The Ward County 4-H meats judging teams were well represented at the state 4-H Meats Judging Contest on June 6 at North Dakota State University in Fargo.

Meats judging has several categories that the youth are judged on: identification of retail meat cuts, determination of quality of carcass as well as wholesale cuts. Species for meats include beef, pork and lamb. Also included in the contest is a reasons class where individuals analyze a class of four pieces of meat and rank them in order based on quality. One of the main goals of the contest is to encourage quality development of future leaders in the meat and livestock industries.

Two Ward County 4-H teams competed Intermediate and Senior at the state 4-H Meats Judging Contest. This year the teams were coached by previous state and reserve national champion meats judging 4-H member Jacob Scheresky, Des Lacs. The youth spent countless hours after school and on the weekends to prepare for the state 4-H Meats Judging Contest.

The Intermediate team consists of youth ages 8 through 11 before Dec. 31 and was represented by Cole Huesers and Danny Kersten, Max; Layne Korgel, Minot; and Mark Schauer, Carpio. The Intermediate team had to accurately place classes of pork carcass, beef sirloin steak, beef carcass, pork loin chops, beef ribs, and pork hams. They also had a questions class and identified 30 cuts of meat. When identifying meat, contestants must accurately record: what species the meat came from; primal and retail cuts; and how to properly cook the piece of meat. Individually, L. Korgel placed first, Mark Schauer was fifth, D. Kersten was seventh, and Huesers placed eighth. The team took second place in the Intermediate division with 935 points.

Senior team consists of youth ages 14 through 18 and was represented by Aaron Bahnsen, Kaden Korgel, Mason Kraft, Minot; Colt Kersten, Wyatt Kersten and Ben Scheresky, Max; Tate Novodvorksy, Douglas; Matthew Schauer, Carpio; and David Scheresky, Des Lacs. The Senior team had similar carcass and retail classes as both the Intermediate team. Individually, Matthew Schauer received fifth place, D. Scheresky placed sixth, Novodvorsky was 10th, W. Kersten 13th, Kraft 116th, K. Korgel 19th, Bahnsen 21st, C. Kersten 22nd, and B. Scheresky took 23rd place. The team took third with a total of 1561 points.