserve champion, respectively, in beef.