Lincoln to Manhattan 2012

So we woke up Monday morning to a cold, wet day in Lincoln, Nebraska. We got to the Animal Sciences building early to practice.

 

 

We were able to practice at the meat lab.  We judged pork and beef carcasses, hams, pork loins, beef ribs, beef loins, and retail id cuts.  The girls also had to take notes to give oral reasons. 

 

One of the best things about 4-H meat judging is that participants learn life skills such as critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, public speaking, teamwork, consumer skills and a lot more.  Here the girls judged a tough pork carcass class. 

 

Next the girls were heavily involved in retail identification.  From this vantage point, you can see a tip roast cap off, lamb rib roast, mock tender roast, chuck eye roast, top loin roast, and some more cuts that the girls had to identify the species, primal, retail name, and cookery method on.

 

 Here you can see that Mr. Leroy found a friend.

 

 Mr. Brian was getting pretty passionate about this beef carcass class.  The quality of the beef in Nebraska was really good.

 

 Then the girls decided to take a break from judging and start posing with the lamb carcasses.

 

Dr. Dennis Burson from UNL gave the Florida and Colorado teams a tour of the facilities.  He also arranged for each team that practiced to receive a drawstring bag full of UNL Animal Sciences information.  This was a great thing for all of the youth to learn about the program and broaden horizons concerning college.  Thank you Dr. Burson!

 

Nebraska had an arena in the animal science building. 

 

They also had this cool window. 

 

After we finished our 4 hour practice in 45 degree temperatures and our tour, we decided to take a driving tour of campus.  As you can see, we almost lost the Suwannee County 4-H meat judging team to an unfortunate mammoth accident.

 

Then the girls decided to take pictures with anything and everything.  This includes big rocks and yellow trees. 

 

We finally got out of Lincoln and drove south.  Once we got to the Kansas state line, it was picture time again. 

 

The meat judging team loved the old church at the state line.  They also loved their photographer.  See really went to great lengths to get the perfect picture. 

 

 We also realized that on the other side of the road was another sign. 

 

We had a great day full of meat, pictures, driving, and fun.  Wish us luck as the girls compete tomorrow morning.