MECHANICSBURG – On April 26 and 27, the Mechanicsburg Livestock and Meats teams won the state finals held at the Ohio State University.
On April 26, the Livestock Team of Noah Wolf, Grace Forrest, Jennifer Wallace and Morgan Hamby competed against nine other teams that qualified for the state finals. In the state preliminary contest, 176 teams and almost 1,000 students competed.
At the finals the team judged four classes of livestock, including steers, market pigs, breeding ewes and breeding does. Then, they wrote a set of reasons explaining their placing of the classes. After memorizing their sets of reasons they presented them to a judge.
There are also two team activities. The first team event is a marketing activity that involves using a sale catalog to answer questions about the cattle in the auction. Students must calculate sale expenses, shrink and slide on livestock as well as travel expenses to ship cattle from one place to another.
The second activity is a breeding scenario in which students analyze four bulls and their potential in benefiting the genetics of a herd of cows.
Noah Wolf of the Burg won the honors as top individual in the state, with teammate Grace Forrest placing 9th. Morgan Hamby and Jenn Wallace were 17th and 19th, respectively.
The team advances to the national finals in Indianapolis in October.
FFA Meats Team
On April 27, the Meats Team participated at the state contest and came away with the 10th state title in Meat Evaluation in Burg FFA history. The team of Taylor Ayars, Elly Schipfer, Colin Hartley and Logan Hurst competed at the Animal Science facility at The Ohio State University.
In the Meats contest students must identify 40 retail cuts as well as tell where the cuts come from and the best method to cook them. They must also judge classes of carcasses and retail cuts and answer blind questions about two of the classes. Students also must do quality and yield grading of carcasses.
This year the Meats Team completed a clean sweep by winning every contest. The team also had the top three individuals at each contest. At the state contest Elly Schipfer won top individual in the state, with teammate Colin Hartley being 2nd and Taylor Ayars 3rd. Logan Hurst rounded out the team with a 7th place finish.
The team is coached by Dr. Bill Ayars, who judged meats while in high school under the direction of ag teacher Don Sweet, who coached the Meats Team for 47 years.
The team advances to the national finals in Indianapolis in October.
