On March 4, 2023, district contests were held at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City.
South O’Brien FFA sent down four meat judging teams, taking home Champion, 3rd, 4th and 7th place.
Top ten individuals for South O’Brien were: Champion–Hudson Oolman, Reserve Champion–Dain Moermond, 3rd–Leo Sells, 5th–Payton Farquhar, 6th–Dante Johnson, and 9th–Abby Stout.
Meats judging consists of identifying the different cuts of meat within different animals. Gabe Moermond, one of South O’Brien’s meat judgers, said that he has learned a lot from Mr. Kumm and upper classmen over his three years of competing and has put a lot of time into becoming the competitor that he is today. He said that it is a great feeling to know that his hard work has paid off and to have the success he has been able to have throughout his three years. Gabe enjoys this competition because his family raises cattle so he finds it enjoyable to identify the cuts of meat of those animals. His brothers were also very involved in FFA so he likes to follow in their footsteps. Moermond would recommend this competition to all FFA members because you have a lot of chances to be successful and travel to different states to compete. Moermond said that he is proud to represent the South O’Brien FFA Chapter and to help bring back first place.