By Alex Griebel – South O’Brien FFA Reporter
4-H members from O’Brien County competed at the 2024 American Royal National 4-H Meats Evaluation contest. The event was held at Kansas State University in Manhattan, KS., with the awards ceremony being place at the American Royal Complex in Kansas City.
The team earned the honor of representing the state of Iowa by winning the State 4-H contest in 2023. The team included Brett Evans, Bensen Rohwer, BreLee Rasmussen, and Will Stout. The team placed 12th overall, and 10th in the Retail ID section.
Contestants judged classes including: beef carcasses, pork carcasses, beef short loins, pork fresh hams, beef bone-in ribeye steaks, pork blade chops, 30 retail ID cuts, and 3 sets of oral reasons over pork carcasses, beef short loins, ribeyes.
BreLee Rasmussen stated, “I learned to be more prepared for the oral reasons part of the test. My favorite part was visiting different places around Kansas City. We visited the WWI museum and I learned a lot about WW1 that I did not know before. Overall it was a great trip and I had a lot of fun with my friends.”
The team was able to attend due to support from both the O’Brien County and Iowa 4-H Foundations. The team also greatly appreciated John Sells taking the team to the contest.